| Record ID | cp012111 |
| Voet reference number | 1126 |
| Museum Plantin-Moretus | |
| Author | EPIPHANIUS OF CONSTANTIA |
| Title page transcription | TOϒ ΑΓΙΟϒ ΠΑΤΡΟΣ ‖ ΗΜΩΝ ΕΡΙΦΑΝΙΟϒ, ΕΠIΣΚΟΠΟϒ ‖ KONΣΤΑΝΤΕΙΑΣ ΚϒΠΡΟϒ, ΕΙΣ ‖ TON ΦϒΣΙΟΛΟΓΟΝ. ‖ Τοῦ ἀυτοου εις τἁ βαία λογος. ‖ SANCTI PATRIS NOSTRI ‖ EPIPHANII, EPISCOPI CONSTAN- ‖ TIÆ CYPRI, AD PHYSIOLOGVM. ‖ Eiusdem in die festo Palmarum sermo. ‖ D. Consali Ponce de Leon Hispalensis, S.D.N. ‖ Sixti V. Cubicularij secreti, interpretis & ‖ scholiastæ, bimestre otium. ‖ Ennius Iphigenia. ‖ Otio qui nescit vti, plus negotij habet. ‖ Quàm cùm est negotium in negotio. ‖ ⊕ 34 ‖ ANTVERPIÆ, ‖ Ex Officina Christophori Plantini, ‖ Architypographi Regij. ‖ M.D.LXXXVIII. |
| Collation | 8⁰ [131]: *⁸, A-H⁸, I⁴; pages [1-16], 1-124, [125-136] (Errors: wrongly numbered from 81 to 96, but because of handwritten corrections not checked in copy Museum Plantin-Moretus) |
| Fingerprint | 158808 - # a1 *2 $am : # a2 *5 unt - # b1 A2 nim : # b2 I yp |
| Number of sheets | 9.50 |
| Pages | [1]: Title (N.B.: on 1st line stands ΕΡΙΦΑΝΙΟϒ instead of ΕΠΙΦΑΝΙΟϒ; in Museum Plantin-Moretus copy corrected by hand)[2]: Petri Angelii Bargaei ad lectorem (italic type); Greek poem by Fredericus Sacherius[3-4]: Sanctissimo D.N. Sixto V. pont. opt. max. (Rome, 1 January 1587, signed by D. Consalus Ponce de Leon)[5-12]: Ad lectorem praefatio (Rome, 6 October 1586; italic type, parts in roman type, words in greek type)[13-15]: Vitae S. Epiphanii compendium ex Metaphraste[16]: illustration (portrait of stuivers Epiphanius)[1]-108: Text (parts in greek type and italic type; parts on two columns, one in greek type and one in Latin)[109]: Beati Epiphanii, Episcopi Cypri, in Die Festo Palmarum Sermo. Cum Scholiis (= in form of title; in Greek and Latin; only Latin text reproduced here)110: Lectori (one line in italic type)111: Sixto V, pont. opt. max. (s. D. Consalus Ponce de Leon; italic type)112-123: Text (on even pages in greek type; on uneven pages in Latin [italic type])124: Scholia (parts in italic type)[125-130]: Index (on two columns, parts in greek type)[131-133]: Auctores, quorum…citantur in notis (on two columns)[134]: approbation (Antwerp, 3 June 1588, s. D. Henricus Zebertus)[135]: Privilege (Brussels, 2 August 1588, s. I. de Witte)[136]: Blank |
| Edition information | |
| Illustrations | 26 engravings (all printed within typographical line-borders): 1) one, 107 × 73, on page [16]: portrait of St. Epiphanius, with name in Cyrillic characters, the typographically printed explanation underneath declares that Joannes Adolus Leucosiensis copied this portrait from a ‘very old’ painting [icon] in the monastery of Sula at Constantinople2) 25, c. 68 × 68, on pages 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, 22, 26, 30, 35, 38, 42, 47, 50, 60, 65, 68, 71, 74, 78, 83, 89, 93, 98, 102, 106, depicting scenes from the life of animals. To judge from the style the illustrations must have been executed by Pieter van der Borcht |
| Copies | Museum Plantin-Moretus- R 55.37Heritage Library Hendrik Conscience AntwerpKBR Royal Library of BelgiumCambridgeGhent University LibraryLeiden University LibrariesBritish Library LondonPostel AbbeyMunicipal Library ToulouseUtrecht University Library |
| Bibliographical references | Ruelens-de Backer, pages 309-310 (1588, no. 19)Bib. Belgica (1964–1970 éd.), II, page 265Bib. catholica Neerlandica impressa, no. 3978Praz, M. Seventeenth-Century Imagery, page 55Landwehr, Emblem Books in the Low Countries, 1970, no. 162.Cockx-Indestege, E. Belgica typographica 1015 |
| Online bibliographical references | STCV c:stcv:12924383USTC 402141 |
| Note 1 | Contains: a) 25 chapters of the Physiologus, a study on animals and their behaviour (pages 1-108; each chapter with an illustration, Greek text and Latin translation [on two columns, facing each other], and explanatory ‘Notae’ [on one column]); b) Homily on the feast of Palm-Sunday (pages 112-123: on even pages the Greek text; on uneven pages the Latin translation, with on page 124 some explanations [Scholia] in Latin). |
| Note 2 | With the Physiologus starts the series of medieval bestiaries. The work must have originated in the 2nd century A.D. and was later falsely attributed to Epiphanius. In this edition only a limited number of chapters are reproduced. |
| Note 3 | Reprint of the original edition, issued at Rome in 1587. The illustrations are also copied from the woodcuts of the original Rome-edition. |
| Note 4 | In the foreword to the reader, the editor, Consalus [Gonsalvo] Ponce de Leon, a Spanish theologian living at Rome, explains on page [11] that he used for his edition of the Physiologus three manuscripts from Italian libraries (one lent by Cardinal Sirletus; a transcription made by a Sicilian friend from a manuscript in a library at Palermo; finally a ‘[exemplar] omnium emendatissimum’ lent by the Jesuit father Franciscus Turrianus. |
| Note 5 | The original text of the Sermo came from an ‘old’ Greek manuscript in the library of Cardinal Carapha (Caraffa). The transcription was made and forwarded to the editor by a friend, the Dutch humanist, Gerardus Vossius. These details are given by Ponce de Leon in the note to the reader on page 110. |
| Note 6 | It is difficult to ascertain why Plantin made this reprint of an Italian edition. Probably part of the answer is in Plantin’s letter of 27 August 1588 to Garnier, where he very likely refers to this edition, when stating ‘Je vous prie recevoir aussi en gré le petit livret que je vous envoye dont la copie m’a esté envoyee de Rome par l’autheur de la version pour l’imprimer…’ (Corr., VIII-IX, no. 1398). |
| Note 7 | At least 4 copies were mailed to Ponce de Leon at Rome (letter of Plantin to the editor, 22 August 1588 [Ibidem, no. 1395]: the typographer recently sent two copies, and mails now two other copies). |
| Note 8 | Listed in M 296, folio 5v (Epiphanius ad physiologium, in 8⁰, cum figuris aeneis, f[euilles] 9½, [price:] stuivers 10), and M 321. |
| Further reading |