written by Katie Funderburg Although less momentous than William Caxton’s first edition and certainly less ornate than the later Kelmscott Chaucer, Wynkyn de Worde’s The boke of Chaucer named Caunterbury tales (Incunabula Q. 821 C39c 1498) provides valuable insight into early English print history. As one of the most prolific English printers at the turn […]
Category: Incunabula
Distinctive Ownership Inscriptions in an Incunable (Incunabula Q. 473 M28p 1482)
February 7, 2012
Guiniano Maggio. De priscorum proprietate verborum. Venice : Octavianus Scotus, 3 June 1482. While cataloging a copy of De priscorum proprietate verborum (“On the propriety of ancient words”) by the 15th-century Neopolitan grammarian Guiniano Maggio, I came across two contemporary or near-contemporary ownership inscriptions by one Ludovicus de Galliardis. One inscription is on the first […]
Contemporary Line-Drawing and Couplet in an Incunable (Incunabula 475 Z42l 1490)
January 11, 2012
Wilhelmus Zenders de Wert. Lilium grammaticae. Cologne: Heinrich Quentell, 1490 While cataloging a quarto edition of the Lilium grammaticae of Wilhelmus Zenders de Wert, I ran across an interesting drawing on the title-page. This quaint illustration in black ink shows a man in armor with a head of curly hair, clutching a small sword or […]
Unidentified coat of arms found in the Incunabula collection
June 17, 2010
While cataloging a copy of Leonardus de Utino’s Sermones aurei de Sanctis (Venice: Johann von Koln and Johann Manthen, 1475) we came across a coat of arms that is so far unidentified. This coat of arms has been added to the recto of leaf a2 and is located after the incipit to the prologue. […]