Speroni, Dialoghi, Venice, Sons of Aldo Manuzio, 1545, nineteenth-century English polished calf

Speroni, Sperone. Dialoghi di m. Speron Speroni, nuouamente ristampati, et con molta diligenza riueduti, et corretti. Venice: Sons of Aldo Manuzio, December 1545

Variant edition with the title page dated 1544 and the colophon dated 1545 (In Vinegia: in casa de' figliuoli di Aldo, nell'anno 1545 del mese di decembre), differing from Edit16 77304 and USTC 764901, which bear the date 1544 on both the title page and the colophon (In Vinegia: in casa de' figliuoli di Aldo, nell'anno 1544).

8vo (154 x 91 mm). Italic type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: A-V⁸: 160 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device to title-page and verso of last leaf, guide letters in initial spaces. (Closed marginal tear to E8, light intermittent spotting.)

binding: Nineteenth-century English polished calf (157 x 100 mm), three gilt fillets around sides, gilt Aldine device on covers, two morocco labels on spine, one misdated 1554, gray endpapers, brown speckled edges. (Joints starting.)

provenance: Unidentified owner, sixteenth or seventeenth-century inscription "ex libris Natalis Saliceti" on title-page — Hon. George Matthew Fortescue (1791-1877) — by descent to his only son, John Bevill Fortescue (1850-1938) — by descent to his son John Grenville Fortescue (1896-1969)] — by descent to John Desmond Grenville Fortescue (1919-2017); his sale, Christie's London, 24 March 1971, lot 132; purchased by — Alan G. Thomas, London; Catalogue 30 (London 1973), item 81. acquisition: Purchased from Alan G. Thomas, London, 1973. references: UCLA 322; Renouard 130/5; Edit16 59536; USTC 857238