Von einer frauwen genantt Melusina.

Accession number:

PML 20609

Author:

Jean, d'Arras, active 14th century.

Published:

[Strasbourg] : [Heinrich Knoblochtzer], [about 1478]

Description:

[78] leaves : illus. (woodcuts) ; 28 cm (fol.)

Credit Line:

Purchased by J.P. Morgan, Jr., 1919.

Notes:

Title from incipit (leaf [1]/2r): "Dis oventu̇rlich bůch bewiset wie von einer frauwen genantt Melusina..."
Imprint from ISTC. GW dates as about 1477.
Printed in Knoblochtzer's type 1:121G.
Collation: [1-2⁸ 3⁶ 4-10⁸]: 78 leaves, leaf [1]/1 blank.
Not in Schorbach and Sprigatis.
Paper format: Chancery folio
The woodcuts are copied from the Basel: Richel, about 1476 edition (ISTC im00476000). Knoblochtzer also used them in his 1477 and 1483 editions.
This edition is a variant of that printed by Knoblochtzer about 1477 (ISTC im00476500). This edition was not fully recognized and described until the C. Fairfax Murray catalogue of German books.
Translated by Thüring von Ringoltingen from the French rhymed version of Couldrette, see Verfasserlexikon 9: 908-14. Authorship formerly attributed to Jean d'Arras, who wrote an earlier version of the text.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 27.1 x 18.8 cm
PML copy missing leaves [1]/1-2 and [2]/5; leaves [1]/2 and [2]/5 replaced in facsimile (from Knoblochtzer's 1477 edition).

Binding:

19th-century red morocco with doublures of gilt-tooled green morocco over thin wooden boards (27.6 x 19.5 cm) by Chambolle-Duru. Marbled paper fly leaves; decorative endbands; gilt edges.

Inscriptions/Markings:

Hand decoration: Rubricated, red lombards, paragraph marks and capital strokes; woodcuts hand colored.

Provenance:

Baron Achille Seillière (1813-1873); his sale, Sotheby's, 28 Feb. 1887, lot 589 (unsold?) and Paris, 24 April 1893, lot 265 ("several leaves redone"); Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919), booklabel (first fly leaf verso); his sale, Christie's London, 10 Dec. 1917, lot 242 (to Quaritch?); J.P. Morgan, Jr., purchased from Bernard Quaritch, July 1919.

Classification:

Incunable Collection

Catalog Link:

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Genres:

Incunabula

Morocco bindings (Binding)

Bookplates (Provenance)

Department:

Printed Books