Accession number
PML 438
Creator
Catherine, of Siena, Saint, 1347-1380.
Object title
Epistole deuotissime de Sancta Catharina da Siena.
Published
Stampato in la inclita cita de Venetia : In casa de Aldo Manutio Romano, a di xv. Septembrio M.ccccc [15 September 1500]
Description
[10], ccccxiiii [i.e. 411], [1] leaves : illustration (woodcut) ; 33 cm (folio)
Credit line
Purchased with the Toovey collection, 1899.
Notes
Title from caption title on leaf *1r above printing privilege.
Imprint from colophon (leaf FF8r).
Printed in Aldus's types 2:114R, 10:82R, and 11:80R (italic).
Signatures: *¹⁰; a-y⁸; A-G⁸ H¹⁰ I-N⁸ O¹⁰ P-FF⁸: 422 leaves.
Paper format: Super-chancery folio
Aldus's dedicatory letter to Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini (leaf *1v) dated 19 September 1500.
Edited by Bartolomeo da Alzano.
Woodcuts: large (9-line) and small ornamental initials in different styles (strapwork, foliated, white-on-black); full page woodcut of Saint Catherine on verso of leaf *10; in her outstretched hands she holds a book and the sacred heart of Jesus, each containing lines of text in the Aldine italic, the first known use of this italic (in copies of an earlier issue, the book and heart are blank, lacking the italic text).
PML copy leaf dimensions: 31.6 x 21.3 cm.
Imprint from colophon (leaf FF8r).
Printed in Aldus's types 2:114R, 10:82R, and 11:80R (italic).
Signatures: *¹⁰; a-y⁸; A-G⁸ H¹⁰ I-N⁸ O¹⁰ P-FF⁸: 422 leaves.
Paper format: Super-chancery folio
Aldus's dedicatory letter to Cardinal Francesco Piccolomini (leaf *1v) dated 19 September 1500.
Edited by Bartolomeo da Alzano.
Woodcuts: large (9-line) and small ornamental initials in different styles (strapwork, foliated, white-on-black); full page woodcut of Saint Catherine on verso of leaf *10; in her outstretched hands she holds a book and the sacred heart of Jesus, each containing lines of text in the Aldine italic, the first known use of this italic (in copies of an earlier issue, the book and heart are blank, lacking the italic text).
PML copy leaf dimensions: 31.6 x 21.3 cm.
Binding
19th-century English black morocco over wooden boards (33 x 22 cm.), sewn on 5 supports. Plain paper pastedowns and fly leaves; plain endbands; gilt edges.
Variant title
Epistole devotissime de Sancta Catharina da Siena
Inscriptions/Markings
Hand decoration: Rubrication not required. Annotations: No marginal notations in text.
Provenance
Archibald Acheson, Earl of Gosford (1806-1864), purchased from Payne & Foss in 1827, armorial booklabel (front pastedown) and shelf mark: B5 (front fly leaf verso); James Toovey (1814-1893), purchased Gosford's library en bloc in 1878, Burnham Abbey booklabel (front pastedown); Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), purchased with the Toovey collection, 1899.
Classification
Catalog link
Century
Department