Manuzio, Epistolarum libri XII, Turin, 1587, Roman russet morocco gilt for a member of the Chigi family

8vo (150 x 95 mm). Italic type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: ✝⁴ A-Z⁸ Aa-Tt⁸: 340 leaves. Gryphe printer's device on title-page, woodcut initials. (Very slight marginal dampstaining to some quires, quires Hh-Kk, Mm, Oo and Rr browned, 30 mm tear to foot of Dd7 slightly affecting text.)

binding: Roman russet morocco (155 x 110 mm), 1590s, for a member of the Chigi family, possibly by the Vatican Bindery, frame of 2 pairs of gilt fillets enclosing square leafy tool at corners, winged mermaids at sides and six-pointed stars at head and foot, in panel star at each corner and in centre a roundel composed of 2 gilt fillets containing cartouche mantled by helmet with feathers and Chigi arms surmounted by Maltese cross, spine with 4 bands, compartments with gilt floral tooling, stubs from 2 pairs of ties, edges gilt and gauffered, in green pasteboard box. (Small neat restorations to corners, hinges, and spine, upper board becoming detached at head, joints cracking, a few small stains, lacking ties.)

provenance: Chigi family, arms on binding—erased ownership inscription to title—Torre del Palasciano, Naples, twentieth-century bookplate to pastedown—Arturo Dazza of Vercelli (d. 2010), sale, Bloomsbury, Rome, 6 December 2006, lot 14. acquisition: Purchased at the preceding sale. references: Edit16 CNCE 34986; USTC 840508