Incipit primvs liber specvli moralis.

Accession number: 
PML 18251
Author: 
Vincent, of Beauvais, -1264.
Published: 
[Strasbourg] : [Johann Mentelin], [9 November 1476].
Description: 
[477] leaves ; 49.5 cm (fol.)
Credit Line: 
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1908.
Notes: 

Title from incipit, leaf [2]/2r: Incipit primvs liber specvli moralis.
Imprint from copies with colophon, leaf [50]/10r: Vincentii Beluacensis Sacre theologie doctoris eximii Ordinis fr[atre]m predicatorum Speculum Morale ... Impressumq[ue] in inclyta vrbe Argentinensium ac nitide terse emendateq[ue] refertum per honorandu[m] d[omi]n[u]m d[omi]n[u]m Iohannem Mentelin artis imp[re]ssorie magistru[m] famosissimu[m]. Anno a partu virginis salutifero millesimoquadringentesimoseptuagesimo sexto. die mensis nouembris nona.
Known with and without colophon (Schorbach 36 & 37). BMC mistranscribes Van Praet's report of it, hence dating the edition 6 November. A few copies (eg WillCL, München BSB) have following the colophon the words 'VALE LEONARDE. TIBI OPTO // SVCCESSVS SECVNDOS'.
Printed in Mentelin's type 8:107G.
Collation: [1⁴; 2-6¹⁰ 7⁸ 8-12¹⁰ 13⁸ 14¹⁰ 15⁸, 16-20¹⁰ 21⁸ 22-25¹⁰, 26¹⁰ 27⁸, 28¹⁰; 29-33¹⁰ 34⁸ 35-36¹⁰ 37⁸ 38⁶(+1), 39-43¹⁰ 44⁸ 45-49¹⁰ 50¹²]: 477 leaves, leaves [1]/1, [2]/1, and [50]/12 blank.
Paper format: Imperial folio.
PML copy issued without colophon.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 47.6 x 33.5 cm.
PML copy missing 6 leaves: [1]/1-4, [2]/1, and [50]/12 (tabula and blanks).

Binding: 
19th-century full black goatskin over heavy paper boards (42.5 x 36 cm), sewn on 5 supports by Lortic. Marbled paper pastedowns and endleaves, with plain paper endleaves; decorative endbands; gilt edges.
Variant Title: 

Incipit primus liber speculi moralis

Inscriptions/Markings: 

Hand decoration: Contemporary rubrication, red initials, paragraph marks (wedge- and P-shaped), and capital strokes; primary initials with negative decoration in letterform. Annotations: Minimal marginal notations sporadically in text, mainly nota bene marks and a few text corrections. Manuscript tabula in place of printed [1]/1-4, on same paper (watermark: crescent/star, not in Briquet or Piccard) as printed text. Contemporary manuscript Arabic numeral-Roman numeral quire signatures, starting with quire [2], and with center bifolium with a + after the Roman numeral. Same rubrication and marginal notations throughout PML 18246-51.

Provenance: 
Koblenz (Rhineland-Palatinate), Recollect Franciscans, abraded inscription (leaf [1]/2r); Ambroise Firmin-Didot (1790-1876), booklabel (front pastedown), his sale, Paris, part III, 9 June 1881, lot 550 (including all parts of Speculum--naturale, doctrinale, morale, historiale--in 5 vols.); unidentified (not Firmin-Didot) French sale catalogue description, for 10000 fr., glued-in (Speculum historiale, vol. 2, front endleaf 1 recto); Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), purchased from Leo Olschki, Aug. 1908.
Classification: 
Department: