Cicero, De officiis, Lyon, 1581, Parisian armorial fanfare binding, G.F. Madruzzo copy

CICERO, MARCUS TULLIUS. De officiis, M.T. Ciceronis libri tres. Eiusdem, De Amicitia, De senectute Dialogi duo: cum Paradoxis, & Somnio Scipionis. Omnia denuo, optimis quibusque collatis exemplaribus diligentissime castigata. Lyon: Antoine Gryphe, 1581 [bound with:]

M. T. Ciceronis Fragmenta ab Andrea Patricio collecta, & in quattuor tomos digesta. Index rerum, & verborum copiosissimus. Lyon: Antoine Gryphe, 1579

This contemporary fanfare binding was executed for Gian Federico Madruzzo (1531?-1586) and features his arms on the covers. Over a collecting lifetime of around thirty years, Madruzzo patronised binders in Paris, Rome, northern Italy, and Lyon. The son of Nicolò Madruzzo (1507?-1572), commander of the imperial army, and Hélène de Lamberg, Gian Federico belonged to a family of great renown. Between 1552 and 1556, he and his brother were incarcerated following a naval battle in Ponza, spending a significant period in the tower of the Château de Vincennes outside Paris. It is here that his interest in fine bindings seems to have developed; for an example of a volume acquired by Gian Federico during this period of captivity, see Bibliotheca Brookeriana I, 11 October 2023, lot 12. He continued to commission fine bindings until his death in 1586, this copy being a later example from his collection. 

2 works in one volume, 16mo (122 x 75 mm). Roman and italic type, 29 lines plus headline. Collation: a-v⁸; a-l⁸: 160 + 88 leaves. Woodcut printer's device on both title-pages and end of both books, ink drawing of printer's device on recto of final leaf of first book, woodcut initials, ruled in red. (Several leaves still conjoined at fore-edge, some annotations in ink in an unidentified hand.)

Binding: Contemporary Parisian armorial fanfare binding made for Madruzzo (128 x 82 mm), brown morocco richly gold tooled to a fanfare design, outer frame of gilt fillets, interlacing strapwork forming central oval, circular and rounded cruciform compartments, filled with leafy decoration small azured tools, dots and flowers, arms of Madruzzo in centre, flat spine richly gilt with leafy decoration and lettering, gilt edges. (Ends of spine, corners and joints repaired, new pastedowns.)

Provenance: Gian Federico Madruzzo (ca 1531-1586), arms on binding — Alde, Paris, 6 May 2011, lot 11 — Librairie Amélie Sourget, catalogue 1 (Paris, 2013), item 16. Acquisition: Purchased in 2013 from Librairie Amélie Sourget, Paris. References: USTC 141798 & 138870; von Gültlingen XIV: Gryphe 190 & 173