Statius, Syluarum, Venice, Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, 1519, contemporary Italian black goatskin

Statius, Publius Papinius. Statii Syluarum libri V Achilleidos libri XII Thebaidos libri II Orthographia et flexus dictionum Graecarum omnium apud Statium cum accentib. et generib. ex uarijs utriusque linguae authoribus. Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, January 1519

Second Aldine edition, reprinting the text of the 1502 edition, with corrections and a new introduction by Gian Francesco Torresano.

8vo (165 x 100 mm). Italic type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: a–z⁸ A–O⁸: 296 foliated leaves (K2 blank; O7 bound after O8). Woodcut Aldine device on title-page and O8v, section-titles, two- to five-line initial spaces with guide letters. (Occasional tiny wormhole at upper inner margin, some scattered staining.)

binding: Contemporary Italian black goatskin (173 x 110 mm), covers panelled in blind with frame of floral arabesques within fillets, blind (possibly oxidized silver) leaf at corners and central ornament of four lozenges with hatched border containing five-petaled flower, gilt-lettered STATIVS on upper cover above central ornament, traces of four pairs of ties, black (possibly oxidized silver) edges. (Crudely rebacked obscuring some of the blind decoration on covers, other rubbing and restoration.)

provenance: Lelio Benci (Benzi), inscription "Di M. Lelio Benci" on title-page, probably to be identified with the "Messer Lelio Benci da Montepulciano, e Cittadin Fiorentino" who fl. 1596-1598, and wrote “Di M. Lelio Benci” in manuscript “Le Lode della Pazzia” (Roma, Biblioteca Casanatense, Ms. 1234). acquisition: Purchased from Branners Bibliofile Antikvariat, Copenhagen, 1965. references: UCLA 175; Adams S1672; Cataldi Palau 43; Edit16 53846; Renouard 88/2; USTC 857456