A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany Volume III Part 16

This is the only early edition, as far as I had an opportutunity of ascertaining, which they appear to possess of the Decameron of Boccaccio.

Of the _Philocolo_, there is a folio edition of 1488; and of the _Nimphale_ there is a sound and clean copy of a dateless edition, in 4to., without name of place or printer, which ends thus--and which possibly may be among the very earliest impressions of that work:

Finito il nimphale di fiesole che tracto damore.

_Caterina da Bologna._ _Without Date or name of Printer._ Quarto. This is a very small quarto volume of great rarity; concluding with some poetry, and some particulars of the Life of the female Saint and author. It appears to have wholly escaped Brunet.

Incomezao alcune cose d'la uita d'la sopra nominata beata Caterina.

There are neither manuals, signatures, nor catchwords. This volume looks like a production of the _Bologna_ or _Mantua_ press. I never saw another copy of this curious little work.

_Caterina da Siena Legendi di._ _Printed in the Monastery of St. James, at Florence._ 1477. Quarto. This is the edition which Brunet very properly p.r.o.nounces to be "excessively rare." It is printed in double columns, in a small, close, and scratchy gothic type. On the 158th and last leaf, is the colophon.

_Dante._ _Printed by Neumister._ 1472. Folio. PRIMA EDIZIONE. This copy is ruled, but short, and in a somewhat tender condition. Although not a first rate copy, it is nevertheless desirable; yet is this book but a secondary typographical performance. The paper is always coa.r.s.e in texture, and sombre in tint.

_Dante_. 1481. Folio. With the commentary of Landino. This is doubtless a precious copy, inasmuch as it contains TWENTY COPPER-PLATE IMPRESSIONS, and is withal in fair and sound condition. The fore-edge margin has been however somewhat deprived of its original dimensions.

_Decor Puellarum. Printed by Jenson_. Quarto. With the false date of 1461 for 1471. This volume, which once gave rise to such elaborate bibliographical disquisition, now ceases to have any extraordinary claims upon the attention of the collector. It is nevertheless a _sine qua non_ in a library with any pretension to early typographical curiosities. The present copy is clean and tolerably large: bound by De Rome.

_Fazio. Dita Mundi. Printed by L. Basiliensis_. 1474. Folio. Prima Edizione. Of unquestionably great rarity; and unknown to the earlier bibliographers. It is printed in double columns, with signatures, to _o_ in eighths: _o_ has only four leaves. This copy has the signatures considerably below the text, and they seem to have been a clumsy and _posterior_ piece of workmanship. It has been recently bound in russia.

_Frezzi. Il Quadriregio_. 1481. Folio. Prima Edizione. I have before sufficiently expatiated upon the rarity of this impression. The present is a large copy, but too much beaten in the binding. The first leaf is much stained. A few of the others are also not free from the same defect.

_Fulgosii Bapt. Anteros.: sive de Amore. Printed by L. Pachel. Milan_.

1496. On the reverse of the t.i.tle, is a very singular wood-cut--where Death is sitting upon a coffin, and a blinded Cupid stands leaning against a tree before him: with a variety of other allegorical figures. The present is a beautiful copy, in red morocco binding.

_Gloria Mulierum. Printed by Jenson_. Quarto. This is another of the early Jenson pieces which are coveted by the curious and of which a sufficiently particular account has been already given to the public[128] This copy is taller than that of the _Decor Puellarum_ (before described) but it is in too tender a condition.

_Legende Di Sancti per Nicolao di Manerbi, Printed by Jenson. Without date_. Folio. It is just possible that you may not have forgotten a brief mention of a copy of this very rare book in the Mazarine Library at Paris,[129] That copy, although beautiful, was upon paper: the present is UPON VELLUM--illuminated, very delicately in the margins, with figures of divers Saints. I take the work to be an Italian version of the well known LEGENDA SANCTORUM. The book is doubtless among the most beautiful from the press of JENSON, who is noticed in the prefatory advertis.e.m.e.nt of Manerbi.

