Accession number
PML 700
Object title
The saynges or dictis of the philosophers.
Uniform title
Dits des philosophes. English.
Published
[Westminster] : William Caxton, [about 1489]
Description
[70] leaves ; 27 cm (fol.)
Credit line
Purchased with the Bennett collection, 1902.
Notes
Translated from the French of Guillaume de Tignonville, by Anthony Wydeville (or Woodville), Earl Rivers
Collation: [1]²; A-G⁸ H-I⁶: 70 leaves, leaf I6 blank.
Paper format: Chancery folio
Printed in Caxton's type 6:120B.
Title from translator's prologue (leaf [1]/1v-2r): ...he had there [leaf [1]/2r] a book that he trusted I shuld lyke it right wele. [and] brought it to me which bock I had never seen before. and is called the saynges or dictis of the philosophers. And as I understande it was translated out of Latyn in to Frenshe by a worshipful man callid messire Jehan de teonuylle [i.e., Guillaume de Tignonville] provost of parys. ... And at the last concluded in my selff to translate it in to thenglysshe tonge whiche in my Jugement was not before.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 26.2 x 18.7 cm
PML copy missing 4 leaves: I3-I5, replaced in facsimile, and I6 (blank). Many leaves with corners or edges cut away, replaced in modern paper.
Collation: [1]²; A-G⁸ H-I⁶: 70 leaves, leaf I6 blank.
Paper format: Chancery folio
Printed in Caxton's type 6:120B.
Title from translator's prologue (leaf [1]/1v-2r): ...he had there [leaf [1]/2r] a book that he trusted I shuld lyke it right wele. [and] brought it to me which bock I had never seen before. and is called the saynges or dictis of the philosophers. And as I understande it was translated out of Latyn in to Frenshe by a worshipful man callid messire Jehan de teonuylle [i.e., Guillaume de Tignonville] provost of parys. ... And at the last concluded in my selff to translate it in to thenglysshe tonge whiche in my Jugement was not before.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 26.2 x 18.7 cm
PML copy missing 4 leaves: I3-I5, replaced in facsimile, and I6 (blank). Many leaves with corners or edges cut away, replaced in modern paper.
Binding
19th-century brown morocco blind-stamped in a pastiche of an earlier style over paper boards (27 x 20 cm), sewn on 5 supports by Clarke and Bedford. Plain paper pastedowns and fly leaves; decorative endbands; gilt edges.
Variant title
Dictes and sayings of the philosophers
Inscriptions/Markings
Hand decoration: Rubrication not required, printed initials and paragraph marks. Annotations: Marginal notations, washed.
Provenance
John Fuller Russell (1814-1884), armorial booklabel and bibliographic inscription, with a note identifying an unknown copy (not in De Ricci) for sale by Ellis with 5 facsimile leaves (front pastedown); his sale, Sotheby, Part I, 26 June 1885, lot 360, to Quaritch; Bernard Quaritch, Gen. Cat. VI (1887), no. 37905; Richard Bennett (1849-1930), armorial bookplate (front fly leaf verso) and bibliographical notes: No. 133, 22/4/96 and price code omm/-/- less 10% +com (front fly leaf recto); Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), purchased with the Bennett collection, 1902.
Classification
Catalog link
Century
Department