Celsus, De re medica libri octo, Lyon, 1566, French vellum gilt

CELSUS, AULUS CORNELIUS. Aurelii Cor. Celsi De re medica libri octo. Q. Sereni medicinale Poëma. Rhemnii Poëma de Pond. & mensuris. Cum Adnotationibus & Correctionibus R. Constantini. Lyon: Guillaume Rouillé, 1566

One of thirty-three bindings known with the monogram of an unidentified owner, associated with Denis de Sallo (1626-1669), the elder son of Jacques de Sallo (d. 1648) by the nineteenth-century French bibliographer Jean Guigard, but manifestly bound decades before Denis de Sallo came of age.

8vo (163 x 110 mm). Roman and Italic type, 32 lines plus headline. Collation: *⁸ a-z⁸ A-I⁸: 264 leaves. Woodcut device on title-page, woodcut initials, ruled in red. (3 blank endleaves loose, lacking endbands.)

Binding: Contemporary French vellum gilt (175 x 120 mm), gilt fillet round sides, gilt cartouche in centre of both covers containing monogram of a pair of interlaced Δs and Σs on upper cover and Ds and Ss on lower, flat spine with gilt stars and lettered at foot "·A·COR·|CELSVS·DE·|RE·MED·", some deckle edges, gilt edges, section of medieval manuscript partially visible as binder's waste.

Provenance: Unidentified monogram on the covers (previously attributed to Jacques de Sallo and Denis de Sallo, although this claim should be treated with scepticism) — Pasquale Maria Benza (1788-1839, a Sicilian doctor who worked for the East India Company), inscription on title-page. Acquisition: Purchased in 2003 from Librairie Paul Jammes, Paris. References: USTC 158101; von Gültlingen X: Rouillé 630; for the historic attribution of bindings with the same monogram to the ownership of de Sallo, see R. Halwas, "Bindings for an unidentified owner with “D S” and Delta-Sigma-Iota cyphers", web, accessed 20.09.24