Statius, Syluarum, Venice, Aldo Manuzio, 1502, early sixteenth-century German brown calf wallet binding with brass clasp

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

A fine example of a German wallet binding, a form associated with portable volumes, particularly those intended for study or devotional use, featuring a blind-tooled banderole inscription reading ".ihu̅s:", which is an abbreviation for Ihesus or "Jesus."

8vo (164 x 92 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. (Minor ink stains to first and last leaves.)

binding: Early sixteenth-century German brown calf wallet binding with brass clasp (165 x 107 mm), tooled in blind, border formed by lines containing banderole with ".ihu̅s:" and a five leaf flower in circle, central panel with leafy motif, paper lining (added later?), red edges (possibly eighteenth century), later title stamped on spine, vellum endleaves. (Minor wear, spine cracked with some exposure at foot, two small worm holes to lower cover.)

provenance: Possibly Ambroise Firmin-Didot (1790–1876) (?) — Charles van der Elst (1904–1982) — Pierre Berès, Paris; Catalogue 80 (Paris 1990), item 118. acquisition: Purchased from Pierre Berès, Paris, 1991. references: UCLA 61; Renouard 35/7; Edit16 36141; USTC 857455; for the binding Société des Bibliophiles et Iconophiles de Belgique, Reliures du moyen âge au 1er empire exposées à la Bibliothèque royale du 16 avril au 5 mai 1955 (Brussels [1955]), no. 8 ("Prov. Ambr. Firmin Didot (n° 275) … Il semble que la reliure soit contemporaine de l'ouvrage et qu'elle sorte d'un atelier de l'Italie du Nord")