Vegetius, De re militari libri quatuor, Leiden, 1592, Parisian contemporary brown morocco gilt for Bartolomeo Cenami

VEGETIUS RENATUS, FLAVIUS. Flavi Vegeti Renati, viri inl. De re militari libri quatuor; post omnes omnium editiones, ope veterum librorum correcti, a Godescalco Stewechio Heusdano. Accesserunt Sex. Iuli Frontini stratagematon libri quatuor. Aelianus De instruendis aciebus: Modestus De vocabulis rei militaris. Castrametatio Romanorum ex historiis Polybii. Accessit seorsum eiusdem G. Stewechi in Fl. Vegetium Commentarius. Adiuncta eiusdem G. Stewechi & Francisci Modi, in Iul. Frontinum coniectanea, & Notae. Leiden: Officina Plantiniana, Franciscus Raphelengius, 1592

For a full list of Cenami bindings, lot 149; this is number 15 in the census of bindings.

2 parts in one volume, 8vo (169 x 108 mm). Roman type, 34 lines plus headline. Collation: *⁸ A-V⁸; +⁸ Aa-Zz⁸ Aaa-Iii⁸: 168+264 leaves. Titles with woodcut printer's device, woodcut initials, typographical diagrams, woodcut illustrations. (Title slightly browned with a few small holes, some foxing and browning, small tear at foot of D2.)

Binding: Contemporary Parisian tan morocco gilt (177 x 125 mm), central oval wreath with rampant lion stamp [Olivier 1860 fer 2], double frame of triple gilt fillets with corner leafy stamps, spine gilt in compartments with small lion and leafy stamps, title lettered in second compartment, gilt edges, stubs from two pairs of striped blue and pink ties. (Spine slightly creased with a few small wormholes, joints weak, lower joint cracking at foot, extremities slightly rubbed.)

Provenance: Bartolomeo Cenami (1556-1611), arms on binding — Giovanni Francesco Antonio Viligiardi, of Florence, eighteenth-century inscription at foot of title-page, "ex libris Io. Franc. Viligiardi" — Librairie de la Seine, catalogue (Paris, 2002), item 131 — Michel Wittock (1936-2020), sale, Christie's, 7 July 2004, lot 117. Acquisition: Purchased at the preceding sale. References: USTC 423117 & 430563