Vergilius, Opera, Venice, Aldo Manuzio, 1501, eighteenth-century tan calf

Vergilius Maro, Publius. Vergilius. Venice: Aldo Manuzio, April 1501

The first book printed in italic types, and the first of Aldo’s "pocket classics," the most enduring and ingenious of his enterprises. This edition marked a revolution in type-design and publishing. The new informal italic letters adopted by Aldo were based on Italian humanistic cursive script and served as the model for most subsequent italic typefaces. Randall McLeod has demonstrated, through a comparison of type and ligatures, that Aldo Manuzio and punch-cutter Francesco Griffo—whom Aldo acknowledges in a three-line verse at the end of his prefatory remarks—continued to develop and refine italic type even while this Virgil was in the press.

"The series of pocket-size books of classical Latin and Greek authors and Italian vernacular poets, enchiridia, printed in the Italic founts designed by Francesco Griffo, was Aldo’s most successful editorial innovation. Starting with the Virgil published in 1501, these portable editions of the best known Classical and Italian poets, often bearing his sophisticated device of the dolphin-and-anchor, immediately caught the imagination of wealthy European literati and collectors. Their slim and elegant proportions contributed to a permanent change in the physical appearance of Western books and secured Aldo enduring fame" ("Aldus Manutius: A humanist printer for humanist readers," Cambridge University Library online exhibition; https://exhibitions.lib.cam.ac.uk/manutius/). 

"The Portable Library overturned long-established norms. Scholarly works of antiquity no longer had to appear in large, very expensive volumes, filled with commentaries that overwhelmed the original texts. One no longer had to go to the books; these could now move about conveniently with the reader. In the warmer climate south of the Alps, and on summer days to the North, books could now be read comfortably out of doors. Many a humanist worked on diplomatic missions, which regularly meant cooling one's heels in ante-chambers awaiting admission to the presence; these small octavos of favorite literature in dependable editions made the wait tolerable" (Grolier/Aldus).

Such was the enthusiasm for his new libelli portatiles that Aldo quickly published sixteen of them in 1501 and 1502. Griffo’s new italic types "endorsed the victory of the Roman renaissance letter over the north European black letter. The triumph of Aldo was also the triumph of his choice of author. As the revival of learning brought greater knowledge of the influence of Rome, Virgil came to be recognized as the greatest of Latin poets; and his majestic lines and noble sentiments have become a part of the European heritage" (Printing and the Mind of Man). 

The 1501 Aldine Virgil is a legendary rarity. Rare Book Hub records only the Garden Ltd. copy, sold at Sotheby’s New York, 9 November 1989, lot 35. H. P. Kraus mentions the Brooker copy in his autobiography, A Rare Book Saga, as one of the books that he purchased from Martin Bodmer in 1970, “copies such as will probably never be seen again on the market” (p. 284).

“A hundred separate editions of the whole or part of the Virgilian corpus was printed before the end of the fifteenth century. The first is an early and beautiful work of the first printers in Rome [Sweynheym and Pannartz]. … But perhaps the most important of all editions was that produced in the first year of the new century by Aldus” (Printing and the Mind of Man).

8vo (159 x 94 mm). Italic type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: a–g⁸ A–X⁸ Y⁴: 228 leaves. Three- and six-line initial spaces with guide letters. First page of text with illuminated border of poly chrome floral scrolls incorporating, at foot, an armorial, probably Italian, supported by winged putti, large initial T painted in gold on a blue field, an owl, perched above the text, likely represents Athena or Minerva, the goddess of wisdom; initials supplied in silver on a black field. (Many initials oxidized and offset, illuminated border just shaved.)

binding: Eighteenth-century tan calf (164 x 105 mm), covers with border of two gilt fillets, spine in six compartments, maroon morocco label in second, others gilt with floral tools, marbled endpapers, red edges. (Some cracking and repair to joints, some other light rubbing.)

provenance: Unidentified owner, sixteenth-century illuminated arms on title (probably Italian) — Samuel Butler (1774– 1839), Bishop of Lichfield & Coventry, inscription on front flyleaf; Christie's London, Bibliotheca Butleriana … Part the Second, Aldine Collection, 1–10 June 1840, lot 1956; purchased by — unidentified owner (£15 4s 6d) — Arthur Atherley (1772–1844), armorial bookplate — George John Warren, 5th Baron Vernon (1803–1866), armorial bookplate; by descent through the family to — Francis Lawrence William Venables-Vernon, 9th Baron Vernon (1889–1963); Sotheby's London, Catalogue of a Choice Selected Portion of the Famous Library removed from Sudbury Hall, 10–12 June 1918, lot 512; purchased by — Bernard Quaritch, London (£180) — Libreria antiquaria T. De Marinis & C., Florence; Libreria antiquaria Ulrico Hoepli, Milan, Manoscritti, incunabuli, legature, libri figurati dei secoli XVI e XVIII. Terza parte della collezione De Marinis, 17–19 June 1926, lot 305 — Libreria antiquaria Ulrico Hoepli, Milan, Manoscritti, incunabuli e libri figurati del secolo XVI, 18 June 1930, lot 106 — Martin Bodmer, Geneva (1899–1971); sold, 1970, with a number of other early printed books to — H. P. Kraus. acquisition: Purchased from H. P. Kraus, New York, 1971. references: UCLA 39; Aldo Manuzio tipografo 43; Edit16 55823; Grolier/Aldus 26, 29 (this copy); Printing and the Mind of Man 6b; Renouard 27/3; USTC 862688; cf. McLeod, "The Birth of Italics," in Gazette of The Grolier Club New Series 66 (2015)