Plato, Opera, Lyon, 1550, 5 volumes, contemporary olive morocco gilt, Salinas copy

PLATO. Divini Platonis operum a Marsilio Ficino tralatorum, tomus primus (-quintus; Platoni dialogi sex). Omnia emendatione, & ad Graecum codicem collatione Simonis Grynaei summa diligentia repurgata. Lyon: Jean de Tournes, 1550

A charming small format set of Plato in a fine binding, with some alla greca features even though the text is in Latin: the binding is on wooden boards with a thin groove along the board edges and it originally had plaited straps (the ends are visible beneath the lower pastedown on each volume). Similar tools and designs were used by Gommar Estienne in the 1550s (such as Davis Gift 67, on another small format Lyon imprint).

6 parts in 5 volumes, 16mo (122 x 72 mm). Roman type, 29 lines plus headline. Collation: (1) a-z A-Z aa⁸ (aa8 blank): 376 leaves; (2) a-z A-T⁸ (T8 blank): 336 leaves; (3) a-z A-M⁸ (M6 and M8 blank): 280 leaves; (4) a-z A-Z aa-ss⁸ (ss7-8 blank): 512 leaves; (5) a-z A-Z aa-hh⁸: 432 leaves; (6) a-f⁸ (f5-8 blank): 36 leaves. Woodcut printer's device on title-pages and at end, woodcut initials. (Occasional light staining to title-pages.)

Binding: Contemporary French olive morocco gilt over wooden boards (128 x 76 mm), covers with gilt interlacing with azured leafy stamps, flat spines with similar decoration and lettered at head, groove along board edges, gilt edges, stubs from triple thongs visible beneath pastedowns. (Some joints repaired, small areas of neat repair to edges of covers from straps and fastenings.)

Provenance: Ferdinando de Salinas (died 1610, in the service of the Habsburgs in the Spanish Netherlands), long inscription at the start of volume 1 dated Brussels, 1 January and mentioning Johannes Baptista de Masis (inscription crossed through), and name in volume 2 with the date 1591. Acquisition: Purchased in 2007 from Librairie Thomas-Scheler, Paris. References: Cartier, de Tournes 179; USTC 150655