Skip to main content

Historia naturalis: PB 21-2020

Current Location: In storage

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

Audit data

Created: Tuesday 25 February 2020 Updated: 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: 2024-04-26 18:28:45

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=2024-04-26 18:28:45|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-240293

More objects and works of art you might like

An image of Other

Historia romana

Accession Number: MS McClean 180

An image of Greek

Greek

Accession Number: CM.G.43-R

An image of Greek

Greek

Accession Number: CM.G.327-R

An image of Sextans

Sextans

Accession Number: CM.G.339-R

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...

University of Cambridge Museums logo
Cambridge City Council logo
Arts Council England Logo
Research England logo