Digestorum seu Pandectarum iuris ciuilis volumen primum, vndecim libros priores complectens.
Emperor Justinian I, Emperor of the East (c.482-565)
Category
Books
Date
1527 - 1528
Materials
Place of origin
Paris
Collection
Blickling Hall, Norfolk
NT 3070454
Summary
Bibliographic description
5 v. ; 8vo. Running number: 4370. Bound in 6 vols. (vol. 3 bound in 2). Shelved and uniform with "Institutionum Fl. Iustiniani Caesaris libri IIII" (Paris: Robert Estienne, 1534). All pages ruled in red. Provenance: manuscript inscription on vol. 1 front fly-leaf: "M. 7. vol. cum Institutionibus" [i.e. catalogue code and note of John Mitchell (ca. 1685-1751), librarian to Sir Richard Ellys (1682-1742)]; with Mitchell's manuscript code at foot of leaf: "ιη'." [i.e. iota eta = Greek number 18]. Manuscript inscription in sixteenth-century hand at foot of front pastedowns: vols.1-2: "ff. vet. pars i[-2]"; vol. 3: "Infor. p[ar]s. 1[-2]"; vols. 4-5: "ff. no. pars. 1-2". Seventeenth-century manuscript ownership inscription on title pages and leaf mm1r of vol. 3: "Ex libria Joannia Filleau Antecessoris pictauiensia et fisei aduocati" [i.e. Jean Filleau (1600-1682), lawyer, magistrate and Advocate Royal in Poitiers, an active anti-Protestant campaigner]. Name 'A. DE GIOV.' stamped in blind on centre of boards of vols. 1-2 and 4-5. Manuscript inscription at head of rear pastedowns in all vols. has been erased or torn out. Binding: sixteenth-century gold-tooled Parisian calf bindings, each volume tooled to a different Grolieresque design featuring gold curved stamps, centrepiece and cornerpiece stamps within panels of blind and gold fillets; vols. 3 and 4 include central lozenge pattern; vol. 5 includes central square and diamond pattern. Blind-stamped name of former owner 'A. DE. GIOV.' in centre of boards has been all-but obliterated by the decoration. Stubs of pair of ties on all boards. Spines divided into 6 compartments by 5 raised bands, the compartments with gold fillet and fleur-de-lys stamp decoration, the second and third compartments with title 'Dig.' and vol. no. 'To. I[-VI].' lettered directly in gold. All edges gilt. Vellum pastedowns.
Makers and roles
Emperor Justinian I, Emperor of the East (c.482-565), commissioner Robert Estienne (1503-1559), printer