Taxaquet, Disputationes quaedam ecclesiasticae, Rome, Ex domo propria [Paolo Manuzio?], 1565, richly gilt red morocco over wooden boards, by the Vatican Bindery

Taxaquet, Miguel Tomás. Michaelis Thomasii Disputationes quaedam ecclesiasticae. Breuis christianae ac catholicae fidei defensio, et Iudaeorum, Mahumetanorum, atque haereticorum oppugnatio. De ratione habendi concilia prouincialia ac dioecesana, et de iis quae in ipsis praecipue sunt tractanda. Isidori ordo de celebrando concilio. De uariis collegiis ad utilitatem publicam constituendis. Rome: Ex domo propria [Paolo Manuzio?], 1565

[Bound second after:] Londanus, Nicolaus. De reuersione, animi in coelum. Argumento sumpto, e XV psalmis ascensuum Dauidis. Prestantissimo philosopho Nicolao Londano… Nunc uero Patauino auctore. Venice: Niccolò Bevilacqua, [1569?]

[Bound third:] Isidorus Hispalensis, Saint. B. Isidori Episcopi, Theologi vetustissimi, de Nativitate Domini, Passione, & Resurrectione, Regno atque Iuditio: Libri duo. Eiusdem tractatulus, de vita et obitu quorudam utriusiqus testamen ti sanctorum. Item, allegoriae quaedam, ex utroque testamento excerptae, una cum libro praemiorum. Omnia haec ex codicibus duobus antiquissimis sunt excerpta, hactenus prorsus a nemine visa. Liber praemiorum tractatulus de vita et obitu quorundam utriusque testamenti sanctorum. Haguenau: Jean Setzer, March 1529

[Bound fourth:] Zvolský, Jan (Johannes Volscius). Alphabetum theologicum sive tropi, Veteris perindeque Novi Testamenti, è Dionysio Areopagita, Gregorio Magno, aliisque probatißimis veterom summa fide collecti. Inest opusculo praefatio commoda, & poëmation heroicum, quod author genethliacon mundi inscripsit. Genethliacon mundi inscripsit. Haguenau: Jean Setzer, August 1531

A magnificent Roman binding decorated with lotus flowers, with the arms of Pope Pius V.

An important collection of four religious treatises. Pius V, who served as Pope from 1566 to 1572, established the Tridentine Roman Rite. The binding bears an armorial stamp, reproduced in Hobson, French and Italian, no. 70, and Hobson/Culot 18B; the endpapers feature the same watermark (a crook of a bow) as the latter binding. The floral stamp on the spine matches that of Hobson/Culot 18A but is applied vertically.

4to (197 x 135 mm). Roman and some italic and Greek types: 25+33 lines plus headlines. collation: (Taxaquet) A-Z⁴ AA-DD⁴: 108 leaves; (Londanus) a-c⁴ d² A-Q⁴ R² (R2 blank): 76 leaves; (Isidorus) π² A-V⁴: 82 leaves; (Zvolský) A-O⁴ P⁶: 58 leaves. Printer's device and historiated initials to Taxaquet, decorated initials to Londanus, title-page with historiated border and printer's device to last leaf of Isidorus and historiated initial to Zvolský. (Intermittent spotting, last work lightly toned.)

binding: Red morocco over wooden boards (204 x 145 mm), richly gilt, by the Vatican Bindery, Rome, ca. 1569, arabesque roll around sides, large leafy tools all inner angles, the arms of Pius V on both covers within an elongated oval with the titles of the first two works above the arms and the titles of the final two works below the arms, four brass bosses at inner angles of frame around sides, spine with six compartments decorated with lacey design involving open floral tools and tendrils, shelf marks in black ink "C" in fifth compartment and "6" in sixth compartment, traces of clasps, plain edges gilt. (Small worm holes, especially to spine, spine a little rubbed, very minor soiling, marginal adhesive stain to pastedowns.)

provenance: Pope Pius V (b. Antonio Michele Ghislieri, 1504–1572; r. 1566–1572), armorial supralibros — Convento di Santa Croce e Ognissanti di Bosco Marengo (Archivio di San Domenico di Chieri, inventory of "Libri della Biblioteca di Bosco Marengo anteriori al 1573" no. 63, q.v. Londano and misdated “1531; see literature below) — Unidentified owner(s), ink shelfmark C 68 on spine, occasional marginalia "De Nativite Domini," ff. D4v, E1v — Arthur Lauria, Paris — Maurice Burrus (1882–1959); his sale, Christie’s Paris, 15 December 2015, lot 122 (€9375). acquisition: Purchased at Christie's via Halwas. references: (Taxaquet) UCLA 757; Renouard 197/6; Edit16 27822; USTC 858495; Barberi p. 146. (Londanus) Edit16 45642; USTC 838548. (Isidorus Hispalensis) VD16 I 369; USTC 615048. (Zvolský) VD16 Z 672; USTC 610993; for inventories of the library at Bosco Marengo recording this volume, see Ugo Rozzo, "La 'Biblioteca ideale' del Nunzio Facchinetti (1568)" in Biblioteche italiane del Cinquecento tra Riforma e Controriforma (Udine 1994), pp. 191-234 (p. 278); Ugo Rozzo, "La biblioteca di Santa Croce 'riletta' vent'anni dopo" in Il tempo di Pio V, Pio V nel tempo (Akessandria 2006), p. 282 ("Al no. 63 si elenca un' opera di Nicola Londano, De reversione animi ad coelum, stampata a Venezia in 1531"); for Pope Pius V’s library, his binders and bindings, see Francesco Malaguzzi, "Libri dell'età di Michele Ghislieri in Monteregale" in Bollettino della Società per gli Studi Storici, Archeologici ed Artistici della provincia di Cuneo 133 (2005) pp. 79-87; F. Malaguzzi, "Libri e legature per Michele Ghislieri e la Biblioteca di Bosco" in Il tempo di Pio V, Pio V nel tempo (Alessandria 2006), pp. 287- 302