Paradin, Alliances genealogiques, Lyon, 1561, contemporary French vellum gilt for Hartmann II von Liechtenstein und Nikolsburg

Folio (332 x 215 mm). Roman and italic types. collation: A⁴ a-z⁶ 2a-2z⁶ A-Z⁶ Aa-Pp⁶ Qq⁸: 508 leaves. Title-page with elaborate early hand-coloured woodcut border and printer's device to centre panel, 1068 woodcut coats-of-arms with early hand-colouring, cancel slips to versos l2-m2 and m6, errata to verso p.1021. (Title with paper repairs to border, wormhole to A1-[4] and a1, touching title border and text on several leaves, tear to Nn3 affecting heraldic shield on verso and arms facing, occasional light browning.) 

binding: Contemporary French limp vellum (340 x 220 mm) with fore-edge flaps, gilt fillet around sides, large gilt arabesque block in centre around an open oval, above and below narrow gilt frames enclosing the initials "H.H.V.L.V.N." and the date "M.D.LXXVII.", flat spine, 6 gilt false bands, rawhide bands penetrating spine at hinges in 8 places, 2-line title in second compartment, gilt floral lozenge in others, shelfmarks in ink on spine "H/31" and "rr./6.", traces of 2 pairs of fabric ties, yellow and red, alternating on each cover, edges gilt. (Lacking ties, tailband renewed.)

provenance: Hartmann II von Liechtenstein und Nikolsburg (1544-1585), initials "H.H.V.L.V.N."—Hanns Bohatta, Katalog der in den Bibliotheken der regierenden Linie des fürstlichen Hauses von und zu Liechtenstein befindlichen Bücher aus dem XVI.-XX. Jahrhundert (1931), no. 27,479 ("Pgt."; shelfmark S-2-7)—Christie's, South Kensington, 15 November 2013, lot 336—Librairie Amélie Sourget, Paris, Catalogue 4 (2014), item 6. acquisition: Purchased in 2014 from Librairie Amélie Sourget, Paris. references: USTC 874; Mortimer Harvard French 411