De re aedificatoria.

Accession number: 
PML 23240
Author: 
Alberti, Leon Battista, 1404-1472.
Published: 
Florence : Nicolaus Laurentii, Alamanus, 29 December 1[4]85.
Description: 
[204] leaves ; 30 cm (fol.)
Credit Line: 
Gift of H.C. Hoskier, 1925.
Notes: 

Title from incipit (leaf a2r): LEONIS BAPTISTE ALBERTI DE RE AEDIFICATORIA INCIPIT LEGE FELICITER.
Colophon (leaf [rum]7v): LAUS DEO HONOR ET GLORIA. LEONIS BAPTISTAE ALBERTI FLORENTINI VIRI CLArissimi de re Aedificatoria opus elegantissimum et q[uam] maxime utile/ Florentiae accuratissime impressum opera Magistri Nicolai Laurentii Alamani: Anno salutis Millesimo octuagesimo quinto: quarto chalendas ianuarias.
Printed in Laurentii's type 7:113R.
Collation: a-d⁸ e⁶ f-o⁸ p⁶ q-z⁸ & [con] [rum]⁸: 204 leaves. Leaf a1 unsigned; leaves a2-a4 signed a1-a3.
Paper format: Chancery folio
For two states see BMC.
It appears from the letter of Politianus that the editing was done by Alberti's brother Bernardus, and that his own part was confined to this brief laudatory preface (ISTC).
MS Laur. 89 sup. 113 was used (among others) as printer's copy, see 'Leon Battista Alberti. La biblioteca di un umanista' (catalogue of an exhibition at the BML Firenze), Firenze, 2005, no. 54 (ISTC).
PML copy is Variant A.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 28.5 x 20.5 cm
PML copy with section torn away at bottom center of leaf a2r, likely removing previous ownership evidence.

Binding: 
18th-century quarter brown diced calf with green calf spine over paper boards (29.5 x 21.5 cm), sewn on 5 supports; rebacked(?). Marbled paper pastedowns and fly leaves with plain paper fly leaves; decorative endbands. Fore edge manuscript title: .BAPTI.ARCHIT.
Inscriptions/Markings: 

Hand decoration: Rubricated, blue lombards with red penwork flourishing and blue paragraph marks. Annotations: Contemporary manuscript foliation and quire numeration (top center of first recto). Minimal marginal notations (leaves a4v, a5v, and s6r-v only). Shelf mark(?), unidentified: .71 (leaf a1r).

Provenance: 
Giorgio Antonio Vespucci (ca. 1434-1514), signature (leaves a2r and [rum]8r; cf. MA 842), his library was divided between the convent of San Marco in Florence and the cathedral library; Florence, Cathedral Library (see de la Mare, Handwriting, p. 116, no. 13); Count Louis Apponyi (1849-1909), ink library stamp (leaf a1r); his sale, Sotheby, 10 Nov. 1892, lot 30; H.C. Hoskier (1864-1938); his sale, Sotheby, 30 June 1908, lot 219, for £11.15.0; unidentified collation notation, "C.P. F.H.P." (rear fly leaf recto); Pierpont Morgan Library, gift of H.C. Hoskier, 30 Dec. 1925.
Classification: 
Department: