Vergil, Opera, Strassburg, Grüninger, 1502, contemporary half calf over wooden boards
Auction Closed
December 10, 04:10 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
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Description
VERGILIUS MARO, PUBLIUS. Publii Virgilii maronis opera. (Strassburg: Johann Grüninger, 28 August 1502)
The first fully illustrated edition of Vergil's works, edited by Sebastian Brant and with extensive commentary. The lively and detailed woodcuts are attributed to the Late Master of the Grüninger Workshop.
The woodcut illustrations inspired a series of 82 Limoges polychrome enamel plaquettes, made by the Master of the Aeneid in the 1520s; a plaquette based on the woodcut on MM2, showing the descent of Aeneas to the Underworld, was in the Brooker collection (sale, Sotheby's, Master Sculpture of Four Millennia, 3 July 2024, lot 44).
There is an early verse written on the verso of the final leaf mocking Luther:
Quamvis insultat tumidis papistis
Stridulo rictu stomachans Lutherus
Non minus mistis stat Asota lautis
Mensa popinis [The tavern's table]
Folio (298 x 212 mm). Roman type, 31 lines of text plus headline. collation: A6 B-G8 H10 I-S8 T-V10 x-z8 AA-HH8 II6 KK-VV8 xx-yy6 ZZ8 a-f8 aa-cc8 dd10: 449 leaves (of 450, without blank H6). Title printed in red, large woodcut illustration on title-page, woodcut initials and illustrations, double-page woodcut on T5-6, woodcut printer's device at end, a few early annotations. (Small repair to head of title-page, leaf B1 detached, a few small wormholes, occasional light staining, large tear in I1, LL4, MM5 and yy3, smaller tear in H1, I8, NN2, f2 and f8, small hole in M3 and MM1, small tear in gutter of KK4, SS6 torn and repaired, wormholes in text of quires d-e, bb5 supplied from another copy and with repairs in gutter, final leaf slightly torn and becoming detached, a few headlines in final quire shaved, textblock splitting after quire A.)
binding: Contemporary blind-stamped calf over wooden boards (312 x 233 mm), covers ruled to a diaper pattern with small pineapple and dragon stamps, two clasps, fragments of a liturgical manuscript on vellum in binding. (Binding rebacked in calf, extremities rubbed, lacking both straps, tear to lower joint.)
provenance: Joannes [?], early inscription at head of title-page — Liechtenstein library (Vienna), armorial bookplate — Lathrop C. Harper, catalogeu 1 (New York, 1953), item 61 — Emil Offenbacher, New York [acquired in 1953 by] — Cornelius J. Hauck (1893-1967) [his collection given to] — Cincinnati Historical Society Library, sale of the Cornelius J. Hauck collection, Christie's New York, 27 June 2006, lot 259. acquisition: Purchased at the preceding sale. references: VD16 V 1332
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