| Record ID | cp011599 |
| Voet reference number | 2204 |
| Museum Plantin-Moretus | c:lvd:3219052 |
| Author | Petrus SERRANUS (SERRANO) |
| Title page transcription | COMMENTARIA ‖ IN EZECHIELEM ‖ PROPHETAM: ‖ AVCTORE PETRO SERRANO ‖ CORDVBENSI, DOCTORE THEOLOGO, ‖ & Complutensis Ecclesiæ Canonico. ‖ ⊕ 24 ‖ ANTVERPIÆ, ‖ Ex officina Christophori Plantini, ‖ Prototypographi Regii. ‖ M.D.LXXII. |
| Collation | Folio [261]: A-Z⁶, Aa⁶, Bb, *⁴; pages [1-4], 1-289, [290-300] (Errors: 252 for 255, 247 for 277) |
| Fingerprint | |
| Number of sheets | |
| Pages | [1]: Title [2]: Privilege (Antwerp, 16 December 1570, signed by I. De la Torre) [3-4]: Philippo II. Hispaniarum regi…doctor Petrus Serrano…(italic type) 1-289: Text (parts in italic type, marginals in roman type) [290]: Approbationes (s. Laurentius a Villa Vicentio; s. Sebastianus Baer Delphius, Antwerp) [291]: Privilege (in Spanish: Madrid, 17 January 1571, s. Antonio de Erasso) [292]: Blank [293-299]: Indices (on two columns; italic type) [300]: Blank |
| Edition information | |
| Copies | Museum Plantin-Moretus- A 296Ghent University LibraryBritish Library London |
| Bibliographical references | Ruelens-de Backer, pages 118-119 (1572, no. 3) Palau y Dulcet, 21, page 98, no. 310464 |
| Online bibliographical references | |
| Note 1 | Comments on the Book Ezechiel. Published together with the comments on the Book Leviticus (see following no.). Both are formally presented as separate editions, but were normally sold together. |
| Note 2 | Serranus published in Spain in 1556 Commentaria in primum librum Ethicorum Aristotelis ad Nicomachum, and in 1563 Commentaria in Apocalypsim Beati Ioannis Apostoli et Evangelistae (cf. Palau y Dulcet, loc. cit.), but for his two new theological treatises on Ezechiel and Leviticus, he preferred the Plantin Press and through Arias Montanus could get Plantin interested. He had, however, to subsidize the editions by taking a number of copies. Cf. letter of Plantin to the author, December 1570 (Corr., II, no. 255): Plantin expresses his satisfaction to be able to print Serranus's work on Ezechiel, recommended by Arias Montanus; the manuscript has already been forwarded to the 'censores librorum'; when in the possession of approbatio and privilege the printer will start at once; a specimen of the beginning [pages] will be mailed at the earliest occasion (the privilege is actually dated 16 December 1570). |
| Note 3 | It lasted, however, some time before Plantin really started printing - and what was printed was not quite to the liking of the author. In a long, interesting letter Plantin on 9 December 1571 explains what has gone wrong (Corr., II, no. 297): he had instructed his proofreaders to be extremely careful in supervising Serranus's treatises on Ezechiel and Leviticus, but from the start they had complained that the manuscript was in many places corrupt and unintelligible. Arias Montanus, consulted on the problem, ordered to follow the manuscript in the dubious cases, and to correct it when obvious ('jussit in dubiis exemplar nostrum, in apertis id quod certum foret sequeremur'). Great was Plantin's surprise when Arias Montanus told him about the numerous errors found by Serranus in the first two quires mailed to Spain - and great his anxiety when realizing that the printing was nearly completely finished. He started immediately collating the printed texts with the manuscript. He found that a number of 'faults' had to be explained by the difference in orthography adopted by the author on one side, by the proof-readers on the other side (who followed Manutius's treatise on Latin orthography). Some 'real' faults might indeed be attributable to the negligence of the proof-readers, but the larger part, he affirms, were due of the deficiency of the manuscript. To prove his point, Plantin details no less than 14 specific cases. |
| Note 4 | Serranus's reaction is not known, but he must have accepted the situation. On 4 November 1572 Plantin could tell the author that when returning home from a journey he had found two letters of Serranus, one with the index, one with the approbatio of Didacus de Chaves (reproduced in the Commentaria in Levitici librum, and dated Sienna, 4 November 1570); when the edition would be completed by printing these parts, he will mail immediately a number of copies; in the meantime he included a bill for 300 copies, assuring that the author could get more copies if desired (Corr., III, no. 425; cf. also Plantin's letter to Serranus of 14 November 1572: Ibidem, no. 434). Some copies (lacking the indices and the approbatio of de Chaves) were then already on their way to Spain: Plantin, in a letter to de Çayas of 14 November 1572, affirms to have included 'les livres pour Monsieur le Docteur Serrano' in a 'paquet' sent to Diego Gonçales Gante (Ibidem, no. 432, page 220). |
| Note 5 | Plantin received in July 1571 from Serranus, through the intermediary of Martin de Varron, 200 florins Carolus guilders 'pour bon compte de l'impression du livre dudit' (Arch. 18, folio 20). The author had asked for 300 copies, but when Plantin calculated the printing costs he came to a price which exceeded this sum: the Commentaria in Leviticum containing 67 sheets, the Commentaria in Ezechielem 74 sheets, and the Indices to be estimated at 5 sheets - this made 146 sheets per copy and for 300 copies 43,800 sheets or 87 reams 12 'mains', which, at 2 florins Carolus guilders 15 stuivers (= price of paper and wages for composing and printing) per ream, amounted to 240 florins Carolus guilders 18 stuivers, or 40 florins Carolus guilders 18 stuivers more than Plantin had received (Arch. 9, folio 6r). Finally, however, only 186 copies got through to Spain and were charged to the author: 6 copies of each work in a box shipped on 15 May 1573 to de Çayas, and 180 copies of each edition on 15 January 1574 shipped directly to Serranus. They contained per copy (of the two editions counted together) 144 sheets, making 53½ reams, which, at 2 florins Carolus guilders 15 stuivers per ream, came to 145 florins Carolus guilders 15 stuivers With some expenses for the transportation the total sum charged arose to 171 florins Carolus guilders 7 stuivers, meaning that from the 200 florins Carolus guilders he received Plantin had a bonus of 28 florins Carolus guilders 13 stuivers (Arch. 18, folio 20). |
| Note 6 | Listed in M 296, folio 14v (Petri Serrani Comm[entari] a in Levit[icum] et Ezechielem, in f⁰, A⁰ 1572, f[euilles] 144, [price:] stuivers 35. Vide l[itte]ra S), and 17v (Serranus P. in Levitic[um] et Ezechielem, in f⁰, A⁰ 1572, f[euilles] 144, [price:] stuivers 35. Levit. f[euilles] 68, Ezech. f[euilles] 76). |
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