Vitruvius, De architectura libri decem, [Lyon, Lucimborgo da Gabiano, 1523], early nineteenth-century French red long-grained morocco

VITRUVIUS POLLIO, MARCUS. De architectura libri decem, summa diligentia recogniti, atque excusi. Cum nonnullis figuris sub hoc signo * positis, nunquam antea impraessis. Additis Iulii frontini de aqueductibus libris, proter materiae affinitatem. [Lyon: Lucimborgo da Gabiano, 1523]

THE FIRST ILLUSTRATED ARCHITECTURAL TREATISE PUBLISHED IN FRANCE.

Much new information about the publication history of this book has been extracted by Angela Nuovo from letters she discovered in the Archivio di Stato di Venezia. These indicate that after the premature death of Baldassare Gabiano (1517/1519), his younger brother Lucimborgo was appointed by their uncle, Giovanni Bartolomeo, as manager of the bookshop in Lyon. In a letter of 5 June 1522, Lucimborgo reports to Giovanni Bartolomeo his intention to commence printing of the Vitruvius in a month's time, but five weeks later he was faced by an unforeseen problem: Guilluame Huyon, one of the printers working frequently for the Gabiano family, had died of the plague, and his italic types (littera cancelaresca) were now inaccessible (in cases of the plague, houses were nailed shut). In a subsequent letter (25 November 1522), Lucimborgo writes that printing types had just been ordered in Florence.

The Lyon Vitruvius of 1523 is usually seen as a counterfeit or replica of the Florentine editions of 1513 / 1522, and with good reason, since Lucimborgo’s copy text was the Giunta edition of 1522, and Giocondo’s dedication to Giuliano de’ Medici, as well as the table of contents and index, are reprinted. The Lyonese edition is, however, much more richly illustrated. The illustrations made for the Giunta edition were crudely modelled upon those illustrating Giocondo’s 1511 edition, except for four which were new, and intended to complement the set. Lucimborgo expresses in his letters a passion for making his books as attractive as possible, and he made a concerted effort to enrich the illustration of his Vitruvius, commissioning in addition to a set of careful copies of the 136 woodcuts in the 1511 princeps (he chose not to include the four added by Giunta in 1513), copies of 34 woodcuts in the 1521 Como Vitruvius. The latter are designated by an asterisk (*) and announced on the title-page: “cum nonnulis figuris sub hoc signo positis numquam antea impraessis”. In the last of his surviving letters, dated 2 January 1523, Lucimborgo reports that he was still waiting to receive some woodblocks from the cutters.

8vo (163 x 94 mm). Italic type with some Greek, 32 lines plus headline. Collation: A-H⁸ I-M⁴ N-Z⁸ AA-FF⁸: 216 leaves. Title printed in red within ornamental woodcut border, numerous woodcut illustrations, illuminated initials, text area ruled in red. (Occasional soiling and staining, illustration on H4 printed upside down.)

Binding: Early nineteenth-century French red long-grained morocco (169 x 104 mm), two blind fillets around sides, small gold ring at corners, flat spine, eight gilt fillets across spine, title and author, gilt wavy roll along edges of covers, gilt circles on turn-ins, yellow marbled endpapers, gilt edges, silk bookmark. (Lightly rubbed.)

Provenance: Unidentified owner, occasional contemporary marginalia — Claude Therouenne, ownership signature "Cl. Therouenne 1639" at foot of title-page — unidentified owner, inscription "Le Prince 1750" at foot of title-page — Robert Spence (1784-1845), ex libris "R. Spence," ex libris (version without the steeple), purportedly cut in wood by Bewick — unidentified owner, initials illuminated in gold with colored background and white tendrils (probably 19th century) — Fernand Pouillon (1912-1986) — Ader Picard Tajan & Claude Guérin, Monte Carlo, 1 July 1986, lot 135 (realised FF 31,000). Acquisition: Purchased at Ader Picard Tajan via Martin Breslauer Inc. References: UCLA 1172; Renouard 315/59; not in Shaw; Baudrier, VII, 167 (with slight variants); FB 90883; USTC 145582; Pier Nicola Pagliara, ‘Le De Architectura de Vitruve édité par les Gabiano, à Lyon en 1523’ in Serlio à Lyon. Architecture et imprimerie, 2004, pp. 359-365; A. Nuovo, “Transferring humanism: the edition of Vitruvius by Lucimborgo de Gabiano (Lyon 1523)” in Lux Liborum. Essays on books and history for Chris Coppen (Mechele 2018), pp. 17-37