Cesare Delfini | Matris Virginis Mariados libri tres, Venice, 1537, the dedication copy, contemporary armorial silk binding for François I

Cesare Delfini

Matris Virginis Mariados libri tres. Venice: Bernardini, 12 October 1537

4to (208 x 157 mm). Collation: A-H⁴ I²: 34 leaves, italic type, 23 lines plus headline, CONTEMPORARY BLUE ARMORIAL SILK FOR FRANÇOIS I, with his arms in gilt thread to centre of boards, gilt thread borders, gilt edges, plain endpapers, housed in a nineteenth-century maroon silk-lined morocco case, slightly frayed at extremities

THE DEDICATION COPY, in a contemporary silk binding for François I, of Delfini's epic/didactic poem on the Virgin Mary. The poem contains discussion of medico-theological issues, including the digestion of the Divine Virgin and her intellectual skills.

François I, King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547, was a major patron of the arts, and cultivated a reputation as a man of letters. He is mentioned in a conversation amongst characters in Castiglione's Il libro del cortegiano (for which see lots 9 and 89), in which his hopes to bring culture to a war-obsessed French nation are discussed. Francis lent his patronage to several authors, whilst fostering his own ambitions as a poet. His wider literary activities extended to his diligent efforts in improving the royal library: appointing the humanist Guillaume Budé as his chief librarian, significantly expanding his collection through a network of agents in Italy, and opening up his library to scholars.

PROVENANCE:

Bound for presentation to François I, King of France (died 1547); plausibly Antoine Cheffault de la Renardière, sieur de Beaupré, ownership inscription to title-page ("Cheffault"); acquired by William Waldorf Astor (1848-1919) circa 1898: ink acquisition note to front free endpaper, recording purchase price (£130)

LITERATURE:

USTC 826191; EDIT16 16417