Sannazaro, Opera omnia, Venice, Paolo Manuzio & Heirs of Andrea Torresano, 1535, dark brown French morocco, ca. 1560

Sannazaro, Jacopo. Iacobi Sannazarii Opera omnia Latine scripta, nuper edita. Venice: Paolo Manuzio & Heirs of Andrea Torresano, September 1535

The Fletcher-Kay copy.

The binding design possibly aligns with bindings attributed to the so-called Dudley Binder or the Morocco Binder, both French-trained craftsmen active in England during the mid-sixteenth century. Their work, characterized by intricate gilt tooling and sophisticated architectural elements, was commissioned by prominent English collectors and courtiers, including Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester.

8vo (157 x 94 mm). Italic type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: a-e⁸ A-H⁸: 108 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device to title-page and verso of last leaf, guide letters in initial spaces.

binding: English or possibly Lyonese dark brown calf (164 x 100 mm), ca. 1560-1570, covers with gold-stamped arabesque center- and cornerpieces, the corner pieces azured, the centerpiece an unusual openwork architectonic design, on a semis of quatrefoils, edges gilt. (Marginal discoloration to pastedowns.)

provenance: Andrew Fletcher (1655-1716), of Saltoun; his "definitive catalogue" (National Library of Scotland, Saltoun Papers, Ms. 17863, p. 60 line 460; see P.J.M. Willems, Bibliotheca Fletcheriana, or, The extraordinary library of Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun (Wassenaar 1999), p. 194 — John Scott (1830-1903) (?) — Arthur Kay (1860-1939), ex libris; his sale, Sotheby's London, 26-29 May 1930, lot 625; purchased by — Maggs Bros, London; Catalogue 552 (London 1931), item 34; Catalogue 561 (London 1931), item 223 — Julien Pichon & L. Daniel Rossignol, Cannes, 20 October 2004, lot 541. acquisition: Purchased from Librairie Lardanchet, Paris, 2005. references: UCLA 279; Renouard 114/3; Edit16 27239; USTC 854667