_Luctus Christianorum. Printed by Jenson_. Quarto. Another of the early pieces of Jenson's press; and probably of the date of 1471. The present is a fair, nice copy; but has something of a foggy and suspicious aspect about it. I suspect it to have been washed.

_Monte Sancto di Dio_. 1477. Folio. The chief value of this book consists in its having good impressions of the THREE COPPER PLATES. Of these, only _one_ is in the present copy, which represents the Devil eating his victims in the lake of Avernus, as given in the La Valliere copy. Yet the absence of the two remaining plates, as it happens, const.i.tutes the chief attraction of this copy; for they are here supplied by two FAC-SIMILES, presented to the Library by Leopold Duke of Tuscany, of the most wonderfully perfect execution I ever saw.

_Petrarcha. Sonetti e Trionfi. Printed by V. de Spira._ 1470. Folio. Prima Edizione. The last leaf of the table is unluckily ma.n.u.script; and the last leaf but one of the text is smaller than the rest--which appear to have been obtained, from another copy. In other respects, this is a large, sound, and desirable copy. It belonged to Prince Eugene.

_Petrarcha. Sonetti e Trionfi. Printed by Zarotus._ 1473. Folio. This edition (if the present copy of it be perfect) has no prefix of table or biographical memorandum of Petrarch. A full page contains forty, and sometimes forty-two lines. On the recto of the last leaf is the colophon.

This is a sound and clean, but apparently cropt copy; in old blue morocco binding.

_Petrarcha Sonetti e Trionfi. Printed by Jenson._ 1473. Folio. A sound and desirable copy, in red morocco binding; formerly belonging to Prince Eugene.

----. _Comment. Borstii in Trionfi. Printed at Bologna._ 1475. Folio. Here are two copies of this beautifully printed, and by no means common, book.

One of them belonged to Prince Eugene; and a glance upon the top corner ms.

pagination evidently proves it to have been cropt. It is in red morocco binding. The other copy, bound in blue morocco, has the table inlaid; and is desirable--although inferior to the preceding.

_Poggio. Historia Fiorentina. Printed by I. de Rossi._ (Jacobus Rubeus) 1476. Folio. First edition of the Italian version. This copy is really a great curiosity., The first seven books are printed _upon paper_ of a fine tone and texture, and the leaves are absolutely _uncut_: a few leaves at the beginning are soiled--especially the first; but the remainder are in delightful preservation, and shew what an old book _ought_ to be. The eighth book is entirely printed UPON VELLUM; and some of these vellum leaves are perfectly enchanting. They are of the same size with the paper, and _also uncut._ This volume has never been bound. I entreated M. Bartsch to have it handsomely bound, but not to touch the fore edges. He consented readily.

_Regula Confitendi Peccata Sua._ 1473. Quarto. Of this book I never saw another copy. The author is PICENUS, and the work is written throughout in the Italian language. There are but seven leaves--executed in a letter which resembles the typographical productions of Bologna and Mantua.

GERMAN, FRENCH, AND SPANISH BOOKS.

_Bone Vie (Livre De);_ qui est appelee Madenie. _Printed by A. Neyret at Chambery._ 1485. Folio. As far as signature 1 vj, the subject is prose: afterwards commences the poetry--"appelle la somme de la vision Iehan du pin." The colophon is on the reverse of the last leaf but one. A wood-cut is on the last leaf. This small folio volume is printed in a tall, close, and inelegant gothic type; reminding me much of the LIVRE DE CHa.s.sE printed at the same place, in 1486, and now in Lord Spencer's library.[130]

_Chevalier (Le) Delibre._ 1488. Quarto. This book is filled with some very neat wood cuts, and is printed in the gothic letter. The subject matter is poetical. No name appears, but I suspect this edition to have been, printed in the office of Verard.

_Cite des Dames (Le Tresor de la)_--"sclon dame christine." Without Date.

Folio. A fine, tall, clean copy; UPON VELLUM. The printer seems in all probability to have been _Verard_. In red morocco binding.

_Coronica del Cid ruy Diaz._ _Printed at Seville._ _Without Date._ Quarto.

