Vairo, De fascino, Venice, Aldo II Manuzio, 1589, nineteenth-century English long-grain olive morocco

Vairo, Leonardo. De fascino libri tres, auctore Leonardo Vairo beneuentano Ordinis S. Benedicti canonici regularis, ac sacrae theologiae doctoris in quibus omnes fascini species, & causae optima methodo describuntur, & ex philosophorum ac theologorum sententijs eleganterexplicantur: nec non contra praestigias, imposturas, allusionesque daemonum, cautiones & amuleta praescribuntur: ac denique nugae, quae de ijsdem narrari solent, dilucidè confutantur. Cum gemmino indice altero capitum altero rerum memorabilium. Venice: Aldo II Manuzio, 1589

The second Aldine edition of Vairo's work on witchcraft, originally published in 1583. It includes a three-page Aldine Press catalogue with prices at the end.

8vo (148 x 98 mm). Italic type, 31 lines plus headline. collation: a⁸ A-R⁸ a-c⁸: 168 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device on title- page, woodcut headpieces and initials, 3pp. publisher's catalogue. (Title-page very faintly spotted, occasional neat underlining in red chalk.)

binding: Nineteenth-century English long-grain olive morocco (152 x 102 mm), by R. Storr of Grantham with their ticket, border of three gilt fillets with floral tools, gilt Aldine device on covers, spine gilt, green endpapers, gilt edges. (Lightly rubbed.)

provenance: Philip Augustus Hanrott (1776-1856), 11-line note in his hand on flyleaf — R.H. Evans, London, 15-21 March 1834, lot 745; purchased by — Thomas Thorpe, London — Thorold, family library (Syston Park), ex libris — Sotheby's London, 24-29 March 1873, lot 2389; purchased by — Nattali & Bond, London (9s) — W. Wittels, consigned in the following as "The Property of W. Wittels, Esq" — Sotheby's London, 31 July-2 August 1967, lot 279; purchased by — Alan G. Thomas, London (£22). acquisition: Purchased from Alan G. Thomas, London, 1981. references: UCLA 990; Renouard 242/8; Edit16 27700; USTC 861654