Sannazaro, De partu virginis, Venice, Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Heirs of Andrea Torresano, 1533, eighteenth-century vellum

Sannazaro, Jacopo. Actii Synceri Sannazarii De partu virginis libri III. Eiusdem De morte Christi lamentatio. Et quae in sequenti pagina continentur. Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Heirs of Andrea Torresano, 1533

The third Aldine edition. In a postscript (f. N3v), the editor Gian Francesco d'Asola informs the reader that after printing was finished, he learned that specific verses (de innocentium infantium caede lamentationem) were not composed by Sannazaro, but by the Cassinese monk Eusebius of Modena, and he thought it right to declare this immediately.

Joseph Coolidge Jr., a Harvard graduate and grandson-in-law of Thomas Jefferson, amassed a distinguished library, some of which was acquired at the auction of Jefferson’s library in 1829.

8vo (161 x 95 mm). Italic type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: *⁴ A-M⁸ N⁴: 104 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device to title-page and verso of last leaf, guide letters in initial spaces. (Intermittent spotting and toning.)

binding: Eighteenth-century vellum (162 x 97 mm), gilt floral tools on spine, two red morocco labels, light red edges. (Covers a little soiled, closed tear to upper pastedown.)

provenance: Joseph Coolidge, Jr. (1798-1879), inscription "J. Coolidge, Jr. Venice 1821" on flyleaf — Marlborough Rare Books, London. acquisition: Purchased from Marlborough Rare Books, London, 1984. references: UCLA 265; Renouard 110/11; Edit16 27215; USTC 854663; Cataldi Palau 129