The preceding t.i.tle is beneath a neat wood-cut of a man on horseback, brandishing his sword; an old man, coming out of a gate, is beside him. The signatures from _a_ to _i vj_, are in eights. On _f ij_ is a singular wood-cut of a lion entering a room, where a man is apparently sleeping over a chess-board, while two men are rising from the table: this cut is rudely executed. On _i v_ is the colophon. This edition is executed in that peculiarly rich and handsome style of printing, in a bold gothic letter, which distinguishes the early annals of the Spanish press. The present beautifully clean copy belonged to PRINCE EUGENE; but it has been severely cropt.

_Ein nuizlich buchlin_ das man nennet den Pilgrim das hat der wurdig doctor keyserperg zu Augspurg geprediget. Such is the t.i.tle of this singular tract, printed by _Lucas Zeisenmair_ at Augsbourg in 1498. Small 4to. It has many clever and curious wood-cuts; and I do not remember, in any part of Germany where I have travelled, to have seen another copy of it.

_Fierbras._ _Printed by G. Le Roy._ 1486. Folio. This is a small folio, and the third edition of the work. This copy is quite perfect; containing the last leaf, on which is a large wood-cut. All the cuts here are coloured after the fashion of the old times. This sound and desirable copy, in red morocco binding, once graced the library of PRINCE EUGENE.

_Iosephe._ _Printed by Verard._ 1492. Folio. "_Cy finist l'hystoire de Josephus de la bataille Judaique, &c_." This is a n.o.ble folio volume; printed in the large handsome type of Verard, abounding with wood cuts. It is in red morocco binding.

_Jouvencel (Le)._ _Printed by Verard_, 1497. Folio. This is a fine copy, with coloured cuts, printed UPON VELLUM. It is badly bound.

_Lancelot du Lac._ _Printed by Verard._ 1488. Folio. 2 vols. First Edition.

A fine clean copy, but somewhat cropt. It once belonged to PRINCE EUGENE, and is bound in red morocco.

---- _Printed by the Same._ 1496. Folio. 3 vols. UPON VELLUM. In fine old red morocco binding, beautifully tooled. This copy measures fifteen inches six-eighths in height, by ten inches five-eighths in width.

_Les Deux Amans._ _Printed by Verard._ 1493. Quarto. The t.i.tle is beneath the large L, of which a fac-simile appears in the first vol. of my edition of our _Typographical Antiquities_. The work is old French poetry. Verard's device is on the last leaf. A copy of this book is, in all probability, in a certain black-letter French-metrical cabinet in Portland Place.

_Maguelone (La Belle)._ _Printed by Trepperel._ 1492. Quarto. The preceding t.i.tle is over Trepperel's device. The wood cuts in this edition have rather unusual merit; especially that on the reverse of Ciiii. A very desirable copy.

_Marco Polo. Von Venedig des Grost Landtfarer. Germanice._ _Printed by Creusner._ 1477. Folio. This is the FIRST EDITION of the Travels of MARCO POLO; and I am not sure whether the present copy be not considered unique.[131] A complete paginary and even lineal transcript of it was obtained for Mr. Marsden's forth-coming translation of the work, into our own language--under the superintendence of M. Kopitar. Its value, therefore, may be appreciated accordingly.

_Regnars (Les)_ "trauersant les perilleuses voyes des folles frances du mode." _Printed by Verard._ _No Date._ 4to. This is a French metrical version from the German of Sebastian Brandt. The present edition is printed in the black letter, double columns, with wood cuts. This is a fair good copy, bound in red morocco, and formerly belonging to Prince Eugene.

_Tewrdannckh._ 1517. Folio. The Emperor Maximilian's OWN COPY!--of course UPON VELLUM. The cuts are coloured. The Abbe Strattman had told me that I should necessarily find this to be the largest and completest copy in existence. It is very white and tall, measuring fifteen inches, by nine and three quarters; and perhaps the largest known. Yet I suspect, from the smooth glossy surface of the fore edge--in its recent and very common-place binding, in russia--that the side margin was once broader.[132] The cuts should not have been coloured, and the binding should haye been less vulgar: Here is ANOTHER COPY, not quite so large, with the cuts uncoloured.[133]

_Tristran: chlr de la table ronde "nouellement Imprime a Paris_." Folio.

