Terentius, Comoediae, Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, 1517, printed on vellum, the Hoe copy

Terentius Afer, Publius. Terentius. Venice: Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, November 1517

Printed on vellum; the Robert Hoe copy. Renouard and Brunet claimed this copy mixed sheets from the editions of 1517 and 1521, but with lacunae that cannot be fully determined; in any case the 1521 reprint was essentially a reissue of the 1517.

Only one other copy printed on vellum is recorded. Formerly in the libraries of Grolier, Freiherr von Hohendorf, and Prince Eugene of Savoy, and now in Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, it apparently is composed of mixed sheets also (opac: ”Mischexemplar auf Pergament gedruckt aus Bogen der Ausg. 1517 und Bogen der Ausg. 1521”).

8vo (158 x 95 mm). Italic type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: a–b⁸ (-a1–b8; a1, title-page, supplied in facsimile) 1–18⁸ (-10 1–8) 19⁴: 140 (of 164) foliated leaves (lacking a1–b8, 10 1–8). Woodcut Aldine device on title-page and 19 4v, two- to six-line initial spaces with guide letters. Guideletters supplied in liquid gold on a variety of color fields, or occasionally the reverse (polychrome initials on gold field), the larger initials with further floral embellishment. (Quire marks a and b effaced from colophon, some scattered natural wrinkling or discoloration to the vellum, small natural hole in the lower margin of 4 7.)

binding: Problematic black morocco (161 x 105 mm), evidently retrospective covers gilt-panelled in the French style of the mid-sixteenth century joined to a refurbished contemporary spine simply gilt-tooled in six compartments (the 1825 Dent catalogue suggested a remboîtage), vellum flyleaves, gilt edges. (Front joint just cracking at head.) Half red morocco slipcase, chemise.

provenance: Unidentified owner, ornamental initials illuminated in gold and colors — James Edwards, London [cf. Renouard and Dent sale catalogue, 1827, p. 37, lot 667; Renouard, Annales de l'imprimerie des Alde (second edition, Paris 1825), pp. 218–219, no. 13; Ibid. (third edition, Paris 1834), pp. 91–92 no. 9] — Robert Heathcote (d. 1823) [De Ricci, English Collectors, p. 99, footnote 2] — John Dent (1761–1826); A Catalogue of the Library of John Dent (London, 1825), p. 256; R. H. Evans, London, 25 April–4 May 1827, lot 667; purchased by — Edward Vernon Utterson (1776?–1856) (£26); his sale, Sotheby's London, 19–27 April 1852, lot 1760 — Robert Samuel Turner (1818–1887); his sale, Sotheby's London, 18–30 June 1888, lot 2625; purchased by — W. W. Sabin, London (£28) — Robert Hoe (1839–1909), morocco label and gilt cipher-stamp on front pastedown; Anderson Galleries, Catalogue of the Library of Robert Hoe of New York. Part III: L to Z, New York, 22–26 April 1912, lot 3178; purchased by — unidentified owner ($325). acquisition: Purchased from Seven Gables Bookshop, New York, 1971. references: UCLA 156 [203]; Adams T312 [T316]; Cataldi Palau 29 [71]; Edit16 [48066 [37663]; Renouard 80/5 [92/9]; USTC 858679 [858691]; cf. Van Praet, Catalogue de livres imprimés sur vélin, qui se trouvent dans des bibliothèques tant publiques que particulières II, pp. 83-84 no. 147; IV, p.70