Sepúlveda, Historia della vita et gesti del cardinal Egidio Albornotio, Bologna, 1590, armorial red morocco binding, the dedication copy for Cardinal Pedro de Deza

2 works in one volume, 4to (224 x 161 mm). Roman type, 26 lines plus headline. (1) collation: A-L⁸ M⁴ (final leaf blank): 92 leaves. Woodcut arms on title, woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces. (Some light spotting.) (2) collation: a⁸ b⁵: 13 leaves (only, of 14; lacking terminal blank). Woodcut arms on title, woodcut initial. (Marginal dampstaining, some light spotting.)

binding: Italian armorial binding (231 x 166 mm) for presentation to Cardinal Pedro de Deza, c. 1590, red morocco, gold-tooled, border of repeated arabesque between 2 fillets, azured floral tools in corners and along sides, in centre painted arms of Cardinal Pedro de Deza within an elaborate cartouche, in green, red, ?brown and gold, spine with 3 full and 4 half bands, compartments with azured leaf, stubs from 4 pairs of ties, edges gilt and gauffered to a leafy pattern, heightened in pink enamel, in a cloth case. (Some small stains to binding, 25 x 20 mm and 30 x 20 mm sections supplied to lower board, repairs to head and tail compartments of spine, upper endleaf and pastedown renewed.)

provenance: Cardinal Pedro de Deza (1520- 1600), arms on binding, dedication copy—erased early inscription to title-page—Sir William Stirling-Maxwell (1818-1878), eminent historian of sixteenth-century Spain, bookplate by descent to—A. Stirling, almost certainly Archibald (1867-1931), his son, note on upper endleaf dated 1922—Lathrop Harper, Catalogue 207 (1972), item 169 and Catalogue 220a (1975), item 504—Franklin H. Kissner (1909-1988), ?pencil shelfmark to lower pastedown, sold prior to his Christie's sale to—H.P. Kraus, Catalogue 191, no. 109. acquisition: Purchased in 1993 from H.P. Kraus, New York. references: (1) USTC 855935; Edit16 CNCE 29390 (2) USTC 808413; Edit16 CNCE 820