- 575
Mexia, Pedro — The Squirrel Binder
Estimate
5,000 - 7,000 USD
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Description
- The Imperiall Historie: or the Lives of the Emperours, from Julius Caesar, the First Founder of the Roman Monarchy unto This Present Yeere... First Written in Spanish by Pedro Mexia...; Translated into English by W.T[raheron].: and Now Corrected, Amplified and Continued to These Times by Edward Grimeston. London: H.L[ownes]. for Mathew Lownes, 1623
- Ink, paper and cow
Folio (13 1/2 x 8 3/4 in.; 340 x 220 mm). Engraved title-page, engraved initials (repeated), head- and tailpieces. Some light foxing, small tear in lower margin of frontispiece, not affecting engraving. Contemporary brown morocco, gilt ornament on panel large irregularly shaped corner and center pieces in central panels formed by closely intertwining leafy sprays and flowers and butterflies, with acorn sprays at each corner, spine with gilt lion (repeated); spine faded, ties missing, top and bottom of spine expertly repaired, corners repaired.
Provenance
Isaac Cope Towne, (ownership inscription dated "May the 14th 1796") — Walter Shirley (bookplate). acquisition: Maggs, 1992
Literature
STC 17852; Nixon, Five Centuries of English Bookbinding, No. 27 (and 28); Mirjam Foot, "Lord Herbert and the Squirrel Binder," Henry Davis Gift, I, pp. 50–58
Condition
Folio 913 1/2 x 8 3/4 in.; 340 x 220 mm.). Engraved title-page, engraved initials (repeated), head- and tailpieces. Some light foxing, small tear in lower margin of frontispiece, not affecting engraving. Contemporary brown morocco, gilt ornament on panel large irregularly shaped corner and center pieces in central panels formed by closely intertwining leafy sprays and flowers and butterflies, with acorn sprays at each corner, spine with gilt lion (repeated). Spine faded, ties missing, top and bottom of spine expertly repaired, corners repaired.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
Second English edition.
Beautiful example of a seventeenth-century London binding attributed to the Squirrel Binder.
The tools of this binding, especially the butterflies, have been attributed by to Nixon's "Squirrel Binder." The "Squirrel Binder" has also been identified as being Lord Herbert's binder and well as John Bill's binder. Charles I's copy of Rader's Bavaria Pia (1628) at the British Library is also bound by the "Squirrel Binder" and presents the same corner ornaments as this copy. He was active during the thirty or forty first years of the seventeenth century and produced marvelous bindings in the style of sixteenth-century French bindings "à la fanfare."