I shall continue, miscellaneously, with the earlier printed books. T.  Aquinas de Virtutibus et Vitiis; printed by Mentelin in his smallest character.  At the end, there is the following inscription, in faded green ink; Johannes Bamler de Augusta hui^9 libri Illuiator Anno 1468.  Thus Bamler should seem to be an illuminator as well as printer,[58] and Panzer is wrong in supposing that Bamler printed this book.  Of course Panzer formed his judgment from a copy which wanted such accidental attestation. Ptolemy, 1462:  with all the maps, coloured. Livy (1469):  very fine—­in its original binding—­full sixteen inches high. Caesar, 1469:  very fine, in the original binding. Lucan, 1469:  equally fine, and coated in the same manner. Apuleius, 1469:  imperfect and dirty.  The foregoing, you know, are all EDITIONES PRINCIPES.  But judge of my surprise on finding neither the first edition of Terence, nor of Valerius Maximus, nor of Virgil[59]—­all by Mentelin.  I enquired for the first Roman or Bologna Ovid:  but in vain.  It seemed that I was enquiring for “blue diamonds;"[60]—­so precious and rare are these two latter works.

Here are very fine copies of the Philosophical works of Cicero, printed by Ulric Han—­with the exception of the Tusculan Questions and the treatise upon Oratory, of the dates of 1468, 1469—­which are unluckily wanting.  M. Bernhard preserves four copies of the Euclid of 1482, because they have printed variations in the margins.  One of these copies has the prefix, or preface of one page, printed in letters of gold.  I saw another such a copy at Paris.  Here is the Milan Horace of 1474—­the text only.  The Catholicon by Gutenberg, of 1460:  UPON VELLUM:  quite perfect as to the text, but much cropt, and many pieces sliced out of the margins—­for purposes, which it were now idle to enquire after; although I have heard of a Durandus of 1459 in our own country, which, in ancient times, had been so served for the purpose of writing directions on parcels of game, &c. Catholicon of 1469 by G. Zeiner; also UPON VELLUM, and equally cropt—­but otherwise sound and clean.  This copy contains an ancient manuscript note which must be erroneous; as it professes the first owner to have got possession of the book before it was printed:  in other words, an unit was omitted in the date, and we should read 1469 for 1468.[61]

Among the more precious ITALIAN BOOKS, is a remarkably fine copy of the old edition of the Decameron of Boccaccio, called the Deo Gracias—­which Lord Spencer purchased at the sale of the Borromeo library in London, last year.  It is quite perfect, and in a fine, large condition.  It was taken to Paris on a certain memorable occasion, and returned hither on an occasion equally memorable.  It contains 253 leaves of text and two of table; and has red ms.