De re militari.

Accession number: 
PML 470
Author: 
Valturio, Roberto, 1405-1475.
Published: 
[Verona] : Iohannes ex Uerona oriundus: Nicolai cyrugie medici filius: artis impressorie magister, An. M.CCCCLXXII [1472].
Description: 
[260] leaves : illustrated (woodcuts) ; 35 cm. (fol.)
Credit Line: 
Purchased with the Bennett collection, 1902.
Notes: 

Title from ISTC.
Imprint from colophon, leaf [27]/12r: Iohannes ex Uerona oriundus: Nicolai cyrugie medici filius: Artis impressorie magister: hunc de re militari librum elegantissimum: litteris & figuratis signis sua in patria primus impressit. An. M. CCCCLXXII.
ISTC cites printer's name as Johannes Nicolai de Verona.
Printed in Nicolai's type 1:122R.
Signatures: [1⁶; 2-8¹⁰ 9¹⁴ 10² 11-13¹⁰ 14¹² 15⁸ 16⁶ 17-19¹⁰ 20¹² 21-26¹⁰ 27¹²]: 260 leaves. Leaves [1]/5-6 and [19]/7 blank.
Paper format: Median folio.
First book printed in Verona and the first illustrated by an Italian artist; illustrations attributed to Matteo de' Pasti or to his school. Cf. Sander, Le livre à figures italien, v. 3, p. xlv.
Work dedicated to Sigismundus Pandulphus Malatesta.
Poem by Marco da Rimini on Valturio and his work addressed to Valturio: p. [522-523]. For attribution of authorship of the poem, see E. Rodakiewicz, The editio princeps of Roberto Valturio's De re militari, 1940, p. 80.
Contains ca. 100 woodcuts, most of designs illustrating various military weapons and engines. "Their irregular placing on the page shows that they were struck off, or perhaps hand-stamped, after the letterpress"--BM 15th cent.
1 column, 37 lines. Capital spaces at beginning of each book and each paragraph, without guide letters.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 32.5 x 23 cm.
PML copy missing 3 leaves: [1]/5-6 and [19]/7 (blanks).

Binding: 
Modern full maroon goatskin over paper boards (33.5 x 24.5 cm.), sewn on 4 supports by Deborah Evetts, 1969. Paper pastedowns and fly leaves from previous binding, with modern paper fly leaves; plain endbands; sprinkled edges.
Variant Title: 

Table and index on leaf [1]/1r begin: [E]lenchvs et index rerum militarium quȩ singulis codicis huius i[n] uolumi[ni]bus continet[ur]

Inscriptions/Markings: 

Hand decoration: Contemporary Italian illuminated initial (leaf [1]/1r only), the remainder of the major initials unrealized; minor initials partially realized in simple ink. Books II and III with decorative rubrics. Annotations: Contemporary notations throughout in brown and black inks but perhaps same hand, and another slightly later hand in black ink.

Provenance: 
Bergamo, Dominicans, Convent of San Stefano, inscription: "Conventus Sti. Stephani d B[er]gamo or[din]is pre[dicat]or[um]," 15th century (leaf [2]/1r); Luca Danese of Ravenna (1598-1672), signature (leaf [1]/1r); Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1773-1843), armorial book plate with shelf mark: VI.V.b.20 (front pastedown, preserved from previous binding); his sale, Evans, part V, 22 April 1845, lot 1214; Bertram Ashburnham, Earl of Ashburnham (1797-1878), with shelf mark: 29.I (front fly leaf verso); his sale, Sotheby's, part III, 9 May 1898, lot 3804; Richard Bennett (1849-1930), armorial bookplate (front pastedown, preserved from previous binding) and price code: owm/-/- (front fly leaf verso); Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), purchased with the Bennett collection, 1902.
Classification: 
Department: