Macrobius, Interpretatio in Somnium Scipionis, Venice, 1521, Parisian morocco gilt for Catherine de Médicis
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December 10, 04:10 PM GMT
Estimate
6,000 - 8,000 GBP
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Description
MACROBIUS, AMBROSIUS AURELIUS THEODOSIUS. Hoc volumine continentur. Macrobii Interpretatio in Somnium Scipionis a Cicerone confictum. Eiusdem Saturnaliorum libri septem. Accuratius recogniti. In quibus Græca suis cum accentibus suo nitori restituta reperiuntur. Haec omnia Nicolaus Angelius vir apprime eruditus summa diligentia correxit. Imprimique curavit. (Venice: Giovanni Tacuino, 18 July 1521)
A binding made for Catherine de Médicis as queen dowager of France. Catherine was a notable book collector, with a library of around 4,500 volumes. This binding was probably made in the 1570s or 1580s, and has been attributed to the workshop of Jean de Heuqueville; another volume bound for Catherine is illustrated in Medicea volumina (Pisa, 2001), item 20, on a devotional text printed by Heuqueville in 1582. An identical binding design with all the same tools is on a copy of Xenophon (Lyon, 1555; now in the Newberry Library), bound in around 1570, though with silver and gilt stamps, not just gilt as here. Many of Catherine's books were rebound after her death to evade being claimed by her many creditors.
Folio (300 x 202 mm). Roman type, 48 lines plus headline. collation: aa4 A-M8 N10: 109 leaves (of 110, without final blank). Title printed in red and black within woodcut border with woodcut printer's device at foot, woodcut initials, woodcut diagrams and illustrations, woodcut world map on D2v, a few manuscript annotations. (Occasional light foxing.)
binding: Parisian brown calf elaborately gilt (308 x 211 mm), made for Catherine de Médicis as queen dowager of France, probably dating to 1570s or 1580s, central arms of France and the Medici within a wreath of laurel and palm leaves [Olivier 2503], surrounded by small crowned CH monograms (for Catherine and Henri) and fleurs-de-lys with larger CDH monograms at corners, outer fanfare-style border containing fleurs-de-lys and a crowned CH monogram, flat spine similarly gilt, gilt edges. (Binding slightly rubbed, ends of spine repaired, small chip to foot of spine, a few small wormholes in binding, joints cracking, upper flyleaf detaching.)
provenance: Catherine de Médicis (1519-1589), arms on binding — Giancarlo Beltrame (1925-2011), sale, Christie's, London, 26 April 2017, lot 100. acquisition: Purchased at the preceding sale. references: Edit16 34857; Isabelle de Conihout, "Cent et quelques livres ayant appartenu à Catherine de Médicis", in Catherine de Médicis: art et pouvoir dans la France de la Renaissance (Paris: Le Passage, 2022), 304-321, appendix of 33 further books belonging to Catherine, no. 32 (not seen by de Conihout, so marked as perhaps a pastiche)