Title pages of ancient books, mostly foreign, dated from 1631 : manuscript.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Contributor:

Zachs-Adam Rare Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Title pages--Specimens.

Title pages.

Printing--Europe--History--Sources.

Printing.

Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts)

fragments (object portions)

Albums (Books)

Woodcuts.

Engravings.

Hybrid books.

Manuscripts, English -- 19th century.

Penn Provenance:

Sold at auction at Sotheby's (London), 30 November 2021, lot 73.

Physical Description:

1 volume (93 leaves) : paper ; 24 x 20 cm

Production:

England?, after 1830.

Summary:

A collection of 91 printed leaves pasted on leaves of colored and plain paper (some plain leaves watermarked Whatman 1830, for example f. 16, 36, 38), primarily title pages from England, France, the Netherlands, and Germany, from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The printed leaves also include frontispieces, printer's devices and other book illustrations (for example, a portrait of James I from 1602 (f. 3r), a portrait of Francis Bacon from 1651 (f. 6r), the engraved title to Malpighi's works of 1687 (f. 13r), the title page to a 1522 edition of Calepinus (f. 22r), De Hooghe's title to Grotius (f. 29r), an engraving of "The Churchgoers" after Israel van Mechenen (f. 68r), as well as titles by Eisen, Gravelot, Goeree, Picard, and other known engravers. Contrary to the statement on volume's calligraphic manuscript title page that the contents date from 1631 (f. i recto), later notes in pencil on most leaves suggest 1490 as the earliest date (f. 68r), with 1791 as the latest (f. 85r), The contents are not in chronological order. A later reader wrote the numbers of the leaves for a table of contents on the end flyleaf but did not fill in any information. Bound in contemporary (19th-century) half calf gilt with marbled paper covers, spine gilt in compartments with title Album.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Zachs-Adam Rare Book Fund.

Cited as:

Title Pages of Ancient Books (Ms. Codex 2100). Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.

OCLC:

1369698715