Amboise, Les contrepistres d'Ovide; Le tableau de Cebes, Paris, 1543, Parisian brown calf gilt for Marcus Fugger
Estimate
15,000 - 20,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
AMBOISE, MICHEL D'. Les contrepistres d'Ovide nouvellement inventées. Paris: Denis Janot, 1542 [bound with:]
CEBES. Le Tableau de Cebes et Thebes, ancien philosophe et disciple de Socrates. Paris: Denis Janot for Gilles Corrozet, 26 July 1543 [and:]
PLUTARCHUS. Comme on peult recueillir profit de son enemy. Poitiers: [Jean and Enguilbert de Marnef, not before 1543]
THREE RARE WORKS IN A BINDING FOR MARCUS FUGGER.
This copy is from the library of Marcus Fugger (1529–1597), scion of the powerful banking family and trading family based in Augsburg. It is one of a large number of bindings he commissioned from Parisian binders in the early 1550s, the great majority in brown calf, simply decorated, with a small tool of a hand holding a branch, upon which perches a bird, as here (see also Magnificent Books and Bindings, 11 October 2023, lot 86), or a crowned double-headed eagle. Marcus habitually wrote his name on the pastedown of the upper cover, but no date, or purchase details.
Of the three rare works bound in this volume, the second and third are especially notable. The second edition with Janot's imprint of Corrozet's verse translation of Cebes must be counted amongst the most attractive books of the French Renaissance, owing both to its illustrations and the quality of its printing. The rare edition of Plutarch is untraced in the standard bibliographical reference works.
For other books with Fugger provenance, see 1606 (Boccaccio), 1683 (Ficino), 1693 (Galen), 1809 (Plutarch) and 1828 (Sallust).
Second edition of each work, 3 works in one volume, 8vo (138 x 93 mm). (1) Roman type, 26 lines plus headline. collation: A-P8: 120 leaves. Woodcut initials, 15 small woodcut illustrations (including repeats). (2) Italic type, 18 lines plus headline. collation: A-G8 H6: 62 leaves. 29 woodcut illustrations, including full-page illustration "Le Pelerin visitant le Temple" (A4r) signed "F" (Denis Janot's unknown "F" artist) and 12 illustrations for the "Tableau" in outline, all illustrations apart from the full-page woodcut with ornamental woodcut borders of 4 designs, woodcut printer's device. (3) Roman and italic type, 20 lines. collation: A-C8: 24 leaves.
binding: Parisian polished tan calf over pasteboards (147 x 101 mm), c. 1550, blind fillets round sides, frame of blind fillets with gilt bud and leaf at outer angles, in centre gilt hand-held floral sprig surmounted by a bird, spine with 5 full and 2 half bands, manuscript title label to upper compartment, housed in modern brown morocco folding case. (Small crack to spine, joints and foot of spine expertly repaired.)
provenance: Marcus Fugger (1529–1597), signature on upper pastedown, by descent to—Philipp Fugger (1567–1601), by descent to—Marcus Philipp Fugger (1598–1620), by descent to—Marquard Fugger, Graf von Kirchberg und Weissenhorn (1596–1655)—Öttingen-Wallerstein, family library at Schloss Maihingen, armorial ink-stamp on title-page, sale, Karl & Faber, Munich, part VIII, November 1933, lot 95, booklabel to front free endpaper—acquired by Arthur & Charlotte Vershbow from Sandbergs Bokhandel in 1966, their sale, Christie's New York, 10 April 2013, lot 142. acquisition: Purchased at the preceding sale. references: (1) cf. Brunet IV, 291; Cioranescu 24401 (each listing 1541 edition only); (2) USTC 40235 (3) not traced
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