DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.30697#0259
Home; 1474.]
CHRONICLE.
251
666. Chronicon Pontificum Imperatorumque.
Printed hij J. P. de Lignamirie. Pome. 1474.
Folio.
Editio Princeps. The late Bishop of Ely set an exceedingly high
value upon this work. The copy of it which he possessed (nnich
inferior to the present in condition) was obtained frora Mr. James
Edwards, on condition of its becoming theproperty of SirM M. Sykes,
Bart. if he should survive his Lordship. The death of the Bishop has
put Sir Mark in possession of the same copy, which he justly treasures
among the rarities of his Collection ; and which, till the recent acqui-
sition of the one under description, he had imagined to be unique in
this country. The reader is, therefore, probably anxious to become
acquainted with the contents of a volume upon which so extraordinary
a value is placed : but he will find that its intrinsic worth does not
arise from any chronicled accounts of c Popes and Emperors;'
but from the text presenting us with the earliest printed memo-
randum, or statement extant, of the proceedings of some of the ancient
Printers on the continent. If Mentelin, Maittaire,* Schoepssin, or
Meerman, liad been acquainted with such statements, they might each
have taken up very strong positions in favour of the respective
artists whose claims they supported. But our account must proceed
methodically.
This small volume contains an abridged Chronicle, or Record of
Events, from the beginning of the world to the 4th year of the ponti-
ficate of Sixtus IV. It was divided into two parts (the first part ending
at the year 1312,) and reprinted by Eccard among the Scriptores Medii
JEvi, tom. i. col. 1150; but the first part was much improved by the
assistance of a MS. from the Berlin library, of which the reputed author
is Riccobaldi, of Ferraria. The second part, from the year 1312, was
reprinted from the text of this impression. Muratori, who has also
reprinted both parts, (vol. ix. Scriptor. Rer. Italicar.) thinks it safer to
ascribe the first part to an anonymous author; but the second (after
Eccard) to De Lignamine himself. Yet, as Audiffredi justly observes,
this printer assigns no author whatever to any part: not even dividing
his work into sections and epochs: just following his copy—‘ compen-
diosus quidam catalogus’—as he found it: except that (as Audiffredi
remarks in a note,) he may himself have been the author of the whole
* Maittaire relies exclusively upon Labbe, Nov. Bibl. p. 354, no. miv.
CHRONICLE.
251
666. Chronicon Pontificum Imperatorumque.
Printed hij J. P. de Lignamirie. Pome. 1474.
Folio.
Editio Princeps. The late Bishop of Ely set an exceedingly high
value upon this work. The copy of it which he possessed (nnich
inferior to the present in condition) was obtained frora Mr. James
Edwards, on condition of its becoming theproperty of SirM M. Sykes,
Bart. if he should survive his Lordship. The death of the Bishop has
put Sir Mark in possession of the same copy, which he justly treasures
among the rarities of his Collection ; and which, till the recent acqui-
sition of the one under description, he had imagined to be unique in
this country. The reader is, therefore, probably anxious to become
acquainted with the contents of a volume upon which so extraordinary
a value is placed : but he will find that its intrinsic worth does not
arise from any chronicled accounts of c Popes and Emperors;'
but from the text presenting us with the earliest printed memo-
randum, or statement extant, of the proceedings of some of the ancient
Printers on the continent. If Mentelin, Maittaire,* Schoepssin, or
Meerman, liad been acquainted with such statements, they might each
have taken up very strong positions in favour of the respective
artists whose claims they supported. But our account must proceed
methodically.
This small volume contains an abridged Chronicle, or Record of
Events, from the beginning of the world to the 4th year of the ponti-
ficate of Sixtus IV. It was divided into two parts (the first part ending
at the year 1312,) and reprinted by Eccard among the Scriptores Medii
JEvi, tom. i. col. 1150; but the first part was much improved by the
assistance of a MS. from the Berlin library, of which the reputed author
is Riccobaldi, of Ferraria. The second part, from the year 1312, was
reprinted from the text of this impression. Muratori, who has also
reprinted both parts, (vol. ix. Scriptor. Rer. Italicar.) thinks it safer to
ascribe the first part to an anonymous author; but the second (after
Eccard) to De Lignamine himself. Yet, as Audiffredi justly observes,
this printer assigns no author whatever to any part: not even dividing
his work into sections and epochs: just following his copy—‘ compen-
diosus quidam catalogus’—as he found it: except that (as Audiffredi
remarks in a note,) he may himself have been the author of the whole
* Maittaire relies exclusively upon Labbe, Nov. Bibl. p. 354, no. miv.