Vergilius, Il libro ottauo de la Eneide, Venice, Giovanni Antonio & Pietro Nicolini da Sabbio for Giovanni Francesco Torresano, 1542, early wrappers

Vergilius Maro, Publius. Il libro ottavo de la Eneide di Vergilio, per messer Giovanni Giustiniano di Candia. Venice: Giovanni Antonio & Pietro Nicolini da Sabbio for Giovanni Francesco Torresano, 1542

Rare: we cannot trace any other copies on Rare Book Hub.

The translation (books VII-XII of the Aeneid) is dedicated (at Venice, 25 July 1542) to François I, who Giustiniani praises as a patron and lover of Italian literature, hoping to gain some recognition from the king. A copy of the book was dispatched via a circuitous route (from Giustiniani’s friend in Venice, Pietro Aretino, to Grolier and Luigi Alamanni), but no response from the court was forthcoming (Franco Tomasi, "La poésie italienne à la cour de François Ier: Alamanni, Martelli et autres cas exemplaires" in La poésie à la cour de François Ier, 2012, pp. 80-81).

8vo (138 x 88 mm). Italic type with some Roman, 22 lines plus headline. collation: A-B⁴ A-G⁴: 36 leaves (B4 blank). Oval woodcut on title-page (personification of virtue, a wrecked ship lettered “Virtvs” and “Nemo perit hac dvce”; Cataldi Palau Tav. 16). (Closely trimmed, a few side-notes just clipped, light dampstaining, first and last quire becoming loose.)

binding: Early blue paper wrappers (134 x 90 mm), "1768/6" written in ink on upper cover, red edges. (Spine reinforced with tape, chips to head and tail, somewhat soiled and creased.)

acquisition: Purchased from Thulins antikvariat, Stockholm, 1975. references: Renouard 125/6; Edit16 66396; USTC 862769