Budé, De asse, Venice, Aldus, 1522, contemporary vellum

Guillaume Budé

De asse, & partibus eius. (Venice: in the house of Aldus and Andrea Torresano, September 1522)

4to (203 x 135mm.), text in italics, woodcut Aldine device on title-page and final verso, early annotations, old binding reusing a leaf of medieval manuscript on vellum over carta rustica, spine defective, binding rubbed, vellum split along upper joint

This is the first Aldine edition, which has a preface from Gian Francesco Torresano to Jean Grolier, who had sent the text to him for publication. It had previously appeared in Paris in 1514, but Torresano decided to move the printed marginalia to the end of the volume to leave the margins clear for annotations by the reader.

LITERATURE:

Cataldi Palau 80; Edit16 7797; Renouard 94/3; UCLA 212

PROVENANCE:

"Sum [--] Grammatici emptus Genue die xviiii aprilis 1526", bought at Genoa on 28 April 1526, note at end of volume; Leonardi Lomelini de Clavaro [Chiavari, near Genoa], early inscription on aa2; S. Maria della Visitazione, Convent of Discalced Carmelites (of Genoa?), inscription on title-page; printed label with library shelfmark A VII 20