Ovidius Naso, Le trasformationi, Venice, 1553, contemporary Venetian red morocco gilt for Cardinal Perrenot de Granvelle
Estimate
7,000 - 9,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
OVIDIUS NASO, PUBLIUS. Le trasformationi di m. Lodovico Dolce, di nuovo ristampate e da lui ricorrette & in diversi luoghi ampliate. Con la tavola delle favole. Venice: Gabriele Giolito de Ferrari & Brothers, 1553
LARGE-PAPER COPY of the second Giolito 1553 edition, IN A CONTEMPORARY VENETIAN BINDING FOR ANTOINE PERRENOT DE GRANVELLE, as indicated by the distinctive blue label painted onto the spine. The outer margin of this copy is wider than that of the preceding lot. The preface of this work contains a letter in praise of Granvelle from Dolce, and Mortimer records another extant copy in a contemporary Venetian red morocco gilt binding bound for Granvelle (albeit featuring different gold tooling).
Since the title-page in the present volume is lacking, it is difficult to be certain that this book was ever at Besançon or in the possession of Count de La Baume-Saint Amour, or in the hands of Jean-Baptiste Boisot. However, by the eighteenth century, it had passed into the hands of a surgeon named Jean Joseph Paoli, and by the nineteenth-century, it was owned by Simon-Jude Honnorat, a medical doctor and lexicographer, who compiled the Dictionnaire Provençal-Français and assembled a notable cabinet of curiosities.
4to (243 x 172 mm). Italic type, 40 lines plus headline. collation: *2-6 A-T8 V3 X4: 173 leaves (only, of 176: lacking *1 title-page, *8, and V4). Woodcut world map and 94 woodcut illustrations (including 7 repeats), woodcut ornamental sidepieces and initials. (Lacking*1, *8, and V4, marginal worming, dampstaining.)
binding: Contemporary Venetian red morocco (248 x 178 mm), richly gilt, multiple bind fillets around sides, outer frame formed by double gilt fillets, containing gilt flower at inside angles, flame tools and large oval at centre of all 4 sides, inner frame formed by double gilt fillets, between the 2 frames open rosettes at four sides flanked by open leaf and stem, large fleuron at outer angles of inner frame, bud and leaf tool flanking small rosette in centre panel, arabesque at each inner corner, in centre an undulating lozenge formed by a single fillet containing a sémé of dots and two large arabesques, traces of four pairs of pink fabric ties, spine with 5 bands, compartments decorated with an open rosette with 4 open leaves of free-hand gougework by a single fillet, plain edges gilt, blue label painted across fore-edge above upper ties with 3-line title in (abraded and partially illegible) gold letters "TRANSF| [...] N| [...] DOLCE". (Worming to spine and boards, first, second, and sixth spine compartments frayed with loss of most of lower compartment, scorchmarks to upper board, staining to lower board.)
provenance: Bound for Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, Bishop of Arras (later Cardinal de Granvelle) (1517-1586), with blue label painted across fore-edge—"Jean Joseph Paoli Chirurgien", eighteenth-century inscription—Simon-Jude Honnorat (1783-1852), medical doctor and lexicographer, bookplate. acquisition: Purchased in 2016 from Prometheos Libreria Antiquaria di Carlo Beccarini, Rome. references: Mortimer Italian 342 (mentioning another copy bound for Granvelle); USTC 845803; Edit16 CNCE 54429; Adams, O-508; Brunet II: 789; Shirley 95 (for woodcut world map on p. 3)
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