Barbarus, Castigationes Plinianae, Cremona, 1495, contemporary Venetian morocco

Hermolaus Barbarus

Castigationes Plinianae et Pomponii Melae [with additions by Augustinus Grandis]. Cremona: Carolus Darlerius, 3 April 1495

Chancery folio (300 x 205mm.), 159 leaves (of 160, without blank s4), a-k⁸ l-r⁶ s⁴ aa-ee⁶ ff⁴, 58-59 lines plus headline, roman type, contemporary Venetian blind-tooled chestnut morocco over thin wooden boards, four clasps, title lettered along foot of text-block, in modern drop-backed folding box, later endpapers, a few small wormholes in text, binding somewhat rubbed, some wormholes in binding (mostly in spine), upper cover detached, lower hinge split, lacking straps

The outer border of the binding is also found on a 1489 Venetian Commissione, illustrated in De Marinis, no.1616 (but gilt rather than blind-tooled, as here), and the ropework tool used to create the central decoration appears on a 1496 Commissione (De Marinis no. 1626, also gilt).

LITERATURE:

ISTC ib00102000

PROVENANCE:

"Ex libris Prioratus S^cti Antonii de Urbe", inscription at head of a2