Bembo, Gli Asolani, Venice, Aldus, 1505, second issue, later vellum, Charles Butler copy

BEMBO, PIETRO. Gli Asolani di messer Pietro Bembo. (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, March 1505)

A very tall copy of the second issue, without the dedication to Lucrezia Borgia, lacking in numerous copies, but with the uncommonly found errata leaf. Renouard supposed that when Alfonso d’Este, husband of Lucrezia Borgia, fell out of favor, Aldo reset the first signature, suppressing the dedication. Cecil Clough proposed another scenario: that at Bembo’s request, Aldo held back some copies, and these were printed with the dedication once Lucrezia Borgia’s permission had been obtained (Grolier/Legacy 116).

4to (208 x 126 mm). Italic type, 36 lines. Collation: a-m⁸ n²: 98 leaves, a2 blank. Woodcut Aldine device on m8v. (Small wormhole in text, occasional light staining, a few inscriptions washed.)

Binding: Old vellum (214 x 132 mm), navy morocco lettering-piece, edges gilt and gauffered to a knotwork design. (Binding slightly soiled.)

Provenance: Charles Butler, Warren Wood, Hatfield, printed booklabel, sale, Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 5-12 April 1911, lot 135 — Sotheby's, 22-23 July 1968, lot 343, £150, to Alan G. Thomas. Acquisition: Purchased from Colin and Charlotte Franklin, Culham (Oxfordshire), 1979. References: UCLA 88.5; Aldo Manuzio tipografo 90 (with dedication); Edit16 4986; Renouard 48/1; Cecil H. Clough, "Pietro Bembo's Gli Asolani of 1505" in MLN 84 (1969), pp.16-45, "Copies with no dedication but with the Errata", no. 5 (this copy)