Cicero, Tusculanae quaestiones, Venice, Aldus, 1546, large paper, contemporary Parisian calf gilt

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Tusculanarum quaestionum Ciceronis ad M. Brutum libri V. Cum scholiis Pauli Manutii. Venice: sons of Aldo Manuzio, 1546

This is just one section from Paolo Manuzio's edition of Cicero's De philosophia, containing volume II, part 1 only. Renouard does not mention any large paper copies of this edition.

8vo (203 x 136 mm, large paper copy. Italic type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: aa-oo⁸: 112 leaves (oo7 blank). Woodcut Aldine device on title-page and final verso (otherwise blank), ruled in red. (A few small wormholes, gg3 slightly stained.)

binding: Contemporary French smooth calf gilt (208 x 147 mm), centerpiece composed of two azured stamps back-to-back, gilt edges, stubs from two pairs of ties. (Binding slightly rubbed, neatly rebacked to style.)

provenance: Bourgtheroulde, inscription at foot of title-page (perhaps Nicolas le Roux, 1st baron Bourgtheroulde, Normandy) — Nicolas-Joseph Foucault (1643-1721), armorial bookplate (inserted, according to Sunderland catalogue) — Sunderland Library, shelfmark C8:34, sale, Puttick and Simpson, 17-27 April 1882, lot 3024 — Sir Edward Sullivan (1822- 1885), sale, Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, 19 May-12 June 1890, lot 1479, £1-6s, to William Ridler — John Vertue (1826-1900), bishop of Portsmouth, bequeathed to — Stonyhurst College, Clitheroe, sale, Sotheby's, 18 June 2003, lot 163, £9,600. acquisition: Purchased from the Stonyhurst sale. references: UCLA 354A (a large paper copy of volume 1 only, but bound in two volumes); Edit16 12270 (both volumes); Renouard 137/11 (both volumes)