Caesar, Rerum ab se gestarum commentarii, Paris, 1543, dark brown Apollo and Pegasus binding for Grimaldi
Auction Closed
December 10, 04:10 PM GMT
Estimate
50,000 - 70,000 GBP
We may charge or debit your saved payment method subject to the terms set out in our Conditions of Business for Buyers.
Read more.Lot Details
Description
CAESAR, GAIUS JULIUS. C. Iulii Caesaris rerum ab se gestarum commentarii. De bello Gallico libri VIII. De bello Civili Pompeiano libri III. De bello Alexandrino liber I. De bello Africo liber I. De bello Hispaniensi liber I. Omnia collatis vetustis exemplaribus tam scriptis quam impressis accurate emendate [edited by Giovanni Giocondo]. Paris: Michel Vascosan, 1543
A volume from the celebrated library of the Genoese banker Giovanni Battista Grimaldi, with his distinctive Apollo and Pegasus medallion on the covers. This volume is bound in dark morocco, indicating that it is a classical text. The books were bound by several Roman binders, the present binding being by Niccolò Franzese; a very similar binding with the same border decoration and title cartouche is De Marinis 786 (Firmicus Maternus, Basel, 1533).
For another volume from this library, a modern Italian work bound in red morocco, together with an account of the Apollo and Pegasus bindings, see lot 1039.
The text is closely based on the Aldine edition of 1513, for both the text and the woodcut illustrations.
Folio (335 x 213 mm). Roman and italic type, 45 lines plus headline. collation: α8 A4 [2]A-V6 X8 [3]A8 Aa-Bb6: 160 leaves. Woodcut maps and illustrations, woodcut initials. (Light foxing throughout, small repaired tear to title-page, small tear at foot of P5.)
binding: Contemporary Roman dark brown morocco gilt (342 x 229 mm), by Niccolò Franzese for Giovanni Battista Grimaldi, central Apollo and Pegasus medallion stamped vertically with green and gold paint, surrounded by gilt lettering ΟΡΘΩΣ ΚΑΙ ΜΗ ΛΟΧΙΩΣ, lettered at head of upper cover COMMENTARIA CAESARIS within a cartouche, outer frame of interlaced double gilt fillets with small fleurons and swirls, gilt leafy swirls around medallion, spine with small gilt fleur-de-lys stamp and lettered in second compartment, gilt edges, lower flyleaf with watermark of three flowers in a circle (Briquet 6683, Rome, 1545-1550). In modern black leather drop-backed box. (Joints repaired, ends of spine and corners repaired, gilt edges slightly rubbed.)
provenance: Giovanni Battista Grimaldi (ca 1524-ca 1612), impresa on binding — Nuñez del Castillo (of Sanremo), armorial bookplate — [Principe di Belmonte Granito, Salerno, according to Hobson] — Sotheby’s, sale, 31 May 1960, lot 20, £1100, to Fl. Tulkens, Brussels — Librairie Lardanchet, catalogue 58 (Paris, 1965), item 38. acquisition: Purchased in 2017 from Librairie Lardanchet, Paris. references: BP16 111025; USTC 153756; A. Hobson, Apollo and Pegasus, list of Apollo and Pegasus bindings no. 25 (Paris, private collection); De Marinis, Legatura artistica no. 2994 ter; Mortimer, Harvard French 124