MAIUS, Junianus (1430–1493). De priscorum proprietate verborum. Treviso: Bernardus de Colonia, 1477.

Rare second edition of the earliest Latin dictionary printed in Italy, in distinctive Gothic type. The first of only three works from the small but accomplished press of Bernardus de Colonia, created in the first decade of Treviso’s printing industry, Maius’s On the property of ancient words sought to elevate the standard of Latin usage at a pivotal time in the creation and dissemination of Humanist texts. It was the chief source for Calepinus as he wrote his dictionary over the next decades, first appearing in 1502. Bernardus’s intricately crafted æ and œ ligatures are used throughout the text and appear later at presses in Basel and Nuremberg. His use of Gothic type has been regarded as incongruous with Humanist aesthetics and “this error of judgment probably accounts for his ill-success” (BMC), but Bernardus’s decision in the 1470s might rather be indicative of a more gradual but nonetheless clear crystallisation of Roman type as the hallmark of Humanist thought in the transition from scribal to mechanical processes. Indeed the editio princeps issued by Berardus’s previous employer in Naples, Mathias Moravus, was printed in Roman type. H *10540; BMC VI 892; Bod-inc M-031; BSB-Ink M-66; CIBN M-38; GW M20099; Goff M-96; ISTC im00096000.

Median folio (334 × 228mm). 330 leaves. Spaces left for Greek words, opening initial in blue with red penwork decoration, major initials in red or blue or interlocking, rubricated (occasional marginal worming, a few ink smudges). Contemporary blindstamped goatskin over wooden boards, catchplates, yellow edges, many surviving pigskin index tabs, vellum quire guards (lacking straps and some bosses (worn with losses of leather, joints splitting); modern box. Provenance: Ilchester, Redemptorists Congregation (CSSR stamp) – Esopus, NY, Mount St. Alphonsus Redemptoris Seminary (stamps on several leaves).