_Printed by Verard._ Without Date. This is a fine sound copy, in old handsome calf binding.

_Thucydide (L'hystoire de)._ _Printed by G. Gourmont._ Without Date. Folio.

The translator was Claude de Seyssel, when Bishop of Ma.r.s.eilles, and the edition was printed at the command of Francis the First. It is executed in the small, neat, secretary gothic type of Gourmont; whose name is at the bottom of the t.i.tle-page. This is a beautiful copy, struck off UPON VELLUM; but it is much cut in the fore edge, and much choked in the back of the binding, which is in red morocco. It belonged to PRINCE EUGENE.

Comparatively copious as may be the preceding list, I fear it will not satisfy you unless I make some mention of _Block Books_, and inform you whether, as you have long and justly supposed, there be not also a few _Cartons_ in the Imperial Library. These two points will occupy very little more of my time and attention. First then of _xylographical_ productions--or of books supposed to have been printed by means of wooden blocks. I shall begin with an unique article of this description. It is called _Liber Regum, seu Vita Davidis_: a folio, of twenty leaves: printed on one side only, but the leaves are here pasted together. Two leaves go to a signature, and the signatures run from A to K. Each page has two wood cuts, about twice as long as the text; or, rather, about one inch and three quarters of the text doubled. The text is evidently xylographic. The ink is of the usual pale, brown colour. This copy is coloured, of the time of the publication of the book. It is in every respect in a fine and perfect state of preservation. Here is the second, if not third edition, of the _Biblia Pauperum_; the second edition of the _Apocalypse_; the same of the _History of the Virgin_; and a coloured and cropt copy of _Hartlib's Book upon Chiromancy_: so much is it cropt, that the name of _Schopff_, the supposed printer, is half cut away. The preceding books are all clumsily bound in modern russia binding. As some compensation, however, there is a fine bound copy, in red morocco binding, of the Latin edition of the _Speculum Humanae Salvationis_; and a very fine large copy, in blue morocco binding, of the first edition of the _Ars Memorandi per Figuras_; which latter had belonged to Prince Eugene.

Of the CAXTONS, the list is more creditable; and indeed very much to be commended: for, out of our own country, I question whether the united strength of all the continental libraries could furnish a more copious supply of the productions of our venerable first printer. I send you the following account--just as the several articles happened to be taken down for my inspection. _Chaucer's Book of Fame_: a neat, clean, perfect copy: in modern russia binding. The _Mayster of Sentence_, &c. This is only a portion of a work, although it is perfect of itself, as to signatures and imprint. This copy, in modern russia binding, is much washed, and in a very tender state. _Game of Chess_; second edition. In very tender condition: bound in blue morocco, with pink lining. An exceedingly _doctored_ copy.

_Iason_: a cropt, and rather dirty copy: which formerly belonged to Gulstone. It appears to be perfect; for Gulstone has observed in ms. "_This book has 148 leaves, as I told them carefully. 'Tis very scarce and valuable, and deserves an extraordinary good binding_." Below, is a note, in French; apparently by Count Reviczky. _G.o.dfrey of Boulogne_: a perfect, large copy, in old red morocco (apparently Harleian) binding. On the fly leaf, Count Reviczky has written a notice of the date and name of the printer of the book. Opposite the autograph of _Ames_ (to whom this copy once belonged) the old price of 16_l._ 16_s._ is inserted. On the first page of the text, is the ancient autograph of _Henry Norreys_. This is doubtless the most desirable Caxtonian volume in the collection. This department of bibliography may be concluded by the mention of a sound and desirable copy of the first edition of _Littleton's Tenures_ by _Lettou_ and _Machlinia_, which had formerly belonged to Bayntun of Gray's Inn.

This, and most of the preceding articles, from the early English press, were supplied to the Imperial library by the late Mr. Edwards.