De comentariis antiquitatu[m].

Accession number: 
PML 15429
Author: 
Nanni, Giovanni, 1432?-1502.
Published: 
Rome : Eucharius Silber, 10 July 1498, 3 August 1498.
Description: 
[216] leaves ; illus. (1 woodcut) ; 31.5 x 22 cm (fol.)
Credit Line: 
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1907.
Notes: 

Title from preface incipit (leaf a2r): FRATRIS JOHANNES ANNII VITERBENSIS Theologiae professoris ordinis predicato[rum]: de comentariis Antiquitatu[m] ad Christianissimos Hispaniarum Reges/ Ferdinandu[m] & consortem eius Elisabetham Epistola incipit.
Colophon I (leaf &4r): Co[m]mentaria fratris Joannis Annii Viterbe[n]sis ordinis p[re]dicato[rum] Theologie p[ro]fessoris super opera diversorum auctorum de Antiquitatibus loquentiu[m] confecta finiunt. Rome in Campo Flore Anno d[omi]ni .M.cccc.xcviii. Die .x. mensis Julii Impressa per Euchariu[m] Silber al[ia]s Frank. Sedente sanctissimo in [christ]o patre & d[omi]no .d. Alexandro papa .vi. Anno eius Sexto.
Colophon II (leaf k4r): Co[m]mentaria fratris Joannis Annii Viterbe[n]sis ordinis p[re]dicato[rum] Theologie p[ro]fessoris super opera diversorum auctorum de Antiquitatibus loquentiu[m] confecta finiunt. Rome in Campo Flore Anno d[omi]ni .M.cccc.xcviii. Die .iii. mensis Augusti Impressa per Eucharium Silber al[ia]s Frank. Sedente sanctissimo in [christ]o patre & d[omi]no .d. Alexandro papa .vi. Anno eius Sexto. Laus deo.
Printed in types 4:109R, 7:73G, and 11:146G.
Collation: a⁸ b⁴ A-D⁶ E⁸ F-G⁶ H-I⁸ K-L⁶ M-N⁸ O-Y⁶ Z⁸ &⁴ c⁸ d-k⁶: 216 leaves.
Paper format: Chancery folio
Commentary by Johannes Annius.
Woodcut of Rome on leaf M1v.
Copies are known with and without the papal privilege printed on leaf b4v. Some copies (eg. LC, WartGL, Bamberg, Kraków J) have an inserted quarto leaf printed in Johannes Hamman's type 102G giving the list of contents. Others (eg. Augsburg 2⁰ Ink 1058a) have the same contents on an inserted folio leaf printed in Silber's 73G. GW Anm. calls these leaves Ankündigungsblätter but they may be rather title pages clarifying the confused order of the contents for sale in different towns. For a reproduction of the Library of Congress copy see Pollard and Ehrman Fig. 10. (ISTC)
A collection of spurious fragments purporting to be the work of Myrsilus Lesbius, Cato, Archilochus, Metasthenes, Xenophon (De aequivocis), Berosus, Manetho, and other Greek and Roman writers, but probably fabricated by Annius (Giovanni Nanni). (ISTC)
PML copy leaf dimensions: 30.7 x 21 cm.
PML copy missing 1 leaf: k4.

Binding: 
16th-century gilt-tooled dark green morocco over paper boards (31.5 x 22 cm), sewn on 6 support by Jean Picard, the "Entrelac Binder," ca. 1540-43 for Jean Grolier: "JO GROLIERII ET AMICORUM" tooled at bottom of top board. Vellum pastedowns and plain paper fly leaves; plain endbands; gilt edges. Two ties, wanting. Manuscript waste visible at interior hinge and as reinforcement at leaf a8v.
Variant Title: 

Checklist title: Commentaria super opera diversorum auctorum

Inscriptions/Markings: 

Hand decoration: Rubricated, alternating red and blue initials, a few in gold on blue ground. Annotations: Contemporary marginal notations throughout and manuscript contents (leaf a1v).

Provenance: 
Unidentified owner/purchase inscription, abraded, Sept. 1501 (leaf a1v); Jean Grolier (1479-1565) binding; Edouard Rahir, bookseller, by 1904; Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), purchased from Rahir, May 1907.
Classification: 
Department: