Plinius Caecilius Secundus, Naturalis historiae, Venice, Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Heirs of Andrea Torresano, 1535-1536, contemporary Venetian red morocco gilt by Mendoza Binder

Plinius Caecilius Secundus, Gaius. Naturalis historiae prima [-tertia pars]. Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Heirs of Andrea Torresano, 1535-1536

[Bound with:] C. Plinii Secundi Naturalis historiae secunda pars. Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Heirs of Andrea Torresano, 1535

[And:] C. Plinii Secundi Naturalis historiae tertia pars. Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Heirs of Andrea Torresano, 1535 (1536)

Large paper copy, bound by the Mendoza Binder, without the index volume, which was not printed on large paper. T. Kimball Brooker (1997) locates just four other large paper copies, of which three are rebound. The inscription on the title-page is potential evidence for those obsessed by the Shakespeare authorship controversy, and whose candidate is Sir Henry Neville. No one doubts that Shakespeare knew and read Latin, and scholars are mostly agreed that passages within his works reveal knowledge of Pliny’s Natural History—but which edition might he have used?

Three parts in three volumes (200 x 120 mm). Italic and Roman type, 30 lines plus headline. Vol. I collation: A-F⁸ a-z^{8 2}A-P⁸ Q⁴ (lacking Q4, a blank): 355 (of 356) leaves. Vol. II collation: aa-zz⁸ AA-PP⁸: 304 leaves. Vol. III collation: aaa-zzz⁸ AAA- OOO⁸: 296 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device on title-pages and final versos, one or two instances of early marginalia. (Some marginal worming, scattered foxing and staining, one or two instances of offsetting.)

binding: Contemporary Venetian dark red goatskin gilt by the Mendoza Binder (208 x 135 mm), elegant interlace design built up from single gilt fillets and gouges, title in gilt in central cartouche, traces of four pairs of ties, edges gilt and gauffered, marbled endleaves. (Rebacked to style ca. 1800, worming, rubbed with some loss, joints weak with upper joint of Vol. I cracked but holding.)

provenance: Sir Henry Neville, 1^st Baron Windsor (1520-1593), or Sir Henry Neville (1562-1615), inscription on title-page — Richard Neville Aldworth Neville (1717-1793) — Richard Griffin, 2^nd Baron Braybrooke (1750-1825), ex libris dated 1798, see Renouard’s Annales (1825, I, p. 274; 1834, p. 115) — Richard Neville Aldworth Neville — Neville, family library (Audley End, Saffron Walden) — Robin Henry Charles Neville, 10^th Baron Braybrooke (1932-2017) — Sotheby's London, 22-23 June 1970, lot 61 (price realized £250). acquisition: Purchased at Sotheby's by T. Kimball Brooker. references: (1) UCLA 280; Renouard 114/4; Edit16 27236; USTC 849931; (2) UCLA 280; Renouard 115/1; Edit16 27236; USTC 849931; (3) UCLA 280; Renouard 115/2; Edit16 27236; USTC 849931; T. Kimball Brooker, "Paolo Manutio's use of fore-edge titles for presentation copies (1540-1541)" in The Book Collector 46 (1997), pp. 27-68 (Fig. 13); Conor Fahy, "Esemplari su carta reale di edizioni aldine, 1494-1550" in La Bibliofilia 106 (2004), pp. 135-172 (pp. 165-166 no. 25); C. Fahy, "Royal-paper copies of Aldine editions, 1494-1550" in Studies in Bibliography 57 (2005-2006), pp. 85-113 (p. 109 no. 25); Anthony Hobson, Renaissance book collecting (Cambridge 1999), p. 246 (Appendix 5: Bindings by the Mendoza Binder no. 228); Mirjam Foot, "The binders who worked for the bookshop 'Al segno del'ancora et dolphin'" in Five centuries later: Aldus Manutius: Culture, typography and philology (Florence 2018), pp. 95-101 & Tav. 5 (p. 98, as unidentified bindery)