A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume Three | Page 8

Editio Princeps of it by
Mentelin--which happens not to be here. There is, however, a
beautifully white copy of this latter printer's Editio Princeps of Valerius
Maximus; but not so tall as the largest of the two copies of this same
edition which I saw at Strasbourg. Of the Offices of Cicero, of 1466,
there is rather a fine tall copy (within a quarter of an inch of ten inches
high) UPON VELLUM; in the original wooden binding. The first two
or three leaves have undergone a little martyrdom, by being scribbled
upon. Of J. de Spira's edition of the Epistles of Cicero, of 1469--having
the colophon on the recto of the last leaf--here is a fine, broad-margined
copy, which however ought to be cleansed from the stains which
disfigure it. I was grieved to see so indifferent a copy of the Edit. Prin.
of Tacitus: but rejoiced at beholding so large and beautiful a one (in its
original wooden binding) of the Lucan of 1475, with the Commentary
of Omnibonus; printed as I conceive, by _I. de Colonia and M. de
Gherretzem_.[11]
But I had nearly forgotten to acquaint you with a remarkably fine,
thick-leaved, crackling copy--yet perhaps somewhat cropt--of Cardinal

Bessarion's Epistles, printed by Sweynheym and Pannartz at Rome in
1469. It is in old gilt edges, in a sort of binding of wood.
I now come to the notice of a few choice and rare Italian books: and
first, for Dante. Here is probably the rarest of all the earlier editions of
this poet: that is to say, the edition printed at Naples by Tuppo, in two
columns, having forty-two lines in a full column. At the end of the
Inferno, we read "Gloria in excelsis Deo," in the gothic letter; the text
being uniformly roman. At the end of the Purgatorio:
SOLI DEO GLORIA. Erubescat Judeus Infelir.
At the end of the Paradiso: DEO GRATIAS--followed by Tuppo's
address to Honofrius Carazolus of Naples. A register is on the recto of
the following and last leaf. This copy is large, but in a dreadfully loose,
shattered, and dingy state--in the original wooden binding. So precious
an edition should be instantly rebound. Here is the Dante of 1478, with
the Commentary of Guido Terzago, printed at Milan in 1478, folio. The
text of the poet is in a fine, round, and legible roman type--that of the
commentator, in a small and disagreeable gothic character.
Petrarch shall follow. The rarest edition of him, which I have been able
to put my hand upon, is that printed at Bologna in 1476 with the
commentary of Franciscus Philelphus. Each sonnet is followed by its
particular comment. The type is a small roman, not very unlike the
smallest of Ulric Han, or Reisinger's usual type, and a full
page-contains forty-one lines.
Of Boccaccio, here is nothing which I could observe particularly
worthy of description, save the very rare edition of the Nimphale of
1477, printed by Bruno Valla of Piedmont, and Thomaso of Alexandria.
A full page has thirty-two lines.
I shall conclude the account of the rarer books, which it was my chance
to examine in the Public Library of Stuttgart, with what ought perhaps,
more correctly, to have formed the earliest articles in this partial
catalogue:--I mean, the Block Books. Here is a remarkably beautiful,
and uncoloured copy of the first Latin edition of the _Speculum

Humanæ Salvationis. It has_ been bound--although it be now unbound,
and has been unmercifully cut. As far as I can trust to my memory, the
impressions of the cuts in this copy are sharper and clearer than any
which I have seen. Of the Apocalypse, there is a copy of the second
edition, wanting a leaf. It is sound and clean, but coloured and cut.
Unbound, but formerly bound. Here is a late German edition of the Ars
Moriendi, having thirty-four lines on the first page. Of the Historia
Beatæ Virginis, here is a copy of what I should consider to be the
second Latin edition; precisely like a German edition of the Biblia
Pauperum, with the express date of 1470,--which is also here. The
similarity is in the style of art and character of the type, which latter has
much of a Bamberg cast about it. But of the Latin Biblia Pauperum
here is a copy of the first edition, very imperfect, and in wretched
condition. And thus much, or rather thus little, for Block Books.
A word or two now for the MANUSCRIPTS--which, indeed, according
to the order usually observed in these Letters, should have preceded the
description of the printed books. I will begin with a Psalter, in small
folio, which I should have almost the hardihood to pronounce of the
tenth--but certainly of the early part of the eleventh--century. The text
is