Accession number
PML 44056
Creator
Alberti, Leon Battista, 1404-1472.
Object title
De re aedificatoria.
Published
Florence : Nicolaus Laurentii, Alamanus, 29 December 1[4]85.
Description
[204] leaves ; 30 cm (fol.)
Credit line
Gift of Junius S. Morgan and Henry S. Morgan, 1952.
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 elega[n]tissimu[m] et q[u]a[m] maxime utile: Florentiae accuratissime impressum opera Magistri Nicolai Laurentii Alamani: Anno salutis Millesimo octuagesimo quinto: quarto Kalendas 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 B.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 27.4 x 18.8 cm.
PML copy missing 1 leaf: [rum]8 and has leaves [rum]3.6 and 4.5 bound in reverse.
Colophon (leaf [rum]7v): LAUS DEO HONOR ET GLORIA. LEONIS BAPTISTAE ALBERTI FLORENTINI VIRI CLArissimi de re Aedificatoria opus elega[n]tissimu[m] et q[u]a[m] maxime utile: Florentiae accuratissime impressum opera Magistri Nicolai Laurentii Alamani: Anno salutis Millesimo octuagesimo quinto: quarto Kalendas 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 B.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 27.4 x 18.8 cm.
PML copy missing 1 leaf: [rum]8 and has leaves [rum]3.6 and 4.5 bound in reverse.
Binding
18th-century gilt-tooled red morocco over paper boards (28.5 x 20 cm), sewn on 3 supports (English collector's binding). Marbled paper pastedowns and fly leaves, with plain paper fly leaves; decorative endbands; edges colored yellow.
Inscriptions/Markings
Hand decoration: Rubricated, red and blue lombards. Headline with book number and contemporary foliation. Annotations: Extensive marginal notations throughout with numerous colored pen and ink drawings, many from Alberti's designs, and manicules with hyper-extended index fingers, dated 1497 (leaf [rum]1r). Pencil profile sketch of Alberti based on medal by Matteo de'Pasti (front fly leaf verso).
Provenance
Charles Spencer (1675-1722), third Earl of Sunderland, shelf mark: B 5: 36 (front fly leaf verso); John Winston Spencer-Churchill (1822-1883), 7th Duke of Marlborough, shelf mark: 108 E. 20 (front fly leaf verso); Bibliotheca Sunderlandia sale, Puttick & Simpson, 1 Dec. 1881, vol. 1, no. 156; Maggs Bros. cat., 1924, no. 6 for £65; Pierpont Morgan Library, bookplate (front pastedown), from the collection of Mrs. J.P. Morgan, Jr., gift of Junius S. Morgan and Henry S. Morgan, 1952.
Classification
Catalog link
Century
Department