DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.30698#0522
474
SUPPLEMENT.
The type is a srriall, close, and square Gothic. On the xeeto of the
4th and last leaf is the imprint, thus:
jfiniunt cafug $apaieg €pi£copaie£ et
3£&&atiaie$. 3Jmpref£um antiuetpe pec
me (^oOfritmm 25acfe»
On the reverse is t’ne very singular device of the printer—the castle
of Antwerp suspended from a bird’s cage—of which a fac-simile will
appear in the Bibliographical Decameron. The impression has no sig-
nature. This beautiful copy is brilliantly bound in blue morocco, by
C. Lewis.
950. Cato. Disticha. Without Name ofPrinter,
Place, or JDate. Octavo.
I consider this little tract, of only 4 leaves, to be one of the most
cuxious specimens of ancient typographyin existence. The reader will
judge of its raiity, when he is informed that, not only no other copy
of it is known, but the very mention or knowledge of it will in vain
be looked for in any bibliographical publication. This precious
relic (for such it is properly considered by its present Noble Owner)
was discovered within the wooden covers of an ancient volume (con-
taining several cuiious tracts *) in the possession of Mr. Freeling, of
the Post Office. That gentleman, with equal prompitude and libe-
rality, rnade an offer of the contents of these * wooden covers ’ to
Earl Spencer. The oflfer was acceded to, upon terms perfectly satis-
factory to both parties. It now remains to describe a treasure of
such singularity.
We have here, in short, the same types with which the Speculum
Humanj; Salvationis (among the earliest and most interesting of the
Block Books) was executed. The public have been before put in
possession of this fact, from the slight mention of this tract in my
friend Mr. Ottley’s work ;f from which it seems to follow that, if the
* Among them, were the Ethics of Aristotle, supposed to have been printed at Oxford in
1479: see p. 354 ante. The * Casus Papales,’ * Algorismus novus,’ and ‘Aristotelis Proble-
mata,’ (see pages 437, 442, 473, ante,)were also in the number.
t An Enquiry into the Origin and Early History of Engraving upon Copper and in Wood;
1815, 4to. p. 247.
SUPPLEMENT.
The type is a srriall, close, and square Gothic. On the xeeto of the
4th and last leaf is the imprint, thus:
jfiniunt cafug $apaieg €pi£copaie£ et
3£&&atiaie$. 3Jmpref£um antiuetpe pec
me (^oOfritmm 25acfe»
On the reverse is t’ne very singular device of the printer—the castle
of Antwerp suspended from a bird’s cage—of which a fac-simile will
appear in the Bibliographical Decameron. The impression has no sig-
nature. This beautiful copy is brilliantly bound in blue morocco, by
C. Lewis.
950. Cato. Disticha. Without Name ofPrinter,
Place, or JDate. Octavo.
I consider this little tract, of only 4 leaves, to be one of the most
cuxious specimens of ancient typographyin existence. The reader will
judge of its raiity, when he is informed that, not only no other copy
of it is known, but the very mention or knowledge of it will in vain
be looked for in any bibliographical publication. This precious
relic (for such it is properly considered by its present Noble Owner)
was discovered within the wooden covers of an ancient volume (con-
taining several cuiious tracts *) in the possession of Mr. Freeling, of
the Post Office. That gentleman, with equal prompitude and libe-
rality, rnade an offer of the contents of these * wooden covers ’ to
Earl Spencer. The oflfer was acceded to, upon terms perfectly satis-
factory to both parties. It now remains to describe a treasure of
such singularity.
We have here, in short, the same types with which the Speculum
Humanj; Salvationis (among the earliest and most interesting of the
Block Books) was executed. The public have been before put in
possession of this fact, from the slight mention of this tract in my
friend Mr. Ottley’s work ;f from which it seems to follow that, if the
* Among them, were the Ethics of Aristotle, supposed to have been printed at Oxford in
1479: see p. 354 ante. The * Casus Papales,’ * Algorismus novus,’ and ‘Aristotelis Proble-
mata,’ (see pages 437, 442, 473, ante,)were also in the number.
t An Enquiry into the Origin and Early History of Engraving upon Copper and in Wood;
1815, 4to. p. 247.