Vegetius, De re militari, Paris, 1515, contemporary limp vellum, Duque de Osuna copy

VEGETIUS RENATUS, FLAVIUS. Flavius Vegetius vir illustris de re militari. Sextus Julius Frontinus vir consularis de re militari. Aelianus de instruendis aciebus. Modesti Libellus de vocabulis rei militaris. Paris: Jean Petit (Berthold Rembolt, 14 May; 8 June 1515)

A volume of military tracts by classical writers, which were first printed together in 1487. The editor was Guy Breslay, whose preface is addressed to Louis de Bourbon, and this was the first edition to be printed outside Italy.

This copy has numerous early annotations in Latin and Greek with manicules, showing close reading from an historical rather than practical military viewpoint. It comes from the substantial and significant library of the Duque de Osuna, which was eventually purchased by the Spanish state in the 1880s, and distributed between various libraries. This volume does not contain library stamps that were added to the Osuna library in the nineteenth century, indicating that it likely left the library earlier. It also seems that books from the Osuna library bound in vellum are more likely to have the "Pluteus" shelfmarks, where the books were arranged by size.