s and a half, by ten
inches and three-eighths.
The SAME EDITION. Upon paper. A remarkably fine copy: well beaten however--
and, I should be loth to assert positively, not free from some washing--for
the ancient red numerals, introduced by the pencil of the rubricator, and
designating the several books and chapters, seem to have faded and been
retouched. I observe also, that some of the ancient illuminated letters,
which had probably faded during the process of washing or cleaning, have
been retouched, and even painted afresh--especially in the blue
back-grounds. The first page is prettily illuminated; but there are slight
indications of the worm at the end of the volume. Upon the whole, however,
this is a magnificent book, and inferior only to Lord Spencer's unrivalled
copy--upon paper. It measures sixteen inches and five eighths, by eleven
inches and one sixteenth, and is handsomely bound in red morocco.
PLINII HISTORIA NATURALIS. _Printed by Jenson_, 1472. Folio. A copy UPON
VELLUM: but, upon the whole, I was disappointed in the size and condition
of this book. The vellum has not had justice done to it in the binding,
being in parts crumpled. The first page is however beautifully illuminated.
This copy measures sixteen inches, by ten and three eighths.
PLINII HIST. NAT. Italice. _Printed by Jenson_. 1476. Folio. A copy UPON
VELLUM. About the first forty leaves are cruelly stained at top. The last
eight or ten leaves are almost of a yellow tint. In other parts, where the
vellum is white, (for it is of a remarkably fine quality) nothing can
exceed the beauty of this book: but it has been, I suspect, very severely
cropt--if an opinion may be formed from its companion upon paper, about to
be described. It is fifteen inches in height, by ten and a quarter in
width.
THE SAME EDITION. _Printed by the same Printer_. I suspect this to be
perhaps the finest paper copy in the world: as perfect as Lord Spencer's
copy of the first edition of the same author. Every thing breathes of its
pristine condition: the colour and the substance of the paper: the width of
the margin, and the purity of the embellishments:[63] This copy will also
serve to convince the most obstinate, that, when one catches more than a
glimpse of the ms. numerals at top, and ms. signatures at bottom, one has
hopes of possessing the book in its primitive plenitude. It is sixteen
inches and three quarters in height, by nearly eleven inches and a quarter
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