Magnus, Gothorum Sueonumque historia, Rome, 1554, French alla greca binding for Henri II for Fontainebleau

Folio (285 x 197 mm). Roman type, 38 lines plus headline. collation: A-E⁶ (E6 blank) a-c⁴ d-z⁶ a-3v⁶ 3x1-5: 425 leaves (of 426: lacking terminal blank). Title-page with full-page woodcut and inset letterpress text, full-page map of Scandinavia, full-page Viotto device on E5v (repeated on 3x5v) 237 in-text woodcut illustrations (including repeats), woodcut initials throughout. (Marginal staining, an occasional minor wormhole, lacking final blank.)

binding: Contemporary French alla greca binding of tan morocco gilt over wooden boards (300 x 206 mm), bound for Henri II at the royal bindery (by Gommar Estienne or Claude de Picques), broad gilt interlace border of open floral gouge work on criblé ground with crowned H at right and left mid-points, red morocco inlay compartment at centre with royal arms of Henri II, front cover lettered "CRONICA GOTHORU(M) TOMUS I", flat spine with shaped compartments with a sémé of lozenges, edges gilt and gauffered to a cross-hatch pattern, four corner bosses removed, traces of four fore-edge clasps and pin catches and two sabots on tail-edge of lower cover, spine with gilt arms, housed in modern red morocco pull-off case. (3 small wormholes, upper cover slightly buckled, upper flyleaf detached.)

provenance: Binding for Henri II, King of France (r. 1547-1559) for Royal Library at Fontainebleau, with shelfmarks of Royal Librarians Nicolas Rigaut ("MCCCXVII") and Pierre and Jacques DuPuy ("567"), indicating that the book was still there by 1645—Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland (1675-1722), by descent to—Charles Spencer, 5th Earl of Sunderland (1706-1758), thence by descent—Catalogue of the books in the library at Blenheim Palace, collected by Charles, third Earl of Sunderland (Oxford 1872), p.347 (shelfmark 34.c.)—Puttick & Simpson, Bibliotheca Sunderlandiana: Third Portion, London, 17-18 July 1882, lot 7838, £22 10s to—Léon Techener, sale, 1886, item number 722—Repértoire Méthodique de la librairie Damascène Morgand, 1893, no. 8058, fr. 7,500, and Bulletin Morgand number 24333—Bibliothèque Zierer, sale, Paris, 6 November 1968, lot 23, fr. 165,000 to Georges Heilbrun—Carl-Bertel Nathhorst (1907-1985), Swedish industrialist (with typed note from Heilbrun to Nathhorst comparing this binding to the Fontainbleau binding on Olus Magnus Historia loosely preserved in preliminary leaves), by descent until sold Christie's, 2 June 2004, lot 84. acquisition: Purchased at the preceding sale. references: USTC 839647; Edit16 CNCE 63754; Adams, M-135; Mortimer Harvard Italian, 269