Platina, Delle vite et fatti di tutti i sommi pontefici romani, Venice, 1543, red morocco gilt for Pietro Lando, the dedicatee
Estimate
12,000 - 18,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
PLATINA, BARTOLOMEO. Delle vite et fatti di tutti i sommi pontefici Romani, cominciando da Cristo infino a...Paulo terzo. Venice: Michele I Tramezzino, 1543
[with:] Pietro Lando, autograph letter signed ("Petrus Landus Archiepiscopus Craetensis") to Pope Paul IV, Crete, dated 12 October 1558
LARGE-PAPER DEDICATION COPY OF THE FIRST ITALIAN TRANSLATION TO PIETRO LANDO, ARCHIBISHOP OF CRETE; WITH AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED "PETRUS LANDUS" TO POPE PAUL IV.
Pietro Lando the dedicatee of this translation and for whom this copy was bound, was appointed archbishop of Crete in January 1536, aged 18, holding that post until his resignation in 1575/6 in favour of his nephew, Lorenzo Venturi. The binding is in the style of the Fugger binder, but the workshop is unknown. The leafy tendrils in the outermost border are also found on De Marinis II, plate CCCL, no. 1869 (mislabelled 1865), bound in Venice.
This is also THE VERNON COPY, sold in these room as part of the Library at Sudbury Hall in June 1918.
In the autograph letter signed also included in the present lot, Cardinal Pietro Lando addresses Pope Paul IV, petitioning him for support in his role as Archbishop of Crete at a time of some turmoil. He notes that he is sending someone in his absence, given that his posting in Crete is so far removed from the heart of the papacy, and also sends some wine or other alcohol from Crete, as a gesture.
4to (140 x 165 mm). Italic type, 38 lines plus headline. collation: A-B4 a-3p4 (final leaf blank): 248 leaves. Woodcut printer's device on title-page and penultimate verso, woodcut initials. (Some very light spotting, small stain to 3a2 affecting 3 letters.)
binding: Venetian dark red morocco (252 x 180 mm) for Pietro Lando, multiple border frames composed of gilt fillets, in centre large undulating lozenge composed of curving fillets and arabesques, enclosing a roundel containing "P. LAN/DO" on upper cover and "AR/CHI./CRETE" on lower cover, spine with 3 full and 4 half bands, compartments decorated by a leafy blind roll, stubs from 4 pairs of red silk ties, edges gilt and gauffered to a ropework pattern, in a lined cloth case. (Hinges and corners neatly restored, some small stains, dampstaining to upper endleaves.)
provenance: Pietro Lando, Archbishop of Crete (1535-1583), with the Lando family until—inscription dated 1704, noting that the copy came from the Lando library—George John Warren, 5th Baron Vernon (1803-1866), bookplate to upper endleaf, his sale, Sotheby's, 10-12 June 1918, lot 413, £5 5s to Davis & Orioli—Breslauer Inc., Catalogue 104 (c. 1984), item 22—Christie's, Rome, 16 June 2005, lot 71. acquisition: Purchased in 2008 from Libreria Philobiblon, Rome and Milan. references: USTC 807522; Edit16 CNCE 35117
[and:]
Autograph letter signed, 1 page with address leaf, folio, Crete, dated 12 October 1558. (Previously folded, remains of wax seal, some light spotting.)
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