Cicero, Orationum volumen II, Lyon, 1545, contemporary Italian dark brown morocco gilt

CICERO, MARCUS TULLIUS. Orationum M.T. Ciceronis. Volumen II. Post omnes omnium editiones ex collatione castigatissimorum exemplarium quam diligentissime emendatum. Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1545

Another volume from this set of Cicero’s speeches is described in Davis Gift II, item 317 (Davis 803), on the third volume (lettered T for tertius; the present binding is lettered S for secundus). Both De Marinis and Foot ascribe the binding to Venice.

8vo (170 x 106 mm). Italic type, 31 lines plus headline. Collation: aa-zz AA-KK⁸ LL⁴: 268 leaves. Woodcut printer’s device on title-page, woodcut initials. (Occasional light browning, a few small stains, title-page becoming detached at foot, small wormhole at foot of gutter towards end.)

Binding: Contemporary Italian dark brown morocco gilt (173 x 117 mm), central gilt stamp of Fortuna on a dolphin within a shield, lettered OR MTC VOL S on upper cover, P MAR THO RAG on lower cover, outer gilt scrollwork border within a frame of gilt branches, within a double frame of blind fillets, spine with blind-tooled decoration in compartments and a single gilt fillet across centre of each compartment, edges gilt and gauffered to a knotwork design, stubs from four pairs of ties. (Binding slightly rubbed, ends of spine repaired, a few small wormholes, lower pastedown replaced.)

Provenance: P. Mar. Tho. Rag., name on binding — Librairie Arthur Lauria, Paris (who owned two volumes in 1951, according to De Marinis) — Sotheby’s, 26-27 March 1956, lot 431 (just this volume) — Laurent Coulet, catalogue 72 (Paris, 2019), item 3. Acquisition: Purchased in 2019 from Laurent Coulet, Paris. References: USTC 122802; von Gültlingen V: Gryphe 875; De Marinis 2257 & Pl. 387 (both volumes)