Priscianus Caesariensis, Opera grammatica, Venice, Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, 1527, Parisian brown calf for Geoffroy Granger

Priscianus Caesariensis. Prisciani grammatici Caesariensis Libri omnes. De octo partibus orationis XVI: deque earundem constructione II. De duodecim primis Aneidos librorum carminibus. De accentibus. De ponderibus, et mensuris. De praeexercitamentis rhetoricae ex Hermogene. De versibus comicis. Rufini item de metris comicis, et oratorijs numeris. Quibus omnibus ad suum deus restituendis quanta adhibuerimus diligentiam, facile cognosces, si hanc nostram editionem conferes non modo cum caeteris editionibus, sed etiam cumea quae proxime Florentiae ante hanc nostram facta est et omnes in primis locos ubi graecum quod deerat, restituimus in illis enim, sed et in multis alijs tantam differentiam depraehendes inter hanc et illam, ut illud musicorum sis dicturus diapason vale. Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, May 1527

This copy was bound for Geoffroy Granger (Grangerius, Grangier), a docteur régent in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Paris. A notable figure in sixteenth-century intellectual circles, he received dedications from Nicolas Bourbon (Nugae, Lyon: Gryphius, 1538) and Charles Fontaine (La Fontaine d’Amour, Lyon: De Tournes, 1545). His personal library, which consisted of approximately 300 books valued at 300 livres tournois, was inventoried following his death in 1567 (Archives nationales, Minutes et répertoires du notaire Lambert Chartain, étude LXXXVII, MC/ET/LXXXVII/65).

Granger's family originated from Bourbonnais, a connection that may explain the supralibros inscription "Boii et Amicorum" found on some of his books, including the present copy. A document in the Registres des insinuations du Châtelet de Paris (1548–1563) records his donation of movable and immovable property in Besson, near Moulins in Bourbonnais, to his brother François Granger and several nieces and nephews.

His wife, Jeanne Langlois, was a witness at the birth of one of the printer Robert Estienne’s children. Their son, Bonaventure Granger (d. 1590), followed in his father’s profession, becoming a doctor in 1572, conseiller et médecin ordinaire du roi, and dean of the Faculty of Medicine (1582–1583). Bonaventure’s library, comprising more than 200 volumes, was appraised at nearly 2,000 livres at the time of his death (Archives nationales, Minutes et répertoires du notaire Edmé Parque, étude LXXXVI).

Surviving books from Geoffroy Granger’s library include a 1528 Aldine edition of Castiglione’s Il Cortegiano (now in the Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel: Aldo Manuzio: La costruzione del mito, 2016, p. 231 & Fig. 7)) and the present 1527 Aldine edition of Priscian’s Grammatica bound for Granger. The volume follows the structural format associated with Jean Grolier’s library, with a folded parchment leaf sewn within a paper bifolium as endpapers.

4to (215 x 132 mm). Italic type, 40 lines plus headline. collation: π^{8 2}π⁶ a-z⁸ A-O⁸ P⁶: 316 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device to title-page and verso of last leaf. (Title-page lightly toned.)

binding: Parisian brown calf over thin wooden boards (223 x 140 mm), gilt and blind fillet frame, gilt leaf ornament at corners, title lettered at center of upper cover, Granger ownership on lower cover "GODO GRANGE / RII BOII ET / AMICORUM", traces of two fore edge ties, plain edges gilt. (Rebacked, renewed pastedowns and outer endleaves, with a pair of original endleaves, covers worn.) Housed in a cloth box.

provenance: Geoffroy Granger (d. 1567), supralibros, lettered "Godo Grange/ri Boii et / Amicorum" on lower cover — Maj. Gen. Frederick Edward Sotheby (1837-1909) — by descent to Lt. Col. Herbert George Sotheby (1871-1954); his sale, Sotheby's London, 21-22 November 1955, lot 7; purchased by — "Vaughan" (nom de vente of Georges Heilbrun, Paris); Catalogue 37 (Paris [1972]), item 248; Catalogue 43 (Paris [1975]), item 243 — Heribert Boeder (1928-2013); his sale, Christie's London, 17 June 2014, lot 173. acquisition: Purchased at Christie's via Halwas. references: UCLA 243; Renouard 103/2; Edit16 47512; USTC 851384; Françoise Lehoux, Cadre de vie des médecins parisiens (Paris, 1976); Hélène Berlan & Étienne Thévenin, Médecins et société en France: du XVIe siècle à nos jours (2005); Anthony Hobson, "A Binding for Geoffroy Granger," Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance 18 (1956), pp. 279–281; Nicholas Pickwoad, in Herzog August Bibliothek, A Treasure House of Books (Wiesbaden, 1998), p. 86; S. Graheli, "Aldine Editions in Early Modern French Collections," in The Afterlife of Aldus: Posthumous Fame, Collectors, and the Book Trade (London, 2018), p. 123