Silius Italicus, De bello Punico, Venice, Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, 1523, Roman dark brown morocco, 1530's, by Torres Binder

Silius Italicus, Tiberius Catius Asconius. Silii Italici De bello Punico secundo XVII libri nuper diligentissime castigati. Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, July 1523

Another copy, bound in an elegant Roman morocco binding by the Torres Binder, executed for Luis de Torres.

Luis de Torres (1494-1553), a polymath from Renaissance Spain, was deeply involved in classical scholarship, philosophy, and the arts. His extensive library reflects his connections to intellectual circles, particularly through his association with Aldo Manuzio and the Torresano press. In 1998, T. Kimball Brooker uncovered the identity of the elusive "L.T." by examining a series of seven Roman bindings, mostly from the Aldine press, all featuring the initials "L.T." and decorated with gold tooling. These bindings, likely from a single Roman workshop, revealed Torres as a wealthy patron engaged with a close-knit intellectual circle in Rome. See Bibliotheca Brookeriana, lots 37, 225, 710.

8vo (152 x 99 mm). Italic type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: a-z⁸ A-C⁸ D⁴: 212 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device to title and verso of last leaf, guide letters in initial spaces. (D2-3 detached, blue inkstain to gutter at beginning and end, occasional very light spotting.)

binding: Roman dark brown morocco (157 x 99 mm), 1530s, by Torres Binder for Luis de Torres, gilt and gauffered edges. (Joints cracked at head and foot of spine, top and bottom compartments of spine worn with some exposure, restoration to corners, lower endleaf and pastedown renewed, text block cracked at front hinge.)

provenance: Luis I de Torres (1494-1553), supralibros, initials "L.T." on lower cover — Robert D'Arcy Hildyard, 4^th Bt. (1743- 1814), ex libris; by descent to — Thomas Blackborne Thoroton Hildyard (1821-1888) — Sotheby's London, 18 June 1889, lot 75 — Hesketh & Ward, London, Catalogue 6 (London [1989?]), item 123. acquisition: Purchased from Hesketh & Ward, London, 1990. references: UCLA 223; Renouard 98/6; Edit16 37706; USTC 856366; T. Kimball Brooker, “Who was L.T.? Part I” in The Book Collector 47 (1998), pp. 508-518 (this binding p. 509 no. 7 & Figs. 2b, 3b)