Castiglione, Il libro del cortegiano, Venice, Aldus, 1533, contemporary morocco by the Fugger Binder

Castiglione, Baldassarre. Il libro del cortegiano del conte Baldesar Castiglione. (Venice: heirs of Aldo Manuzio & heirs of Andrea Torresano, May 1533)

Named after his primary client, Johann Jacob Fugger of the Augsburg family of bankers, the Fugger Binder was active in Venice predominantly between 1540 and 1560, when this workshop particularly bound books in the Italian vernacular. This binding is not listed by A. Hobson, Renaissance Book Collecting, appendix 8: Bindings by the Fugger Binder.

8vo (160 x 94 mm). Italic type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: a-z⁸ A-D⁸ E⁴: 220 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device on title- page and final verso (otherwise blank). (Repairs where wormed, dampstaining to early leaves.)

binding: Venetian brown morocco by the Fugger Binder (170 x 108 mm), a frame of gilt fillets containing a panel with arabesque cornerpieces, central circular device of knotwork and leafy tools, enclosing the name BADAM / ENTI, spine compartments with gilt fleurons, edges gilt and gauffered to a knotwork pattern, stubs from four pairs of ties. (Joints restored, gilt refreshed.)

provenance: Badamenti, name on binding — Lucien Graux, bookplate, sale, Paris, 20-21 March 1958, lot 49, FF59,000. acquisition: Purchased from Librairie Lardanchet, Paris, 2015. references: UCLA 259; Cataldi Palau 123; Edit16 10063; Renouard 107/2