Vegetius, De re militari, Cologne, 1532, eighteenth-century Spanish mottled sheep with fore-edge decoration, Gómez Dávila y Toledo copy

VEGETIUS RENATUS, FLAVIUS. Flavii Vegetii Renati viri illustris de re militari. Sexti Iulii Frontini viri consularis de strategematis. Aeliani de instruendis aciebus. Modesti De vocabulis rei militaris, Praeclara opera nunc demum ad multorum vetussimorum codicum fidem recognita & castigata. Cologne: Eucharius Cervicornus (Eucharius Hirschhorn), 1532

A small format edition of classical military texts; by this date there were larger format editions with woodcut illustrations, and smaller unillustrated versions. This volume formed part of the Dávila y Toledo library, with its distinctive fore-edge decoration.

8vo (155 x 95 mm). Italic type, 29 lines plus headline. Collation: πA⁸ πB⁴ A-T⁸: 163 leaves (of 164, without final blank). Woodcut printer's device on title-page, woodcut initials and headpieces. (Dampstaining, tear without loss to foot of Q7.)

Binding: Spanish mottled sheep (162 x 106 mm), eighteenth century, thin gilt decorative border, spine with 6 gilt false bands, title on red morocco lettering piece in second compartment, late sixteenth-century fore-edge decoration, title lettered across fore-edge with armorials and leafy decoration, marbled endpapers. (Binding slightly rubbed and worn, corners chipping, joints cracking.)

Provenance: Gómez Dávila y Toledo (1541-1616), arms on fore-edge — old shelfmark "Est. 8.C" on upper endleaf — [by family descent to] Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744- 1816), marqués de Astorga, printed label on verso of title-page “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”. Acquisition: Purchased in 2007 from Jean-Baptiste de Proyart, Paris. References: USTC 657579; VD16 V 463