The dictes or sayengis of the philosophres.

Accession number:

PML 773

Uniform title:

Dits des philosophes. English.

Published:

Westmestre : enprynted by me William Caxton, the yere of our lord .M.CCCC.Lxxvii [1477, before 18 November]

Description:

[78] leaves ; 28 cm (fol.)

Credit Line:

Purchased with the Amherst collection, 1908.

Notes:

Title and imprint from colophon (leaf [10]/2r): Here endeth the book named the dictes or sayengis of the philosophhres [sic] enprynted / by me William Caxton at Westmestre the yere of our lord .M.CCCC.Lxxvii. Whiche book is late translated out of Frenshe into englyssh. by the Noble and puissant lord Lord Antone Erle of Ryvyers lord of Scales [and] of the Ile of Wyght ...
The Rylands copy has an additional colophon with the date 18 Nov. 1477. Lotte Hellinga argues that the date is valid for the Rylands copy only, see Caxton in Focus (1982), pp.77-80, and BMC XI 109.
Printed in Caxton's type 2:135B.
Collation: [1-9⁸ 10⁶]: 78 leaves, leaves [1]/1, [10]/5, and [10]/6 blank.
Paper format: Chancery folio
Originally compiled in Arabic by Mubashshir ibn Fātik.
Translated from the French of Guillaume de Tigonville by Anthony Wydeville (or Woodville), Earl Rivers.
PML copy has a press correction in [1]/4r and a later resetting of [4]/2.7, see BMC XI 109 & 327.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 27.4 x 19.4 cm, trimmed.
PML copy missing 5 leaves: [1]/1 (blank) and [10]/3-6 (colophon, Epilogue, and 2 blanks). Leaves [10]/3-4 replaced in modern manuscript, copying the second colophon from the Rylands copy.

Binding:

18th-century gilt-stamped English calf over paper boards (28.5 x 20 cm), sewn on 6 supports; rebacked. Plain paper pastedowns and fly leaves; decorative endbands. Slip case by Riviere & Son. Originally bound with PML 774 but rebound separately shortly aft

Variant Title:

Dictes and sayings of the philosophers

Inscriptions/Markings:

Hand decoration: Rubricated, red lombards and paragraph marks (C-type, with extended upper). Annotations: Marginal notations (keywords and transcriptions of text) in several contemporary and later hands throughout, pentrials, and doodles. List of donations/financial accounting, ca. 1500, washed (leaf [1]/3v). Reference to the pope abraded (leaf [10]/2r).

Provenance:

[Robert Harley (1661-1724), 1st Earl of Oxford, through inheritance to his son:?] Edward Harley (1689-1741), 2nd Earl of Oxford, the printed books from the Oxford library were sold by his widow, Henrietta Cavendish (1694-1755), in 1743 to: Thomas Osborne, Catalogus bibliothecae Harleianae III, no. 1558; price code, unidentified: 3-0-0 (front endleaf 1 recto); Bryan Fairfax (1676-1749), his sale, Prestgate (London), 6 April 1756, lot 2025, entire library purchased prior to sale by: Francis Child (d. 1763), through inheritance to: Victor Child Villiers (1845-1915), 7th Earl of Jersey, Osterley Park armorial bookplate (front pastedown), Osterly Park shelf mark: Presse I. shelf d. No. ii (front pastedown), Osterley Park sale, Sotheby's, 6 May 1885, lot 591 (mentioning modern manuscript leaves), for £141 to Quaritch for: William Amhurst Tyssen-Amherst, Baron Amherst (1835-1909), armorial bookplate (front pastedown), his sale, Sotheby's London, 3 Dec. 1908, lot 179, purchased prior to sale by: Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), purchased with the Amherst collection, 1908.

Classification:

Incunable Collection

Catalog Link:

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Genres:

Incunabula

Annotations (Provenance)

Calf bindings (Binding)

Gold tooled bindings (Binding)

Department:

Printed Books