Giovanninesi, In Mediceam monarchiam penthatheucus, Ancona, 1524, contemporary Roman brown morocco with arms of a cardinal
Estimate
2,400 - 3,200 GBP
Lot Details
Description
GIOVANNINESI, STEFANO. In Mediceam monarchiam penthatheucus ad divum Cle. Mediceum VII pot[!] max apostolici regni Clauigerum quo Medicei heroes omnes, qui iam pridem invidiosa temporum caligine, consenverant ad suum immortalitatis splendorem euecti renitescunt. [Ancona]: Bernardino Guerralda, 6 December 1524
RARE FIRST EDITION OF THIS HISTORY OF THE MEDICI, IN A BINDING WITH A CARDINAL'S ARMS.
Anthony Hobson records use of the acanthus-capital-frame tool at Milan and Bologna, but asserts it was most used in Rome during the pontificates of the two Medici popes, Leo X (1513-1521) and Clement VII (1523-1534) (Humanists and bookbinders, p. 90, fig. 76). The tool appears on a binding in the Henry Davis Gift which Mirjam Foot has attributed with reservation to Rome, c. 1520 (Davis Gift III, no. 264).
Quires N and O are incomplete: N5-O5 are lacking, followed by O6 (signed in pencil) and a duplicate of leaf E4 is inserted before P1. This copy is also lacking the folding genealogical table.
Folio (313 x 200 mm). Roman and gothic type, 46 lines plus headline. collation: A-B4 C-M6 N4 O6 E4 P-V6 X4 (X2 missigned V2): 114 leaves (only, of 120; lacking N5-6 and 5 leaves of quire O, with duplicate of E4 bound before P1). Title in red within an elaborate woodcut cartouche, woodcut arms of Pope Leo X (Giovanni de' Medici) on verso of title, preliminary leaves with woodcut initials and headlines in red, other woodcut initials in black, with 2 leaves loosely preserved, comprising: (1) 1-page manuscript catalogue entry in French in a nineteenth-century hand, (2) a rubbing from another binding also featuring a cardinal's hat and with an 8-line note in French, dated 1962. (Lacking 7 leaves and a folding genealogy, duplicate of E4, some spotting and foxing, marginal dampstaining, some slight marginal worming, 110 mm tear to O6 slightly affecting text, N4 and O6 repaired at margin, small wormhole from title-page to H1 affecting 1 letter.)
binding: Brown morocco pre-Sack Roman binding (318 x 216 mm), c. 1525, traces of low-grade gold suggesting tooling was originally gilt, broad border frame flanked by blind fillets of repeated rectangular tool containing a floral motif, horizontal bands at top of central panel containing a row of floral tools, corner pieces, central roundel containing Cardinal's arms (unpainted), stubs from 4 pairs of ties, spine with 3 full bands, compartments with blind saltires, edges gilt and gauffered. (Binding somewhat rubbed and scraped, large repair to lower outer corner of lower cover, smaller repairs to corners and fore-edge, new endpapers.)
provenance: Convent library of St Augustine, Rome, contemporary inscription to remainder of original upper pastedown—Jean Fürstenberg (1890-1982), red gilt booklabel, bequeathed to Fondation Fürstenberg-Beaumesnil, sale, Wemaëre, de Beaupuis, Denesle, Binoche et Giquello, Paris, 9 December 2013, lot 129. acquisition: Purchased at the preceding sale. references: Edit16 CNCE 21124; USTC 833113; Tammaro De Marinis, Die italienischen Renaissance-Einbände der Bibliothek Fürstenberg (Hamburg 1966), pp. 50-51(illustrated). exhibited: Musée d'art et d'histoire, Collection Jean Furstenberg: 3 mai-5 juin 1966 (Geneva 1966), no. 9
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