Silius Italicus, De bello Punico, Paris, 1531, morocco gilt by Niccolò Franzese, a fake Apollo and Pegasus binding
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December 10, 04:10 PM GMT
Estimate
1,000 - 1,500 GBP
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Description
SILIUS ITALICUS, TIBERIUS CATIUS ASCONIUS. Silii Italici clarissimi poetae De bello Punico libri septemdecim. Cum argumentis Hermanni Buschii, & scholiis in margine adiectis, quae vice uberis commentarii esse possunt. Paris: Simon de Colines, (November) 1531
A fake Apollo and Pegasus binding, with the medallion and gilt tooling added in the late nineteenth century, most likely by Vittorio Villa, a known forger active in Bologna and Milan. The tooling was usually added to genuine period bindings with simpler decoration, and the fake bindings do not contain the author's name on the upper cover.
For genuine Apollo and Pegasus bindings, see lots 1039 and 1230, and for other fakes, see lots 1041 and 1215.
8vo (165 x 110 mm). Italic type, 29 lines plus headline. collation: a-z8 A-E8: 224 leaves (E8 blank). Woodcut printer's device on title-page, initial spaces. (Marginal dampstaining throughout, repaired tear to a7 with slight loss of text, light ink stains to a7-8, 12mm dampstain on k4v slightly affecting text, 2mm hole to t8.)
binding: Sixteenth-century brown morocco (170 x 118 mm), frames of gilt and blind fillets with fleurons and small flower stamps (gilding added later), in centre of covers the Apollo and Pegasus horizontal medallion stamp with Greek motto ΟΡΘΩΣ ΚΑΙ ΜΗ ΛΟΧΙΩΣ, spine with small gilt fleuron stamp in compartments, red edges. (Spine slightly worn with repairs and overpainting, other slight rubbing and repairs to edges.)
provenance: Marlborough Rare Books, Catalogue 160: Fine bindings and distinguished provenances (London, [1995]), item 78. acquisition: Purchased in 2000 from Marlborough Rare Books, London. references: Renouard, de Colines p.185; USTC 138081