Title from caption, leaf [1]/2r.
Imprint from colophon, leaf L10v: Fine del comento di Christophoro Landino Fiorentino sopra la Comedia di Danthe poeta excellentissimo. Et impresso in Firenze per Nicholo di Lorenzo della Magna a di .XXX. dagosto .M.CCCC.LXXXI.
Printed in Laurentii's types 4:114R and 5:91R.
In 4 parts: I, Proemio e vita) [1⁸ 2⁶]: 14 leaves, leaves [1]/2-4 signed i, ii, and iii, leaves [1]/1 and[2]/6 blank; II, Inferno) a¹⁰ b⁸ c-e¹⁰ f⁸ g¹⁰ h-i⁸ l¹⁰ m-n⁸ o-r¹⁰ s⁶: 154 leaves, leaf a1 blank; III, Purgatorio) aa-gg¹⁰ hh¹²; ll-mm¹⁰ oo⁶: 108 leaves, leaf aa1 blank, leaves aa4 and aa5 signed aaiii and aaiiii; IV, Paradiso) aaa/A⁸ B-H¹⁰ I⁶ L¹²: 96 leaves, leaves L11-12 blank, in first quire leaves 1-2 signed aaai-ii and leaf 3 signed Aiii.
Paper format: Royal folio.
19 copper engravings are known, by Baccio Baldini after designs by Sandro Botticelli, to accompany the first 19 Cantos of the Inferno (A.M. Hind, Early Italian engraving I (London, 1938) pp. 99-116). For extensive notes on engravings in the US copies see Goff. For the Paris BN vellum copy without engravings, and other variants, see Pellechet.
For notes on variants and characteristics of individual copies, see C. Landino, Comento sopra la Comedia, a cura di Paolo Procaccioli (Roma, 2001), t.1 pp.127-73.
Commentary by Christophorus Landinus.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 41 x 27.4 cm.
PML copy with engraving on leaf b1v printed in place; engraving on leaf a1r printed on correct paper and inlaid into existing leaf a1, remainder of plates in state 2, pasted-on (engravings on leaves c7v, d5r, d9v, h8r, and l1r pasted over a worm hole -- i.e. later addition or exchange of plates between copies). Engraving on leaf l8r pasted over a modern facsimile on yellow paper. Engraving on leaf d5r missing about lower third. Many engravings have small sections torn away, perhaps removed from another copy and pasted-in here.
PML copy with leaves [2]/1, a1 (not including engraving), o10, and G1-L9 from another copy (or copies), remargined.
PML copy missing leaves: [1]/1, [2]/6, a1, aa1, and LL11-12 (blanks).
Commedia
Hand decoration: Rubrication unrealized; leaf a1r (from another copy) with contemporary illuminated initial N and foliate border in Austrian or Bavarian style. Annotations: Minimal 16th-century Italian marginal notations in text, namely brackets in Inferno, canto 10 and Purgatorio, canto 16, "Saetta" (leaf i6r), "Fiorentini ciechi" (leaf l3r), "yhs" (leaves gg10r and aaa/A4r), "Guittone" (leaf hh8r), and note on Conte Ugo da Luzimborgo (leaf F2r); contemporary inscription: "Qui manchano versi" (bottom of leaf r3v) indicating missing lines of poem but lines not added (no other missing lines of text in poem identified).