Glasses of Princes
author
Jean Meschinot
(Monnières, near Clisson, 1420 - 1491)
publisher
Simon Vostre
(died 1521, Paris)
printer
Pigouchet Philip
(active Paris, 1488 - 1518)
binder
Trautz - Bauzonnet
(active Paris, 1833 - 1879, Paris)
Date1499
Place MadeFrance, Europe
MediumPrinted ink on paper
Dimensions17 x 11.2 x 1.5 cm (6 11/16 x 4 7/16 x 9/16 in.)
ClassificationsBooks
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession number1.b.1.35
eMuseum ID722525
Other NumberISTC im00507000
Previous NumberGoff M507
EmbARK ObjectID17936
TMS Source ID6114
Last Updated8/9/24
Description1 Vol. (108 leaves, 30 lines) : paper : ill. ; 16.6 x 10.3 cm (octavo)Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryLes lunettes des Princes (composed 1461-64) is a rare incunable--an early printed book--in the collection. It is a moralizing didactic poem on conduct for rulers, composed by Jean Meschinot (1420-1492) a fifteenth-century poet in the court of the Dukes of Brittany, which was a bestseller of its century. The Gardner Lunettes was printed in Paris by the renowned Philippe Pigouchet for Simon Vostre, 1499 and is illustrated with metalcuts. It is one of just four known copies of this edition of the book worldwide, and the only one outside of Europe.
Gardner bought the volume in 1890 believing it to be from the collection of a cardinal Yemeniz. The bibliophile Nicholas Yemeniz (1783-1871) was actually French silk manufacturer based in Lyon. His bookplate, two sides of coin resembling those issued by the famous Lyon mint and his last name with enlarged initial letter Y, appears to be the model for Gardner’s ex libris.
Gardner commissioned her close friend, the painter Joseph Lindon Smith to design her bookplate featuring two sides of a coin or medal. On the obverse is the word ‘angelos’, meaning messenger in Greek, surrounding a winged foot of Hermes, the messenger of the Gods. The foot was drawn after a statue made for Gardner by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1892. On the medal’s reverse are the words ‘EX LIBRIS ISABELLA’- around the letter Y, surmounted by a crown. This pseudo-royal cipher reflects Gardner’s keen interest in heraldry, European monarchs, especially the Stuarts from whom she claimed descent, and her identification with the Renaissance art patrons and bibliophiles Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Castile and León (r. 1473-1509), and Isabella d’Este, Marchesa of Mantua (1474-1539). To this day, anyone called Isabella is entitled to free admission to the museum.
Gardner bought the volume in 1890 believing it to be from the collection of a cardinal Yemeniz. The bibliophile Nicholas Yemeniz (1783-1871) was actually French silk manufacturer based in Lyon. His bookplate, two sides of coin resembling those issued by the famous Lyon mint and his last name with enlarged initial letter Y, appears to be the model for Gardner’s ex libris.
Gardner commissioned her close friend, the painter Joseph Lindon Smith to design her bookplate featuring two sides of a coin or medal. On the obverse is the word ‘angelos’, meaning messenger in Greek, surrounding a winged foot of Hermes, the messenger of the Gods. The foot was drawn after a statue made for Gardner by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1892. On the medal’s reverse are the words ‘EX LIBRIS ISABELLA’- around the letter Y, surmounted by a crown. This pseudo-royal cipher reflects Gardner’s keen interest in heraldry, European monarchs, especially the Stuarts from whom she claimed descent, and her identification with the Renaissance art patrons and bibliophiles Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Castile and León (r. 1473-1509), and Isabella d’Este, Marchesa of Mantua (1474-1539). To this day, anyone called Isabella is entitled to free admission to the museum.
BibliographyNotesLudwig Hain. Repertorium Bibliographicum in quo libri omnes ab arte typographica inventa usque ad annum MD. typis expressi ordine alphabetico vel simpliciter enumerantur vel adcuratius recensentur, Vol. II (Paris, 1826-1838), no. 1102.
Nicholas Yemeniz. Catalogue de la Bibliothèque de M. N. Yemeniz... (Paris, 29 April - 9 May 1867), p. 376, lot 1733.
Charles F. Libbie and Co. Catalogue of the Library, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters, Maps and Prints Forming the Collection of Gerald E. Hart, esq., of Montreal... (Boston, 15-19 April 1890), p. 162, lot 1629.
"Current Library News." Monthly Bulletin of Books Added to the Public Library of the City of Boston, Vol. II, No. 5 (May 1897), p. 86.
Exhibition of the Society of Arts & Crafts. Exh. cat. (Boston: Copley Hall, 1899), p. 50.
Avenir Tchemerzine. Bibliographie d’éditions originales ou rares d’auteurs français des XVe, XVIe, XVIIe, et XVIIIe siècles, Vol. VIII (Paris, 1927), no. 236b.
Isabella Stewart Gardner. A Choice of Books from the Library of Isabella Stewart Gardner, Fenway Court (Boston, 1906), p. 48. (as Cardinal Yemeniz's copy)
Isabella Stewart Gardner. A Choice of Manuscripts and Bookbindings from the Library of Isabella Stewart Gardner, Fenway Court (Boston, 1922), p. 95. (as Cardinal Yemeniz's copy)
Frederick Richmond Goff. Incunabula in American libraries; a third census of fifteenth-century books recorded in North American collections (New York, 1964), no. M507.
Rebecca Karo. Short-Title Catalogue of Highlights from the Book Collection in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Unpublished manuscript. (Boston, 1970s), no. 8.
