Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica, Florence, Filippo I Giunta, 1503, contemporary Florentine brown morocco

Valerius Flaccus Setinus Balbus, Gaius. Valerius Flaccus. Florence: Filippo I Giunta, 12 December 1503

First Giunta edition of the Argonauticon, based on the text of Bartolomeo Fonzio, dedicated by Benedetto Riccardini to Bernardo Michelozzo, son of the architect and a canon of the Florentine cathedral.

This is the third book printed by Bernardo Giunta in octavo format and with italic types, following editions of Catullus and Horatius (August and October 1502). Aldo Manuzio was the first printer to utilize italic type in 1501. The ten-year privilege granted by the Venetian Senate for his invention was extended on 17 October and 14 November 1502 to include books printed in italic type anywhere in Italy, and a similar ten-year privilege was issued by Pope Alexander VI on 17 December 1502, with excommunication added to the penalties specified in the Venetian privileges. Giunta’s Catullus and Horatius were line-by-line copies of Aldine editions, and flagrant violations. This Valerius Flaccus was a more subtle form of plagiarism, employing italic type to convey authority on a text that was not yet printed by Aldo. The type remained in use until 1513 when Giunta had a new italic designed (L. Balsamo & A. Tinto, Origini del corsivo nella tipografia italiana del Cinquecento, 1967, pp. 106-107)

8vo (163 x 100 mm). Italic type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: a⁴ b-n⁸: 100 leaves. (Repair to head of title just touching the verso headline, minor marginal worming in first and last quires, b1 initial inartfully inked with offsetting, occasional stains and foxing, mostly minor, later endleaves.)

binding: Contemporary Florentine brown morocco (170 x 100 mm), two blind fillets around sides, outer frame with small stars in compartments, inner blind frame formed by repeated blind ropework tool between triple blind fillets, in center a large ovoid gilt arabesque, above and below gilt Persian leaf finials, two broad raised bands on an undecorated spine, plain edges. (Worn and stained, worming to binding and endpapers, repairs to head and tail of spine, renewed clasps.)

provenance: Jean Fürstenberg (1890–1982) — Martin Breslauer Inc., Catalogue 107: Italy, Part II: Books printed 1501 to c. 1840 (New York [1984]), item 305 ($4800). acquisition: Purchased from Martin Breslauer Inc., New York, 1985. references: Renouard XXXIV/6; Edit16 28709; USTC 861746; Decia & Delfiol p. 67 no. 6