Volume III Part 14 (2/2)

ANCIENT CLa.s.sICAL AUTHORS.

aeSOPUS. Gr. Quarto. EDITIO PRINCEPS. A sound and perfect copy: ruled.

---- _Ital._ 1491. Quarto. In Italian poetry, by Manfred de Monteferrato.

---- 1492. Quarto. In Italian prose, by the same. Of these two versions, the Italian appears to be the same as that of the Verona impression of 1479: the cuts are precisely similar. The present is a very sound copy, but evidently cropt.

APULEIUS. 1469. _Printed by Sweynheym and Pannartz._ Folio. Editio Princeps. This copy is UPON VELLUM. It is tall and large, but not so fine as is the following article:

---- _Printed by Jenson._ 1472. Folio. A fine sound copy; in red morocco binding. Formerly belonging to Prince Eugene.

AULUS GELLIUS. 1469. Folio. Edit. Prin. This is without doubt one of the very finest VELLUM copies of an old and valuable Cla.s.sic in existence.

There are sometimes (as is always the case in the books from the earlier Roman press) brown and yellow pages; but, upon the whole, this is a wonderful and inestimable book. It is certainly unique, as being printed upon vellum. Note well: the _Jerom, Apuleius_, and _Aulus Gellius_--with one or two others, presently to be described--were Cardinal Bessarion's OWN COPIES; and were taken from the library of St. Mark at Venice, by the Austrians, in their memorable campaign in Italy. I own that there are hardly any volumes in the Imperial Library at Vienna which interested me so much as these VELLUM SWEYNHEYMS and PANNARTZ!

AUSONIUS. 1472. Folio. Editio Princeps. The extreme rarity of this book is well known. The present copy is severely cropt at top and bottom, but has a good side marginal breadth. It has also been washed; but you are only conscious of it by the scent of soap.

CaeSAR. 1469. _Printed by S. and Pannartz._ Folio. Edit. Princeps. A beautiful and unique copy--UPON VELLUM. This was formerly Prince Eugene's copy; and I suspect it to be the same which is described in the _Bibl.

Hulziana_, vol. i. no. 3072--as it should seem to be quite settled that the printers, Sweynheym and Pannartz, printed only _one_ copy of their respective first editions upon vellum. It is however but too manifest that this precious volume has been cropt in binding--which is in red morocco.

---- 1472. _Printed by the same._ Folio. This also was Prince Eugene's copy; and is much larger and finer than the preceding--on the score of condition.

CICERO DE OFFICIIS. 1465, Quarto. Here are _two_ copies: each UPON VELLUM.

One, in blue morocco, is short and small; but in very pretty condition. The other is stained and written upon. It should be cast out.

---- 1466. Quarto. UPON VELLUM. A beautiful copy, which measures very nearly ten inches in height.[122] In all these copies, the t.i.tle of the ”Paradoxes” is printed.

CICERONIS. EPIST. FAM. 1467. Folio. Editio Princeps. Cardinal Bessarion's own copy, and unquestionably THE FINEST THAT EXISTS. The leaves are white and thick, and crackle aloud as you turn them over. It is upon paper, which makes me think that there never was a copy upon vellum; for the Cardinal, who was a great patron of Sweynheym and Pannartz, the printers, would doubtless have possessed it in that condition. At the beginning, however, it is slightly stained, and at the end slightly wormed. Yet is this copy, in its primitive binding, finer than any which can well be imagined. The curious are aware that this is supposed to have been the _first book printed at Rome_; and that the blanks, left for the introduction of Greek characters, prove that the printers were not in possession of the latter when this book was published. The Cardinal has written two lines, partly in Greek and partly in Latin, on the fly leaf. This copy measures eleven inches three eighths by seven inches seven eighths.

CICERO. RHETORICA VETUS. Printed by Jenson. When I had antic.i.p.ated the beauty of a VELLUM COPY of this book (in the _Bibl. Spencer._ vol. i. p.

349--here close at hand) I had not of course formed the idea of seeing such a one HERE. This vellum copy is doubtless a lovely book; but the vellum is discoloured in many places, and I suspect the copy has been cut down a little.

---- ORATIONES. _Printed by S. and Pannartz._ 1471. Folio. A beautifully white and genuine copy; but the first few leaves are rather soiled, and it is slightly wormed towards the end. A _fairer_ Sweynheym and Pannartz is rarely seen.

---- OPERA OMNIA. 1498. Folio. 4 vols. A truly beautiful copy, bound in red morocco; but it is not free from occasional ms. annotations, in red ink, in the margins. It measures sixteen inches and three quarters in height, by ten inches and three quarters in width. A fine and perfect copy of this _First Edition of the Entire Works_ of Cicero, is obtained with great difficulty. A n.o.bler monument of typographical splendour the early annals of the press cannot boast of.

HOMERI OPERA OMNIA. Gr. 1488. Folio. Editio Princeps. A sound, clean copy, formerly Prince Eugene's; but not comparable with many copies which I have seen.

BATRACHOMYOMACHIA. Gr. Without date or place. Quarto. Edit. Prin: executed in red and black lines, alternately. This is a sound, clean, and beautiful copy; perhaps a little cropt. In modern russia binding.

JUVENALIS. Folio. _Printed by Ulric Han_, in his larger type. A cruelly cropt copy, with a suspiciously ornamented t.i.tle page. This once belonged to Count Delci.

JUVENALIS. _Printed by I. de Fivizano _. _Without date_. Folio. This is a very rare edition, and has been but recently acquired. It contains twenty-seven lines in a full page. There are neither numerals, signatures, nor catchwords. On the sixty-ninth and last leaf, is the colophon. A sound and desirable copy; though not free from soil.

LUCIANI OPUSCULA QUaeDAM. Lat. _Printed by S. Bevilaquensis._ 1494. Quarto.

This is really one of the most covetable little volumes in the world. It is a copy printed UPON VELLUM; with most beautiful illuminations, in the purest Italian taste. Look--if ever you visit the Imperial Library--at the last illumination, at the bottom of _o v_, recto. It is indescribably elegant. But the binder should have been hung in chains. He has cut the book to the very quick--so as almost to have entirely sliced away several of the border decorations.

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