Statius, Syluarum, Venice, Aldo Manuzio, 1502, Bolognese brown morocco, ca. 1515 by Archive Binder

Statius, Publius Papinius. Statii Syluarum libri quinque, Thebaidos libri duodecim, Achilleidos duo [Latin and Greek]. Venice: Aldo Manuzio, August 1502

From the library of Robert Curzon, 14^th Baron Zouche, preserved in a fine contemporary Bolognese brown morocco binding by the so-called Archive Binder. This name (“Meister der Archiveinbände“ or “Archiv-Werkstatt“) was bestowed by Ilse Schunke, “Die Renaissanceeinbandkunst in Bologna“ in Festschrift für Hans Widmann (1974), pp. 261-262. Anthony Hobson absorbed some of its bindings into a shop he named the “S. Petronio Binder” (“Bookbinding in Bologna” in Schede umanistiche, n.s. 1, 1998, p. 160).

The binding is comparable to the Libro segreto del Collegio Canonico (Bologna, Archivio di Stato, 137), a manuscript on vellum dated 1528–1533, attributed to the same workshop. See Tammaro De Marinis, La Legatura artistica in Italia nei secoli XV e XVI (Florence, 1960), no. 1251 and pl. 219: “Mar. rossiccio su assi; dec. a secco: cornici con rosette; borchia e cantonali metallici; taglio dorato.”

8vo (156 x 98 mm). Italic type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: a-e^{8 2}a-z⁸ A-F⁸ G^{4 2}A-B^{8 2}C⁴: 296 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device to e8, guide letters in initial spaces. (Repairs and small worm holes to first four and last two leaves, washed inscriptions to title.)

binding: Bolognese brown morocco, ca. 1515 by Archive Binder (160 x 99 mm), blind arabesque border, gilt rosette in corners and in center, touching sides of border a rhomb formed by a vineleaf tool, spine with four compartments, diapered in blind, edges gilt and gauffered. (Minor worming to pasteboards, upper hinge cracked, corners and joints a little rubbed.)

provenance: Unidentified owners, early inscriptions "Ex Agd. Rompey..." and "Sum C. Mageryi … et Amicorum" washed from title — Robert Curzon, 14^th Baron Zouche (1810–1873), inscription "Ch. Ch. 1829" — Mary Cecil Frankland (née Curzon), 17^th Baroness Zouche of Haryngworth (1877–1965); her sale, Sotheby's London, 9 November 1920, lot 4; purchased by — Maggs Bros, London — Henry Broadbent (1852–1935), ex libris (removed) — Librairie Gumuchian et Cie, Paris, blue inkstamp "G" on lower endleaf — Martin Breslauer, London; no. 55; (New York [1984]), item 276 — Bloomsbury's London, 30 June 1988, lot 9; purchased by — Alan G. Thomas, London; (London 1990), item 47. acquisition: Purchased from Alan G. Thomas, London, 1990. references: UCLA 61; Renouard 35/7; Edit16 36141; USTC 857455; for the binding Exposition de reliures de la Renaissance : collection Jean Furstenberg: 30 September 1961 (Paris 1961), no. 100; Musée d'art et d'histoire, Collection Jean Furstenberg: 3 mai-5 juin 1966 (Geneva 1966), no. 4; Tammaro De Marinis, Die italienischen Renaissance-Einbände der Bibliothek Fürstenberg (Hamburg 1966), pp. 120-121