Sannazaro, Arcadia, Venice, Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Heirs of Andrea Torresano, 1534, sixteenth-century French vellum

Sannazaro, Jacopo. Arcadia del Sannazaro. Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Heirs of Andrea Torresano, 1534

[Bound with:] Sannazaro, Jacopo. Sonetti, e canzoni del Sannazaro. Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Heirs of Andrea Torresano, July 1534

Reprint of the Aldine 1514 Arcadia.

8vo (137 x 93 mm). Italic type, 30+29 lines (second work plus headline). collation: (1) A-L⁸ M⁴: 92 leaves; (2) A-F⁸ G⁴: 52 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device to title-pages and verso of final leaves, guide letters in initial spaces. (Intermittent spotting, worming and dampstaining.)

binding: Contemporary French vellum (133 x 94 mm), central gilt ornament of eight-pointed star in web with fleur-de-lis at cardinal points, spine with gilt quadrilobe in compartments and gilt swirls on three bands, traces of two pairs of ties, alternating gold and black, gilt edges, fragment of medieval manuscript used as endleaves. (Soiled and worn, binding detached from textblock, binding slightly shorter than bookblock but certainly original covering of book.)

provenance: Unidentified owner(s), initials "J.D." bracketing the anchor device, numerous mottos, maxims, and poems in French, Italian and Latin on endleaves (sixteenth century) — unidentified owner, inscription "Ame ne le dira" on flyleaf and second title-page — John Rutherfurd (1748-1834), of Edgerston, ex libris — Sotheby's London, 11-12 May 1970, lot 78. acquisition: Purchased at Sotheby's by T. Kimball Brooker. references: (1) UCLA 272; Renouard 112/5; Edit16 27223; USTC 854665 (2) UCLA 273; Renouard 112/6; Edit16 27225; USTC 854666