Cicero, Rhetoricorum ad C. Herennium libri quatuor, Lyon, 1560, contemporary gilt-stamped vellum
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December 10, 04:10 PM GMT
Estimate
1,500 - 2,000 GBP
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Description
CICERO, MARCUS TULLIUS. M. T. Cic. Rhetoricorum ad C. Herennium libri quatuor. Eiusdem de inventione libri duo. Ex Petri Victorii, ac Pauli Manutii castigationibus. Lyon: heirs of Sébastien Gryphe, 1560
Another of Gryphe’s popular small format editions of Cicero, in an elegant gilt vellum binding. A manuscript note on the flyleaf attributes the binding to Clovis Ève, though the cornerpieces are found on bindings attributed to Claude de Picques and Gommar Estienne (such as Davis Gift 71, attributed to Claude de Picques and dated ca 1560-1565, which also contains an Islamic-style centrepiece and the triple dot ground). The collation is usually thought to end with quire y4, but the sewing is visible here after y3 and the final three blank leaves are present.
Volume 1 only (of 2), 16mo (122 x 69 mm). Italic type, 29 lines plus headline. collation: a-x8 y6: 174 leaves (y4-6 blank). Woodcut printer’s device on title-page, woodcut initials. (Inscription excised from head of title-page.)
binding: Contemporary gilt-stamped vellum (126 x 78 mm), plausibly by Claude de Picques or Gommar Estienne, large central arabesque stamp formed of single lines on a ground of triple dots with gilt-blocked cornerpieces, flat spine gilt, edges gilt and gauffered, pastedowns of pink paper with a leafy pattern. (Binding very slightly rubbed.)
provenance: René Choppin de Villy (1806-1886), armorial bookplate, sale, Paris, 10-14 February 1920 — Mme Théophile Bélin, sale, Paris, 19-20 February 1936, lot 42 — Henri Burton, red gilt booklabel, sale, Christie’s, New York, 22 April 1994, part of lot 94. acquisition: Purchased at the preceding sale. references: USTC 123337; von Gültlingen V: Gryphe 1432 (for both volumes)