Fragments:—The Bodleian possesses fragments comprising l 3, l 6–8, v 3, v 6, v 7, v 8: Queen’s College, Oxford, possesses m 8, with some variations of reading: and i 4 was in 1888 in the possession of F. J. H. Jenkinson, Esq., at Cambridge.
3. Aegidius (1479
80?, see p. [1]).
In this work the colophon is printed in red, the only instance of colour printing in the early Oxford press. The book is for some reason rarer than the two which precede. It is noticeable that in every known copy the bad grammar of the printed colophon was corrected in red ink before it left the office.
Copies known.
1. Bodleian. Perfect. Owned by Robert Burton, the author of the Anatomy of Melancholy, in 1601. Originally bound first in a volume also containing De viginti preceptis elegantiarum, Bois-le-duc, 1487: Perotti grammatica: Bonaventurae Soliloquium. Marked 4o A. 28 Th., then Auct. Q. 1. 5. 16, then separately bound as Auct. R. supra 4.
2. Oriel College Library. Perfect. See the Jerome, no. 4.
3. John Rylands Library, Manchester. Wanting a 1 and c 8, blank leaves and a 8. Purchased by Lord Spencer: once part of the volume containing the Jerome no. 12.
A copy was in the Harleian Library (Catal. vol. 3, no. 6674).
4. Cicero, Pro Milone (1480?, see p. [2]).
This is a puzzling book. The type so closely resembles Oxford type that every bibliographer has accepted it provisionally as identical. Yet it exhibits spaced type, it uses / for a comma (both points unique in Oxford printing), and the sections are made up in sixes. It is also by many years the first classic printed in England, the next being a Terence in 1497. The volume probably consisted of a—e in sixes, allowing a leaf blank at the beginning: perhaps section e was in eight. The first half of each section bears signatures. The book was clearly made up of half quarto sheets, three to each section. Mr. Blades was of opinion that the type was more worn than that of the Ales: and Mr. E. G. Duff thinks that the spacing and other peculiarities point to a later date than 1480.