Caii Suetonii Tranquilli de vita .XII. Caesarum.

Accession number:

PML 79000

Author:

Suetonius, approximately 69-approximately 122.

Published:

[Venice] : Nicolaus Jenson, [before July] 1471.

Description:

[164] leaves ; 27.5 x 19 cm (4to)

Credit Line:

Gift of William S. Glazier, 1984.

Notes:

Collation: [1¹⁰ 2¹² 3¹⁰ 4¹² 5¹⁰ 6¹² 7¹⁰ 8¹² 9¹⁰ 10¹² 11¹⁰ 12¹² 13-14¹⁰ 15¹²]: 164 leaves, leaves [15]/11-12 blank.
Colophon (leaf [15]/10v): Hoc ego nicoleos gallus cognomine ienson / Impressi: mirae quis neg[et] artis opus. / At tibi dum legitur docili suetonius ore: / Artificis nomen fac rogo lector ames. .M.CCCC.LXXI.
Paper format: Royal quarto
PML copy leaf dimensions: 26.4 x 18 cm
PML copy missing 2 leaves: [15]/11-12 (blanks).
Preliminary Versus by Ausonius before Life of Julius Caesar, leaf [1]/1r.
Printed in type 1:115R.
The book was on sale in Germany by 6 July 1471: M. Cortesi in Vestigia. Studi in onore di Giuseppe Billanovich, I (Rome, 1984), p. 213.
Title from incipit (leaf [1]/1r): Caii Suetonii Tranquilli de vita .XII. Caesarum liber primus divus Iulius Caesar incipit foeliciter.

Binding:

Modern (late-19th or early-20th century) full green goatskin over boards (27.5 x 19 cm), sewn on 4 supports. Plain paper pastedowns and fly leaves; decorative endbands; gilt edges.

Variant Title:

Vitae XII Caesarum

Inscriptions/Markings:

Hand decoration: Pen and ink wash border (leaf [1]/1r) and large initials on blue and yellow ground with putti, animals, and foliage, in the style of Girolamo da Cremona; alternating red and purple 2-line lombards (some unrealized). Annotations: No marginal notations in text. 17th/18th-century ink foliation.

Provenance:

Petrus Montagnana (d. 1478), donation inscription, 1478 (on former end leaf now wanting, cited in Sunderland sale catalogue; see PML 294/ChL 733, which Petrus bequeathed to S. Giovanni Baptista di Verdara, Padua in 1478); Padua, Canons Regular of the Lateran, S. Giovanni Baptista di Verdara; unidentified armorial: monogram VA (leaf [1]/1r); John Winston Spencer-Churchill (1822-1883), 7th Duke of Marlborough, Sunderland Library, Blenheim Palace, armorial bookplate (front pastedown); Bibliotheca Sunderlandiana sale, Puttick & Simpson, part 5, 10 March 1883, lot 11835; Joseph Martini, Lucerne sale, 27 Aug. 1934, lot 325; William S. Glazier (1907-1962), booklabel (front pastedown); Pierpont Morgan Library, gift of William S. Glazier, 1984.

Classification:

Incunable Collection

Catalog Link:

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Genres:

Incunabula

Pen and wash drawings

Goatskin bindings (Binding)

Century:

19th century

Department:

Printed Books