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Historia naturalis: PB 21-2020

Object information

Current Location: Gallery 32 (Rothschild)

Titles

Historia naturalis

Maker(s)

Author: Pliny, the Elder
Translator: Landino, Cristoforo
Printer: Jenson, Nikolaus

Categories

Description

Pliny the Elder, Historia naturalis, translated by Cristoforo Landino
In Italian
Venice: Nicolaus Jenson, 1476

Illuminated in Venice, c. 1476

Ills: [a6]r (book 1); [e2]r (book 3); [e10]v (book 4);

Paper, Folio, 422 x 285 mm, 413 fols. (of 415 fols., wanting the first [a1] and last [V10] blank leaves; fols. [h4] and [h7] from another copy), early foliation in brown ink and modern foliation in pencil, running titles, red flourishing added to printed rubrics

Type: Roman and Greek

BINDING: eighteenth century, Italian mottled vellum over pasteboards, red edges

CONTENTS
fol.[a6]r Pliny the Elder, Historia naturalis, translated by Christoforo Landino

ORNAMENTATION
Thirty-eight painted initials [10-12 ll.]: two pink initials with foliate motifs on blue ground for Prohemio (fol.[a2]r) and book I (or Prefatione, fol.[a6]r); thirteen gold initials on coloured grounds pierced by white vine-scroll for books II, III, V, VIII, XII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVIII, XXII, XXIV, XXV (on gold ground), XXXVI; seventeen faceted initials in pink, green or blue on foliate monochrome grounds for books IV, VI, VII, IX, X, XI, XIII, XVII, XIX, XXIII, XXVIII (floral motif repainted in black), XXX, XXXI, XXXII, XXXIV, XXXV, XXXVII; four green or white initials with pearls, jewels or camaieu d’or motifs on purple or blue grounds for books XX, XXI, XXVII, XXIX; two initials pierced by interlacing stems for books XXVI and XXXIII; alternate red and blue penwork Roman capitals [2 ll.]; running titles added by hand in red and blue; printed guide letters.

ISTC ip00801000; H 13105*; GW M34342; Bod-inc P-372; BMC V 176; Oates 1640; IGI 7893; BSB-Ink P-611; CIBN P-469

Notes

History note: Still in Italy in 1506 (contemporary note on the discovery of the statue of Laocöon and his sons in Rome in January 1506, fol. [S6]v); Frank McClean (1837-1904) (bookplate inside upper cover); his bequest, 1904.

Place(s) associated

  • Venice

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1904) by McClean, Frank

Dating

Production date: AD 1476

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: PB 21-2020
Primary reference Number: 240293
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Tuesday 25 February 2020 Updated: Thursday 23 November 2023 Last processed: Thursday 23 November 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Manuscripts and Printed Books

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Historia naturalis" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/240293 Accessed: 2024-11-22 00:24:26

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/240293 |title=Historia naturalis |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-22 00:24:26|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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