Virorum illustrium uitae ex Plutarcho Græco in Latinum uersae solertiq[ue] cura emendatæ fœliciter expliciu[n]t.

Accession number: 
PML 77565
Author: 
Plutarch.
Published: 
Venetiis impressae : Per Nicolaum Ienson Gallicum, M.cccc.lxxviii. die .ii. Ianuarii [2 January 1478].
Description: 
[234, 228] leaves ; 42.5 cm. (fol.)
Credit Line: 
Purchased as the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alexandre P. Rosenberg, and the Edwin H. Herzog Fund, 1982.
Notes: 

Title and imprint from colophon, leaf &&9v: Virorum illustrium uitae ex Plutarcho graeco in latinum uersae solertiq[ue] cura emendatae foeliciter expliciu[n]t: per Nicolaum Ienson Gallicum Venetiis i[m]ressae .M.cccc.lxxviii. die .ii. Ianuarii.
Printed in Jenson's type 1:115R.
Signatures: a¹⁰ b¹² c-m¹⁰ n⁸ o-x¹⁰ y-z⁸ &⁸; A¹² B-E¹⁰ F-N⁸/¹⁰ [O-P]⁸ Q-Y¹⁰ Z⁸ &&¹⁰: 462 leaves, leaves a1, b7, and A1-2 blank. Leaf C1 signed cc1 and A3 signed A1, etc.; quire O signed oo; P signed pp. Variant collations in quires b and A due to recording of blank leaves.
Paper format: Super-median folio.
Includes lives of Hannibal, Scipio Africanus, and Carolus Magnus by Donatus Acciaiolus; of Agesilaus by Xenophon (attributed to Plutarch); of Cicero by Leonardus Brunus Aretinus (attributed to Plutarch); of Evagoras by Isocrates; of T. Pomponius Atticus by Cornelius Nepos; of Plato by Guarinus Veronensis; of Aristoteles by Leonardus Brunus Aretinus (attributed to Guarinus); and of Homer, ascribed to Herodotus. Includes also De historia Romana of Sextus Rufus.
Translations by Lapo da Castiglionchio, Francesco Filelfo, Donato Acciaiuoli, Guarino Veronese, Antonio Pacini, Francesco Barbaro, Leonardo Bruni, Alamanno Rinuccini, Leonardo Giustiniani, Battista Guarini, Jacques Angeli, and Pellegrino Agli.
ISTC note: PML (2, 1 v. II only, vell [vol I at BN Paris]).
PML copy is vol. II only, printed on vellum; vol. I of this set is at Paris, BnF, see CIBN P-491.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 41 x 28 cm.
PML copy missing 1 leaf: A1 (blank).

Binding: 
20th-century full brown morocco, blind-tooled in a pastiche of an early Italian style, over heavy paper boards (42.5 x 30 cm), sewn on 5 supports, probably by Deborah Evetts at the Morgan. Plain paper pastedowns and endleaves; plain endbands; gilt edges. Previous binding retained: 19th-century 1/2 sheep over mottled paper boards, in box.
Variant Title: 

Virorum illustrium vitae

Inscriptions/Markings: 

Hand decoration: Contemporary Venetian illumination, frontispiece of a jeweled bookcover set in a landscape (leaf A1r) and initials by Girolama da Cremona.

Provenance: 
Agostini family, of Venice, armorials (leaves A1r and pp2v) and inscriptions "Agustini" (leaves B9r and H2r) indicating that the vellum had been reserved for the Agostini copy; Marcantonio Borghese (1730-1809), armorial bookplate: "Ex libris M. A. principis Burghesii" (front pastedown of previous binding), through inheritance to: Paolo Borghese (1845-1920), Bibliotheca Burghesiana sale, Rome, part I, 16 May 1892, lot 12; unidentified label with serated edges, a rectangular border of pearls with a solid line and fringe, printed in blue, with no. 382 (front cover, previous binding); Clara and Irwin Strasburger (identified in Sotheby's catalogue); Sotheby's New York, 25 June 1982, lot 113, to: Pierpont Morgan Library, purchased as the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alexandre P. Rosenberg, and the Edwin H. Herzog Fund, 1982.
Classification: 
Incunable Collection
Catalog Link: 
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Genres: 
Vellum printings (Printing)
Morocco bindings (Binding)
Retrospective bindings (Binding)
Department: 
Printed Books