Object details
Accession number
2.a.3.11
Creators
Full title
Auree epistole. Johannis Pici Mirandulae viri omnium mortalium doctissimi eloquentissimiq[ue]
Creation Date
1499
Object Case
Dante Case
Language
Latin
Publication Place
Paris
Description
29 leaves; 20.4 cm. (12mo)
Provenance
Possibly in the collection of an unknown collector, "B.I.", about 19th century, no. 789.
Collection of the book collector Dr. David Hunt, Boston.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner at the David Hunt sale from the auctioneers Charles F. Libbie & Co., Boston, for $32 on 27 November 1891, lot 2366.
Marks
Watermarks (e.g. on A3): [unidentified]
Inscribed in pencil (bottom of front pastedown): "P"
Inscribed in pencil (bottom of front pastedown): [a check mark]
Affixed (front pastedown): engraving with monogram of the initials B and I [dated 19th century], no. 789 [library no.]
Affixed (front pastedown): Clipping [Hunt collection sale catalogue, lot 2366, dated 1891].
Affixed (recto of front fly leaf): bookplate of Isabella Stewart Gardner
Inscribed in pen (verso of front fly leaf): "Michel le Noir (Niger) by whom this Work was printed, commenced the Art of Typography in the city of Paris in 1489. He was a printer of very considerable interest whose impressions are held in high estimation by the admirers of early Parisian Typography." [source: Timperley's Encyclopaedia of Literary and Typographical Anecdote, p. 188]
Inscribed in pen (at the top left of the title page): "W"
Erased mark in pencil (at top right of the title page)
Underlining of text and marginalia in pen: "(ff. A2r-v, A3r, B2v, B6v, C1r-v, C2r, C3r, C6r, D2r, D3v and D4r)"
Inscribed in pencil (verso of back fly leaf, in the gutter): "$7.75"
Enclosed: typed bibliographic description
Enclosed: photocopy of typed bibliographic description
Enclosed: paper strip inscribed in pencil: "1499"
Dimensions
20.4 x 13.8 cm (8 1/16 x 5 7/16 in.)
Display Media
Printed ink on paper
Web Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.
Permanent Gallery Location
Long Gallery
Bibliography
Charles F. Libbie & Co. Catalogue of the Entire Private Library Belonging to a Well Known Boston Collector, Forming a Magnificent Collection of Rarities in All Departments of Literature (Boston, 17-21 November 1891), p. 215, lot. 2366.
Isabella Stewart Gardner. A Choice of Books from the Library of Isabella Stewart Gardner, Fenway Court (Boston, 1906), p. 54.
Frederick Richmond Goff. Incunabula in American libraries; a third census of fifteenth-century books recorded in North American collections (New York, 1964), no. P637.
Rebecca Karo. Short-Title Catalogue of Highlights from the Book Collection in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Unpublished manuscript. (Boston, 1970s), no. 10.
Laura Nuvoloni in Jeffery F. Hamburger et al. Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston Collections. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; Newton: McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College; Cambridge: Houghton Library, Harvard University, 2016), pp. 307-308, no. 246, ill. f.AIr.
Rights and reproductions
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