Formicarius.

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Accession number: 
PML 20344.1
Author: 
Nider, Johannes, approximately 1380-1438.
Published: 
Augsburg : Anton Sorg, [about 1484].
Description: 
[192] leaves ; 29 cm. (fol.)
Credit Line: 
Purchased by J.P. Morgan, Jr., 1918.
Notes: 

Title from incipit (leaf a2r): Incipit prologus formicarii iuxta edic[i]one[m] fratris Johannis Nider sacre theologie p[ro]fessoris eximii qui vitam tempore concilii constanciensis basiliensisq[ue] duxit in humanis feliciter.
Colophon (leaf v5v): Explicit quintus ac totus formicarii liber iuxta editionem fratris Johannis Nider sacre theologie p[ro]fessoris eximii qui vita[m] t[em]p[or]e concilii Constantiensis Basiliensisq[ue] duxit in humanis feliciter. Im pressum Auguste per Anthonium Sorg.
Printed in Sorg's types 2:118G and 3:140G.
Collation: a-s¹⁰ t-v⁶: 192 leaves, leaves a1 and v6 blank.
Paper format: Chancery folio
PML copy leaf dimensions: 28.5 x 19 cm.

Binding: 
Contemporary blind-stamped pigskin over wooden boards (29.5 x 20 cm.), sewn on 3 supports by the Augsburg Blüte frei or Augsburg Bogenfries workshop (EBDB w000899/Kyriss 77), active circa 1477-1497. 14th-/early 15th-century manuscript waste calendar pages used as front and rear pastedowns; decorative endbands. Two catch plates, clasps wanting. Manuscript title written on top board (heavily faded) and bottom edge.
Inscriptions/Markings: 

Hand decoration: Rubricated, red and blue lombards, paragraph marks, and red capital strokes, with curl flourishes at the ends of blank lines/text breaks. Illuminated incipit initials with marginal foliate decoration and byzants in Augsburg style (leaves a2r, a6v, e6r, i1v, m6r, and p7r), leaf a6v include armorial decoration (half red, half silver/white). Annotations: Minimal marginal notations in 17th-/18th-century hand.

Provenance: 
Jacl Hasen, signature (leaf a1r of Formicarius); Ellwangen/Jagst (Baden-Württemberg), Fürstliche Hofbibliothek, inscriptions: "Ex bibliotheca aulica r[everen]dissimi et illust[rissimi] principis Eluacensis," 17th-/18th-century (leaves a1v and a2r of Formicarius) and shelf mark: b. VII. C.2 (rear pastedown); J.P. Morgan, Jr. (1867-1943), purchased from Edward L. Dean, 1918.
Classification: 
Department: