Accession number
PML 17728
Creator
Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 or 18 A.D.
Object title
Cy commence Ovide de Salmonen[sis] son livre intitule Methamorphose.
Published
Bruges : par Colart Mansion, May lan de grace .M. quatrecens .iiii.xx. et iiii [May 1484]
Description
[391] leaves : illustrations (woodcuts) ; 37 x 27 cm. (fol.)
Credit line
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1911.
Notes
Title from inicipit (leaf [1]/1r, in red): Cy commence Ovide de Salmonen[sis] son livre intitule Methamorphose. Contena[n]t .xv. livres particuliers moralisie par maistre Thomas waleys docteur en theologie de lordre sainct dominique Translate [et] Compile par Colard mansion en la noble ville de Bruges.
Colophon (leaf [49]/6v): Fait et imprime en la noble ville de Bruges en flandres par Colart Mansion citoyen de icelle ou Mois de May lan de grace .M. quatrecens .iiii.xx. et iiii. [printer's mark]
Printed in type 1:165B.
Collation: [1-4⁸ 5¹⁰; 6⁸(+6*: Aspirate meis) 7⁸ 8⁶ 9⁸ 10¹⁰ 11⁶(+6*: dyuresse dormoit) 12⁸ 13⁶ 14-23⁸ 24¹⁰ 25-27⁸; 28-32⁸ 33⁶ 34⁸ 35⁸ (±1 and 8) 36⁶(+3*: mour vault) 37-49⁸]: 391 leaves, leaves [5]/9-10 and [49]/7-8 blank.
Paper format: Royal folio.
Two issues can be distinguished: A) 391 leaves, red printing, no signatures, device (Polain(B) 2955); B) 389 leaves, no red printing in the different setting of quires 12-27, 38-49, signatures, no device (Polain(B) 2955A). Proctor assigned B to Jean Gossin.
34 woodcuts.
Incipits printed in red.
Compiled by Mansion from a prose Ovide Moralisé and a French version of the Ovidius moralizatus of Petrus Berchorius (J. Monfrin, cited in CIBN).
Bearer blocks printed in blind, leaf [31]/4.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 35.8 x 25.8 cm.
PML copy wanting 6 leaves: [20]/2 and 7, [26]/3 and 6, and [49]/7-8 (blanks), with [20]/7, [26]/3, and [26]/6 replaced in facsimile. Leaves in quires [1] and [49] reinforced at gutter; leaves [1]/1, [48]/8, and [49]/1-6 with outer margin replaced.
Colophon (leaf [49]/6v): Fait et imprime en la noble ville de Bruges en flandres par Colart Mansion citoyen de icelle ou Mois de May lan de grace .M. quatrecens .iiii.xx. et iiii. [printer's mark]
Printed in type 1:165B.
Collation: [1-4⁸ 5¹⁰; 6⁸(+6*: Aspirate meis) 7⁸ 8⁶ 9⁸ 10¹⁰ 11⁶(+6*: dyuresse dormoit) 12⁸ 13⁶ 14-23⁸ 24¹⁰ 25-27⁸; 28-32⁸ 33⁶ 34⁸ 35⁸ (±1 and 8) 36⁶(+3*: mour vault) 37-49⁸]: 391 leaves, leaves [5]/9-10 and [49]/7-8 blank.
Paper format: Royal folio.
Two issues can be distinguished: A) 391 leaves, red printing, no signatures, device (Polain(B) 2955); B) 389 leaves, no red printing in the different setting of quires 12-27, 38-49, signatures, no device (Polain(B) 2955A). Proctor assigned B to Jean Gossin.
34 woodcuts.
Incipits printed in red.
Compiled by Mansion from a prose Ovide Moralisé and a French version of the Ovidius moralizatus of Petrus Berchorius (J. Monfrin, cited in CIBN).
Bearer blocks printed in blind, leaf [31]/4.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 35.8 x 25.8 cm.
PML copy wanting 6 leaves: [20]/2 and 7, [26]/3 and 6, and [49]/7-8 (blanks), with [20]/7, [26]/3, and [26]/6 replaced in facsimile. Leaves in quires [1] and [49] reinforced at gutter; leaves [1]/1, [48]/8, and [49]/1-6 with outer margin replaced.
Binding
17th/18th-century gilt-tooled calf over heavy paper boards (37 x 27 cm.), sewn on 6 supports; repaired by Durpez Lahey, April 1945. Plain paper pastedowns and fly leaves; marbled edges (heavily worn).
Variant title
Metamorphoses
Inscriptions/Markings
Hand decoration: Woodcuts hand colored in pale washes. Rubricated, alternating red and blue initials and paragraph marks, with yellow capital strokes; initial on leaf [1]/1r with red filigree penwork. Annotations: Contemporary manuscript catchwords and guide letters. No marginal notations in text. "Anno 1484" in a 17th-century(?) hand at colophon.
Provenance
Francois Joseph Vergauwen (1801-1881); his sale, Brussels, 11-15 March 1884, lot 986, purchased by Albert Cohn; Martin Breslauer to Edouard Rahir to Bernard Quaritch; George C. Thomas (1839-1909), of Philadelphia (partner in J.P. Morgan & Co.), purchased from Quaritch--not in Thomas's 1907 catalogue; Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), purchased from Rosenbach, April 1911.
Classification
Catalog link
Century
Department