Petrarca, Li sonetti canzone triumphi, Venice, 1519, illuminated by Benedetto Bordone, nineteenth-century diced russia

PETRARCA, FRANCESCO. Li sonetti, canzone, triumphi. Venice: Gregorio de Gregori, 1519

A BEAUTIFUL COPY OF PETRARCH'S SONNETS ILLUMINATED BY BENEDETTO BORDONE (d. 1531), renowned Paduan cartographer, miniaturist and book illuminator. At the foot of the title-page is a small armorial shield bearing the insignia of the Holy See (tiara and crossed keys of St Peter) and six Medici palle, suggesting that this copy might have been presented to Pope Leo X (Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici) soon after publication. The volume thus may be considered in the broader context of the Aldine editions of Petrarch illuminated by Bordon and his workshop (Reiner Speck & Florian Neumann, Bibliotheca Petrarchesca (2004), p.291 no. VIII and pp.361-362 no. 212)

Bordone was raised in the antiquarian culture of contemporary Padua and educated in the school led by painters Andrea Mantegna and Giovanni Bellini. Under their influence, he quickly flourished as a painter of miniatures, forming significant relationships with the printers Aldus Manutius and Lucantonio Giunta. For a series of Aldine printings with decoration attributed to Bordone, see Bibliotheca Brookeriana, 18 October 2024, lots 776 (Homer) and 829 (Lascaris).

A neat early modern italic hand adds the missing line, "Poi ripensando al dolce ben ch’io lasso", to Sonetto XIII (p.16-17). This is also found in the Manchester Rylands copy, though there the correction is found at the head of p.17 and in a different hand. Both of these copies also have corrections to the opening of Sonetto XIX, whereby "B en" is stricken through. The copy in the Biblioteca nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III, Naples, is uncorrected.

Both the Rylands copy and the Naples copy lack the architectural cartouche on the title-page, and neither is illuminated. It has been suggested that the present copy may have been a presentation copy to Pope Leo X, because the small illuminated Medici arms at the foot of the title-page are not found on other extant copies.

The verso of the final leaf of text features a number of inscriptions by a "Christoforo Benzo", also spelt "Benzo", dated 20 August 1558. These include “questo libro e de christophore Benso de Milano e soi Amize”, the repeated drawing of a symbol of a cross over the initials "C.B.", and "W. La. Sra. Lra. Rna. P. O. Sre" followed by a heart pierced by an arrow, possibly a reference to Petrarch's Laura. This owner is mentioned by William Carew Hazlitt, The Book Collector (London 1904), p.231, and by G.D. Hobson, "Et amicorum" in Studies in the history of bookbinding (London 1988), p.401.