Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library Part VII

Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library Part VII

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 1751. Lipsius, De amphitheatro liber, Antwerp [Leiden], 1584 [and other works], Parisian citron morocco for Jacques-Auguste de Thou.

Lipsius, De amphitheatro liber, Antwerp [Leiden], 1584 [and other works], Parisian citron morocco for Jacques-Auguste de Thou

Estimate

5,000 - 7,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

LIPSIUS, JUSTUS. De amphitheatro liber. In quo forma ipsa Loci expressa, & ratio spectandi. Cum aeneis figuris. Antwerp [Leiden]: Christophe Plantin, 1584. [bound with:]


De amphitheatris quae extra Romam libellus. In quo Formae eorum aliquot & typi. Antwerp [Leiden]: Christophe Plantin, 1584. [and:]


Saturnalium sermonum libri duo, qui de Gladiatoribus. Noviter correcti, aucti, & formis aeneis illustrati. Antwerp [Leiden]: Christophe Plantin, 1585. [and:]


De constantia libri duo, qui alloquium praecipue continent in publicis malis. Iterata editio, melior & notis auctior. Antwerp [Leiden]: Christophe Plantin, 1585


A collection of works by the Flemish Catholic philologist, philosopher, and humanist Justus Lipsius (1547-1606), IN A HANDSOME CONTEMPORARY PARISIAN CITRON MOROCCO BINDING FOR JACQUES-AUGUSTE DE THOU as a bachelor. The volume includes first editions of Lipsius' impressively illustrated works on Roman amphitheatres, and a second edition of his work on gladiators. Bound in at the end is a second edition of his seminal treatise on the tenets of Neostoicism, De constantia, a highly influential text in the Renaissance, which aims to reconcile Senecan teachings with those of Christianity.


During the early years of his collecting, Jacques-Auguste de Thou (1553–1617) commissioned some extravagant bindings; however, the great majority of his acquisitions were simply bound, with his family arms on the covers (D’argent au chevron de sable accompagné de trois taons du même) and his monogram on the spine: IADT (OHR 216, 1–3). After his marriage in 1587 to Marie de Barbançon-Cany (1587–1601), De Thou ordered a new arms block, impaling her family arms, and following Marie's death in 1601, De Thou ordered a third set of blocks uniting the arms of his second wife Gasparde de La Chastre (1577–1616) and initials. For a full description of the de Thou library, see Bibliotheca Brookeriana I: Magnificent Books and Bindings, 11 October 2023, lot 2.

First editions of first 2 works, second editions of remaining 2 works, 4 works in one volume, 4to (214 x 149 mm). Roman, italic, and occasional Greek type. collation: (1) A-N4: 54 leaves (plus 2 folding plates on unsigned leaves after A4 and H2); (2) a-d4 e2: 18 leaves (plus folding plate on unsigned leaf after a2); (3) *4 A-Z4: 96 leaves (plus 4 folding plates on unsigned leaves after C2, D2, S3, and T3); (4) *4 2*4 A-Q4: 72 leaves. Title-pages of each work with woodcut device, woodcut initials, folding woodcut plates on unsigned leaves and further in-text woodcut illustrations.


binding: Late-sixteenth-century Parisian citron morocco for Jacques-Auguste de Thou (222 x 160 mm), 3 gilt fillets around sides, De Thou's arms as a bachelor in centre, monogrammed initials in spine compartments, 4 line title in second compartment, plain edges.


provenance: Jacques-Auguste de Thou (1553-1617, before his first marriage in 1587), by descent to—Jacques-Auguste II de Thou (1609-1677), Catalogus bibliothecae Thuanae, Paris, 7 April 1680, II, p. 343—Charles de Rohan, prince de Soubise (1715-1787), who inherited the bulk of the de Thou library, with his shelfmark in ink on upper cover, sale, Paris, January 1789, part lot 6489 ("J. Lipsius de Amphitheatro. 1584, in-4")—Félix Solar (1815-1871), Catalogue des livres et manuscrits composant la bibliothèque de m. Félix Solar. Tome premier (Paris 1860), no. 2121, his sale, Charles Pillet & Jacques-Joseph Techener, Paris, part I, 19 November-8 December 1860, lot 2991, FF49 to—Jacques-Joseph Techener, his sale, H. Lechat & Léon Techener with Auguste Aubry, Paris, part III, 4-7 April 1865, lot 1601—Ambroise Firmin-Didot (1790-1876), his sale, Maurice Delestre & Em. Paul, L. Huard et Guillemin, Paris, 10-14 June 1884, lot 481—Librairie Damascène Morgand, Paris, Bulletin mensuel, Nouvelle série 11, November 1910, item 306—Roger Peyrefitte (1907-2000), bookplate, sale, Paris, 20 December 1976, lot 80. acquisition: Purchased in 1991 from Librairie Sourget, Chartres. references: (1) Voet 1530B; (2) Voet 1531B; (3) Voet 1557B (presuming Antwerp, not Leiden imprint); (4) Voet 1535Abis

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