Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius, Venice, Aldus, 1502, Roman red morocco gilt for Caesar Carduinus

Catullus, Gaius Valerius, Albius Tibullus and Sextus Propertius. Catullus. Tibullus. Propetius. Venice: Aldo Manuzio, January 1502

First Aldine edition of the three poets, frequently published together as a single text. Aldo’s dedication to the Venetian patrician and diarist Marino Sanudo mentions the editorial work of Girolamo Avanzi of Verona, who had been the editor of Aldo’s December 1500 Lucretius, and whose Emendationes in Catullum et Priapeia had been printed twice in Venice, 1496 and 1500. Pages F2v-4v of Catullus are a second dedication to Sanudo by Avanzi, with a list of errata and alternative readings. The title-page is in its earlier and more common uncorrected state with misspelling of Propertius; a minority of copies have an in-press correction. The final page of the edition repeats, with correct spelling, the names of the authors, perhaps intended to be used as a paste-on cancel.

The wording of Aldo’s dedication has been taken to mean that 3,000 copies were printed of this edition, but it is much more likely, as Renouard states, that he meant 1,000 copies of each of the three poets.

8vo (164 x 100 mm). Italic type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: A-E⁸ F⁴ [Catullus]; A-D⁸ E⁴ [Tibullus]; a-i⁸ [Propertius]: 152 leaves, unfoliated.

binding: Contemporary Roman binding of red morocco over wooden boards in the style of the Mendoza Binder (168 x 102 mm), gilt lettered with the poets’ names in a roundel of upper cover, owner’s name on lower; edges gilt and slightly gauffered; remains of 4 pairs of clasps.

provenance: Caesar Carduinus, name on binding — inscription on title-page recording purchase at San Marco, Rome, 20 April 1672. acquisition: Purchased from William Salloch, Ossining NY, 1975. references: UCLA 52; Edit16 10356; Renouard 39/16; Adams C1137