PLINII HIST. NATURALIS. Printed by J. de Spira. 1469.  Folio.  EDITIO PRINCEPS:—­but oh,! marvellous specimen—­a copy UPON VELLUM!  Fair is the colour and soft is the texture of this exquisite production—­bound in two volumes.  I examined both volumes thoroughly, and am not sure that I discovered what might be fairly called one discoloured leaf.  It is with equal pain and difficulty that one withdraws one’s eyes from such a beautiful book-gem.  This copy measures fifteen inches 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 in width.