Vergilius, poemata, Lyon, Guillaume Huyon [for heirs of Baldazare de Gabiano?], 1521, eighteenth-century half brown morocco

Vergilius Maro, Publius. Poemata nuperrime impressa atque ad amussim castigata. Lyon: Guillaume Huyon [for heirs of Baldazare de Gabiano?], 1521

A Lyonese counterfeit not cited by Shaw. On the verso of the title-page is the preface from Aldo to Pietro Bembo from the 1514 Aldine edition (see lot 1532). Rare: we trace copies in the British Library and John Rylands Library; a copy in Payne & Foss’s Aldine catalogue (1826, item 490), another in Renouard’s sale in 1828 (lot 931, realized £8 10s 6d), and another (lacking three leaves) in the Gancia sale (Sotheby’s London, 27-28 June 1856, lot 494; reoffered 23 June 1858, lot 461).

8vo (159 x 90 mm). Italic type, 32 lines plus headline. collation: a-x⁸ A-C⁸: 205 leaves (of 208, lacking C2 and blanks C7-8). Title-page printed in red and black within a woodcut border, decorated woodcut initials. (First two leaves becoming loose, small marginal wormhole to first quire, tear in last leaf not affecting text, but costing of few letters of the contemporary inscription, occasional light stains and spots.)

binding: Eighteenth-century half brown morocco over light green paper boards (164 x 97 mm), spine with four bands, green morocco title label, and shelfmark "3M147" in gilt in tail compartment, red speckled edges. (Worn and stained, covers detached, spine defective.)

provenance: Unidentified owner(s), early marginalia, contemporary inscription on last leaf citing Mantua, Calabria and Naples — unidentified owner, inscription "St. Mary’s Convent of C.T. in the Diocese of Soissons" on title-page — Guillaume de Lamoignon (1617–1677), ex libris "Bibliotheca Lamoniana" — Chrétien Guillaume de Lamoignon (1712–1759), stamp of crowned "L" on folio 3, shelfmark "3M147" in gilt in tail compartment — Nicolas René Berryer (1703–1762) — Chrétien- François de Lamoignon (1735–1789) — Louis-François Delatour, Catalogue des livres imprimés et manuscrits de la bibliothèque de M. de Lamoignon, président du Parlement (Paris 1770), p. 1174 — Jean-Gabriel Mérigot, Catalogue des livres de la bibliothèque de feu M. de Lamoignon, garde des sceaux de France (Paris 1791-1792), I, p. 260 no. 2348. acquisition: Purchased from Thomas Thorp, London, 1978. references: UCLA 1170 (not in collection); Renouard 315/56; not in Shaw; Baudrier, VII, 166; Gültlingen, III, p. 116: 23; FB 90350; USTC 121677