Egnazio, De Caesaribus, Venice, Heirs of Aldo & Torresano, 1516, contemporary French calf

EGNAZIO, GIOVANNI BATTISTA. In hoc volumine haec continentur. Ioannis Baptistae Egnatij Veneti De Caesaribus libri III a dictatore Caesare ad Constantinum Paleologum ... Neruae & Traiani atque Adriani principum vitae ex Dione, Georgio Merula interprete. Aelius Spartianus Iulius Capitolinus Lampridius Flauius Vopiscus Trebellius Pollio Vulcatius Gallicanus ab eodem Egnatio castigati. Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, July 1516

8vo (165 x 90 mm). Roman and Italic type, 29 lines. Collation: HS⁸ Ab-Hi⁸ AaA-DdD⁸ EeE⁴ a-z⁸ aa-oo⁸ (HS7-8 blanks, Hi8 a blank, lacking h3): 403 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device on title-page and verso of oo8, early annotations in ink. (Short closed marginal tear to r3, some minor staining.)

Binding: Contemporary French calf (171 x 100 mm), frame of roll with four-petal flower in lozenge, three strips vertically in central panel (flowers, flies, flowers), traces of four pairs of fabric ties. (Large loss to spine at head and foot, hinges cracked but holding, some exposure at extremities.)

Provenance: Jean Courtier (Joannes Curterius; ca. 1540-after 1583), inscribed “Curterii Mallardii και τωv φίλωv” on title- page, and inscribed “... Assibus. // Empt      als. Joa. Curterio 1564” on front pastedown — unidentified owner, inscribed “fr.

Amadeus Lugdunensis (?) amicorum (?)” on title-page. Acquisition: Purchased from Sokol Books Ltd, London, 1998. References: UCLA 154; Renouard 76/4; Edit16 18052; USTC 828062