Suetonius, XII Caesares, Venice, Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, 1516, contemporary Roman green morocco

Suetonius Tranquillus, Gaius. IIn hoc volumine haec continentur. C. Suetonij Tranquilli XII Caesares. Sexti Aurelij Victoris a d. Caesare Augusto usque ad Theodosium excerpta. Eutropij de gestis Romanorum lib. X. Pauli Diaconi libri VIII ad Eutropij historiam additi. Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, August 1516

The elegantly austere binding is by the same shop that bound the 1515 Erasmus (Bibliotheca Brookeriana: The Aldine Collection D–M, lot 702; New York, 18 October 2024) and the 1513 Pontanus (lot 1345, above).

8vo (159 x 91 mm). Italic type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: *-**⁸ χ-²χ⁸ a-z⁸ aa-rr⁸: 352 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device to title-page and verso of last leaf. (Intermittent marginal spotting, s7-8 uncut, last leaf reattached, upper margin of first four leaves stained, one word of title replaced.)

binding: Contemporary Roman green goatskin (165 x 97 mm), covers paneled in low-grade gold and black, forming two concentric frames joined by miters, gilt leaf-tool at inner corners, small gilt trefoil at outer corners, ring and dot punch at angle of inner frame, author and title gilt-lettered in center of panel "C/SVETO/NIUS", traces of four pairs of green fabric ties, spine sparsely gilt-ruled in four compartments with three raised bands bands, edges gilt and gauffered. (Spine a little worn, small area of staining to upper cover marginal discoloration to pastedowns, hinges cracked.)

provenance: Unidentified owner, initials "A.S." (interlaced) on endleaf — unidentified owner, shelfmark "XXV-E-18" on endleaf — Sotheby's London, 5 December 1991, lot 200 — Christie's London, 3 June 1998, lot 82. acquisition: Purchased at Christie's via Halwas. references: UCLA 147; Renouard 77/5; Edit16 53872; USTC 857771