The latest ten books to be fully described and indexed on the project website are:
- Homerus: Iliados epitome Parma: Angelus Ugoletus, 1 June 1492
- Thomas Aquinas: Expositio (Postilla) in Job [Esslingen]: Conrad Fyner, 1474
- Cicero, Marcus Tullius [pseudo-]: Rhetorica ad C. Herennium Paris: Au Soufflet Vert (Louis Symonel et Socii), 29 Dec. 1478
- Brunus Aretinus, Leonardus: De studiis et litteris [Rome: Johannes Schurener, de Bopardia, after 4 Apr. 1477]
- Caesar, Gaius Julius: Commentarii Venice: Theodorus de Ragazonibus, 13 July 1490
- Lucretius Carus, Titus: De rerum natura Verona: Paulus Fridenperger, 28 Sept. 1486
- Petrarca, Francesco: Secretum de contemptu mundi [Strassburg: The R-printer (Adolf Rusch), not after 1473]
- Petrarca, Francesco: De vita solitaria [Strassburg: The R-printer (Adolf Rusch), not after 1473]
- Statius, Publius Papinius: Opera, et al. Venice: Jacobus de Paganinis, 24 Dec. 1490
- Calderinus, Domitius: Commentarii in Juvenalem [Venice: Printer of Domitius Calderinus, 1476-77]
Limp vellum case binding (Sp Coll Hunterian Bx.2.22)
The copy of Caesar’s commentary on the Gallic wars survives in an early 16th century limp vellum case binding; it has a flap at the fore-edge designed to be secured to a piece of vellum on the front cover with an alum thonged tie.
This book, along with the Statius, is now part of our Hunterian collection. Confusingly, however, these two volumes have no connection with William Hunter. They were actually presented to the Hunterian Library in March, 1852, by a Miss Marjory Ettles of Stirling, along with several other books. They came from the library of her late brother-in-law, Dr Ebenezer Brown (d.1828), M.D., Inspector General of Hospitals, a former student at the University of Glasgow.
So when is a Hunterian collection book not a William Hunter book? If these books were acquired by the library today and added to the Hunterian Collection, we would make the distinction from Hunter’s original bequest clear by designating them in the shelfmark as “Hunterian Add.” 19th century librarians were less concerned about documenting provenance information clearly than we are today, but at least Marjory Ettles’ donation was recorded in the manuscripts of the Hunterian Museum records, so we can be sure that these definitely are later interlopers to Hunter’s collection. Although various manuscript lists of books from Hunter’s bequest do exist, we actually do not have a complete inventory of all the books that were in his library, or that arrived in Glasgow in 1807. So, occasionally, there are cases when we cannot be one hundred percent sure that a Hunterian item actually belonged to William Hunter … another potential area for research here!
Categories: Library, Special Collections
Tags: caesar commentary 1490, Glasgow Incunabula Project, hunterian collection, incunables, incunabula, limp vellum binding, rare books, Special Collections, william hunter
Glasgow Incunabula Project update (9/5/13) 
Vox Populi – Remembering 1979 
