Stracca, De mercatura, Venice, [Paolo Manuzio], 1553, nineteenth-century half calf

Stracca, Benvenuto. Clarissimi iurisconsulti Benuenuti Stracchae patritii Anconitani De mercatura, seu mercatore tractatus. Venice: [Paolo Manuzio], 1553

[Bound with:] Santarem, Pedro. Petri Santernae Lusitani iuris vtrius. doct. peritissimi ac famosissimi, Tractatus de assecurationibus & sponsionibus mercatorum nunc primum in lucem datus, cum repertorio & summarijs. Venice: Baldassarre Costantini, 1552

(1) First edition of Stracca’s foundational text for commercial law, mercantile contracts, maritime law, bankruptcy and mercantile practice. It was the first to present a systematic exposition of commercial law derived from experience and to view commercial law as an entity in its own right, distinct from civil law. Insurance was a particularly important subject for mercantile law, particularly for smaller Venetian traders: the creation of consortiaums of traders in order to spread risk involved complicated contracts and agreements, and Stracca’s treatise examines the laws that grew up around these contracts.

(2) First edition.

8vo (152 x 94 mm). Roman type, 38+37 lines plus headline. collation: (1) *⁸ ††-††††⁸ A-Z⁸ Aa-Nn⁸: 328 leaves; (2) A-G⁸ H⁴: 60 leaves. Woodcut printer's device to title of first work, second work with architectural border to title-page and woodcut in-text illustrations. (A couple of closed marginal tears and chips, occasional minor dampstaining.)

binding: Nineteenth-century half calf (158 x 108 mm), spine with four full and two false bands, all bands decorated with gilt floral roll, gilt four-pointed ornament in central compartment, two compartments with labels. (Spine a little soiled, edges crudely trimmed, endleaves renewed.)

provenance: Unidentified owner, inscription "Olim Crispini Ghiradi, nunc Mathei Caietani Thulphini (Nulphini, Mulphini?)" on title-page (17-18^th century) — Diana Parikian, Waterstock, Oxford; Catalogue 49 (London [1988?]), item 107. acquisition: Purchased from Diana Parikian, London, 1988. references: (1) UCLA 444; Renouard 156/6; Edit16 27827; USTC 857599 (2)

Edit16 25176; USTC 854859