Marzio, De doctrina promiscua liber, Florence, 1548, contemporary French ivory vellum

MARZIO, GALEOTTO. Galeotti Martii Narniensis, De doctrina promiscua liber, varia multipliciq. eruditione refertus, ac nunc primùm in lucem editus. Florence: Lorenzo Torrentino, 1548 

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 (167 x 107 mm). Roman type: 28 lines plus headline. Collation: *⁸ A-Z⁸ Aa-Ff⁸: 240 leaves. Ruled in red throughout. (Some marginal dampstaining).

Binding: Contemporary French ivory vellum (175 x 116 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, 6 false bands in gilt, azured quatrefoil in 4 upper compartments, 3-line title in lower compartment, gilt edges, section of medieval manuscript 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 skepticism) — Sotheby's, London, 3 October 2002, lot 188. Acquisition: Purchased at the preceding sale. References: Edit 16 34558; USTC 841318; for the historic attribution of bindings with the same monogram to the ownership of de Sallo, see Halwas, "Bindings for an unidentified owner with “D S” and Delta-Sigma-Iota cyphers", web, accessed 20.09.24