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke, no. M22955, accessed 8 August 2016. http://www.gesamtkatalogderwiegendrucke.de/GWEN.xhtml
British Library. Incunabula Short Title Catalogue, no. im00507000, accessed 8 August 2016. http://istc.bl.uk/search/search.html?operation=record&rsid=541934&q=4
Diane Booton in Jeffrey F. Hamburger et al. Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston Collections. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; Newton: McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College; Cambridge: Houghton Library, Harvard University, 2016), pp.18, 306, no. 244, ill.
Diane Booton. Publishing Neworks in France in the Early Era of Print (London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018), pp. 24-25, fig. 1.7.
Nicholas Yemeniz. Catalogue de la Bibliothèque de M. N. Yemeniz... (Paris, 29 April - 9 May 1867), p. 376, lot 1733.
Charles F. Libbie and Co. Catalogue of the Library, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters, Maps and Prints Forming the Collection of Gerald E. Hart, esq., of Montreal... (Boston, 15-19 April 1890), p. 162, lot 1629.
"Current Library News." Monthly Bulletin of Books Added to the Public Library of the City of Boston, Vol. II, No. 5 (May 1897), p. 86.
Exhibition of the Society of Arts & Crafts. Exh. cat. (Boston: Copley Hall, 1899), p. 50.
Avenir Tchemerzine. Bibliographie d’éditions originales ou rares d’auteurs français des XVe, XVIe, XVIIe, et XVIIIe siècles, Vol. VIII (Paris, 1927), no. 236b.
Isabella Stewart Gardner. A Choice of Books from the Library of Isabella Stewart Gardner, Fenway Court (Boston, 1906), p. 48. (as Cardinal Yemeniz's copy)
Isabella Stewart Gardner. A Choice of Manuscripts and Bookbindings from the Library of Isabella Stewart Gardner, Fenway Court (Boston, 1922), p. 95. (as Cardinal Yemeniz's copy)
Frederick Richmond Goff. Incunabula in American libraries; a third census of fifteenth-century books recorded in North American collections (New York, 1964), no. M507.
Rebecca Karo. Short-Title Catalogue of Highlights from the Book Collection in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Unpublished manuscript. (Boston, 1970s), no. 8.
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke, no. M22955, accessed 8 August 2016. http://www.gesamtkatalogderwiegendrucke.de/GWEN.xhtml
British Library. Incunabula Short Title Catalogue, no. im00507000, accessed 8 August 2016. http://istc.bl.uk/search/search.html?operation=record&rsid=541934&q=4
Diane Booton in Jeffrey F. Hamburger et al. Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston Collections. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; Newton: McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College; Cambridge: Houghton Library, Harvard University, 2016), pp.18, 306, no. 244, ill.
Diane Booton. Publishing Neworks in France in the Early Era of Print (London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018), pp. 24-25, fig. 1.7.
MarksNotesAffixed (verso front endpaper, upper left): bookplate of Nicholas Yemeniz with lot no. "1733" inscribed in pencil
Inscribed in pencil (verso of front endpaper, upper left): "1629" [Hart sale lot number]
Affixed (verso front endpaper, lower left): excerpt from Hart sale catalogue
Affixed (recto of first flyleaf, upper right): bookplate of Isabella Stewart Gardner
Inscribed in pencil (recto of first flyleaf, upper right): "650f"
Inscribed in pencil (recto of first flyleaf, lower left): "4464"
Inscribed in washed pen (f.1): indecipherable [in fifteenth-century hand (?)]
Inscribed in pen (f. 71r): Underline of 'mais donnez y amendement'
Inscribed in pen (recto back endpaper, upper right): "J"
Erased pencil inscription (recto back endpaper, lower right): "cao"
Enclosed: typed bibliographic description
Enclosed: excerpt from Hart sale catalogue, lot 1629
Inscribed in pencil (verso of front endpaper, upper left): "1629" [Hart sale lot number]
Affixed (verso front endpaper, lower left): excerpt from Hart sale catalogue
Affixed (recto of first flyleaf, upper right): bookplate of Isabella Stewart Gardner
Inscribed in pencil (recto of first flyleaf, upper right): "650f"
Inscribed in pencil (recto of first flyleaf, lower left): "4464"
Inscribed in washed pen (f.1): indecipherable [in fifteenth-century hand (?)]
Inscribed in pen (f. 71r): Underline of 'mais donnez y amendement'
Inscribed in pen (recto back endpaper, upper right): "J"
Erased pencil inscription (recto back endpaper, lower right): "cao"
Enclosed: typed bibliographic description
Enclosed: excerpt from Hart sale catalogue, lot 1629
ProvenanceNotesCollection of the textile manufacturer and art collector Nicholas Yemeniz (1783-1871), Lyon.
Sold at the Yemeniz sale at Librarie Bachelin-Deflorenne, Paris for 225 francs in April or May 1867, lot 1733.
Collection of the insurer Gerald Ephraim Hart (1849-1936), Montreal.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from the Hart sale at the auctioneers Charles F. Libbie & Co., Boston on 17 April 1890, lot 1629. (as Cardinal Yeminez's copy)
Sold at the Yemeniz sale at Librarie Bachelin-Deflorenne, Paris for 225 francs in April or May 1867, lot 1733.
Collection of the insurer Gerald Ephraim Hart (1849-1936), Montreal.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from the Hart sale at the auctioneers Charles F. Libbie & Co., Boston on 17 April 1890, lot 1629. (as Cardinal Yeminez's copy)
Nicolò da Ponte
26 August 1578