Vergilius, Opera, Venice, Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, 1527, nineteenth-century brown morocco

Vergilius Maro, Publius. Virgilius. Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, June 1527

Rare: we can trace only two copies of this Aldine Virgil in the auction records in the last fifty years.

8vo (150 x 82 mm). Italic type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: a-z⁸ A-E⁸: 222 leaves (of 224, lacking blanks E6 & 7). Woodcut Aldine device on title-page and verso of last leaf. (Washed with loss of marginalia, title lightly stained, short closed repair to d4.)

binding: Nineteenth-century brown morocco (151 x 94 mm), three gilt fillets around sides, gilt Aldine device on covers, red endpapers, gilt edges. (Extremities lightly rubbed, a few minor stains.)

provenance: Unidentified owner, marginalia — Hon. George Matthew Fortescue (1791–1877) — Fortescue, family library (Dropmore), by descent to — John Desmond Grenville Fortescue (1919–2017) — Christie's London, 24 March 1971, lot 98. acquisition: Purchased at Christie's. references: UCLA 244; Renouard 104/3; Edit16 28802; USTC 862743