Gregorius IX, Epistolae decretales summorum pontificum, Antwerp, 1570 (1569), contemporary French gilt-stamped calf, Paulus Welser copy

8vo (164 x 105 mm). Roman and italic type, 45 lines plus headline. collation: *-**⁸ A-Z⁸ a-z⁸ Aa-Ll⁸: 472 leaves. Woodcut initials. (Occasional light foxing.)

binding: Contemporary French gilt-stamped calf (172 x 118 mm), plausibly by a Sorbonne binder, gilt azured centre- and corner-pieces on a ground of small gilt stars, within a double gilt fillet frame, with the owner’s name PAVLVS on upper cover and WELSER on lower cover, spine with small gilt flower bud tool in each compartment and lettered in the second compartment, gilt edges. (Spine and corners repaired.)

provenance: Paulus Welser (1555-1620), name on binding — old ownership inscription on title-page (illegible) — Buxheim, Carthusian monastery of S. Maria, ink stamp and inscription on title-page — acquired by the Graf von Ostein in 1803 — Waldbott-Bassenheim, family library at Schloss Bassenheim, sale of the Buxheim books from the Bassenheim library, Munich, 20 October 1883, part of lot 499 (all three volumes of the Corpus iuris canonici in bindings for Welser) — Georg Hirth (1841-1916), sale, Galerie Hugo Helbing, Munich, 13-21 June 1898, lot 1829 — Antiquariat Emil Hirsch, sale of the library of Georg Hirth, Munich, 3-4 March 1919, lot 1052 — Walter Petschek (1899-1998), sale, Christie’s, New York, 9 June 1999, part of lot 34. acquisition: Purchased at the preceding sale. references: USTC 404610; Voet 1030 part II (with Plantin’s name on title-page); Hans-Jörg Künast, "Welserbibliotheken. Eine Bestandsaufnahme der Bibliotheken von Anton, Marcus und Paulus Welser" in Die Welser: Neue Forschungen zur Geschichte und Kultur des oberdeutschen Handelshauses, edited by Mark Häberlein & Johannes Burkhardt (Berlin, 2002), pp.550-584 (pp.556-558 specifically on Paulus Welser)