Ruscelli, Epistres des princes, Paris, 1572, contemporary German roll-tooled calf

RUSCELLI, GIROLAMO. Epistres de Princes, les quelles, ou sont addressees aux princes, ou traittent les affaires des Princes, ou parlent des Princes, trans. François de Belleforest. Paris: Jean Ruelle, 1572

FIRST EDITION of the French translation of Ruscelli's Lettere di principi (1562), IN A CONTEMPORARY GERMAN ROLL-TOOLED BINDING. The outer border roll features Fides, Prudentia, Lucretia and Venus, the initials N.P. and the year 1557. Thirty rolls, dated 1549-1563, are ascribed to the stamp cutter N.P.. Working in Germany, this roll engraver had clients across Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and other parts of Northern Europe (E. P. Goldschmidt, Gothic & Renaissance Book Bindings, no. 226). No known rolls are identical to the outer roll on this binding.

A border roll with Justitia, Venus, Prudentia and Lucretia found on a copy of Gualtherus' In XII prophetas (Zürich, 1577) also has the initials N.P. over Prudentia's shoulder (EBDB r002413), but this is dated 1551, and has Justitia instead of Fides. This is assigned to the Stuttgart workshop of Michael Hermann (EBDB w003483). The central lozenge of the present binding features a foliate roll similar to his (r003965), but the two acorn tools associated with Hermann's workshop (s037000 and s036997) do not match.