Horatius Flaccus, Poemata, Venice, Aldo, 1509, Parisian red morocco, ca 1560, by Grolier's last binder

Horatius Flaccus, Quintus. Poemata, in quibus multa correcta sunt, et institutiones suis locis positae, commentatorium quodammodo uice funguntur ... Adnotationes nonnullae in toto opere in quibus uel aliquid mutandum ostenditur uel cur mutatum sit ratio redditur. Venice: Aldo Manuzio, March 1509

Second Aldine edition, fine-paper copy, almost as rare as the first edition of 1501.

8vo (158 x 96 mm). Roman and Greek type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: 1-2⁸ a-u⁸ x⁴ (a8 and x4 blanks): 180 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device on title-page. (Stray stains, minor marginal dampstaining, more so to r1-t3 and x4.)

binding: Parisian red morocco (160 x 102 mm), ca. 1560, by Grolier's Last Binder, profusely gilt, covers decorated with large Orientalizing center and cornerpieces with raised strapwork designs, semé of trefoils, spine with title in gilt and azured fleuron, leafy tools, and tendrils, all edges gilt. (Hinges a bit weak, rubbed at joints.)

provenance: Jean-Baptiste Colbert, marquis de Seignelay (1619-1683), inscription, "Bibliothecae Colbertinae" (by Étienne Baluze?), on title-page — Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1651-1690) — Jacques-Nicolas Colbert (1655-1707), Archbishop of Rouen — Abbé Charles Eléonor Colbert (1689-1747) — Gabriel Martin Paris, 24 May 1728, lot 17541 — Almon Whiting Griswold (1833-1890) — Maurice Delestre & Adolphe Labitte Paris, 17 June 1876, lot 39. acquisition: Purchased from Eric Speeckaert, Brussels, 1979. references: UCLA 102; Renouard 56/2; Aldo Manuzio tipografo 104; Edit16 22679; USTC 762150