Tacitus, Le historie auguste, Venice, 1544, contemporary Venetian morocco grid binding

TACITUS, PUBLIUS CORNELIUS. Le historie auguste di Cornelio Tacito, novellamente fatte italiane. Venice: Vincenzo Valgrisi, 1544

FIRST EDITION of this Italian translation, IN A STRIKING CONTEMPORARY VENETIAN "GRID" BINDING in the style of the Mendoza binder.

These grid patterns are perhaps best known from the library of Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (1503-1575), Spanish Ambassador to Venice from 1539 to 1546. Hobson identifies fifteen of Diego Hurtado de Mendoza's books decorated with a vertical grid of gilt fillets, however these feature a central plaquette or cameo (see, for example, Fig. 43 in Renaissance Book Collecting: Jean Grolier and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, Their Books and Bindings, 2012, p. 97).

A similar vertical grid to the present copy is found on De Marinis II, no. 2286 (plate CCCXCIX), though the title is lettered on the upper cover. A further example, with a lettering cartouche, was formerly in the Schäfer collection (Von Arnim 29; Sotheby’s, 8 December 1994, lot 14). De Marinis II, no. 1813 bis (C38 bis) has a similar pattern, but the gilt fillets are positioned diagonally. Similarly, no. 1712 (plate CCCXXV) has a diagonal grid pattern, but this also features a central cameo.