Martialis, Venice, Aldo, 1501, nineteenth-century English red morocco by F. Bedford, gift inscription to Willibald Pirckheimer from Andreas Conerus

Martialis, Marcus Valerius. Martialis. (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, December 1501)

First Aldine edition of Martial's Epigrammata. A fourth copy of this very popular work (so popular that two page-by-page Lyonese forgeries appeared within a year of publication).

From the library of Willibald Pirckheimer, the Nuremberg humanist, translator of classical texts into German (and Greek texts into Latin), and friend and patron of Albrecht Dürer, whose 1524 engraving of Pirckheimer is inserted here as a bookplate. The book is inscribed on a front flyleaf, "Bilibaldo Pirkamer Andreas Coneriis D[ono]. D[edit]."

The Martial was a present from Andreas Conerus, a German living in Rome in the years leading up to its Sack in May 1527 by troops of the Emperor Charles V. Conerus has for many years intrigued historians of art and of science, who have vainly endeavored to piece together his biography. He is documented in Venice in the years 1506-1508 and later lived in Rome. A skilled mathematician, he possessedprofound knowledge of the Greek textual traditions of mathematics and mathematical astronomy, with a particular interest in the sundial. And he was, of courses a friend of Pirckheimer.

In a "Notabilia" blog post in which he hypothesizes "that 'Conerus' is an onomastic Latinisation of 'Konhofer,' and that Andreas Conerus and Andreas Konhofer are one man," Robin Halwas summarizes the known corpus of books and manuscripts associated with Conerus: "Ten manuscripts and two printed books bearing Andreas Conerus’ ownership marks are known. Eight manuscripts have his inscription dated at Venice 1507 and 1508, Mantua 1510, and Rome 1515, accompanied by his conventional device of a cone within a circle. Two manuscripts retain the device only. The two printed books, copies of the 1501 Aldine edition of Juvenal and Persius and the 1501 Aldine edition of Martialis, have the same, undated presentation inscription to Willibald Pirckheimer: 'Bilibaldo Pirkamer Andreas Coneriis D[ono]. D[edit].' Unfortunately, both volumes were rebound by Francis Bedford in the 19C, and any clues to where and when the books were first bound or gifted are long lost" (https://www.robinhalwas.com/n69-andreas-conerus-an-alias-of-andreas-konhofer).

8vo (167 x 98 mm). Italic types, 30 lines plus headline. collation: A-Z⁸ &⁸: 192 leaves (&8 blank [annotated on verso, to or by Bedford, "preserve"]). 6- and 7-line initial spaces with guide-letters, colophon (&7r) includes printer's warning against piracy.

binding: Nineteenth-century English red morocco (172 x 108 mm) by Francis Bedford, signed at foot of front turn-in, covers simply paneled with gilt and blind fillets, gilt fleurons at outer corners, spine in six compartments, gilt-lettered with title, printer, and date in second and third, gilt floral tools in others, marbled endpapers gilt edges. (Joints repaired.)

provenance: Andreas Coner (d. 1527), inscription on title-page, "Bilibaldo Pirkamer Andreas Coneriis D[ono]. D[edit].," giving the book to — Willibald Pirckheimer (1470-1530), portrait-ex libris by Albrecht Dürer, lettered "Bilibaldi Pirkeymheri effigies aetatis suae anno LIII, vivitur ingenio caetera mortis erunt. MDXXIV" with the artist's monogram (the engraving trimmed and flecked with white), defective copy of his engraved bookplate by the Master of the Monogram J.B. at end — Willibald Imhoff (1518-1580); by descent to — Hans Hieronymus Imhoff (b. 1569) — Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel (1585-1646); by descent to — Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk (1628-1684) — Royal Society of London, armorial bookplate, inkstamp on title-page, "Sold" stamp on &6v — Bernard Quaritch, London (beginning in 1873, the Royal Society began to sell off printed books and incunabula from the Arundel library through Quaritch; see Linda Levy Peck, "Uncovering the Arundel Library at the Royal Society: Changing meanings of science and the fate of the Norfolk donation" in Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London 52 (1998), pp. 3-24 (p. 14); Bernard Quaritch, General Catalogue (London, 1874), p. 1425 item 17907 — Henry Huth (1815-1878); by descent to — Alfred Henry Huth (1850-1910), "Ex Mvsaeo Hvthii" morocco label; Sotheby’s London, Fifth portion, 4-7 July 1916, lot 4752; purchased by — George D. Smith, New York (£12) — The Rosenbach Company, Five hundred Rare Books (Philadelphia, 1936), item 312 ($360) — Libreria Antiquaria Pregliasco, Catalogue 93 (Turin, 2006), item 336 — Libreria Philobiblon, Mille anni di bibliofilia dal X al XX secolo (Rome & Milan, 2008), item 59. acquisition: Purchased from PrPh Rare Books, New York, 2012. references: UCLA 47; Adams M689; Aldo Manuzio tipografo 49; Edit16 36108; Renouard 30/7; USTC 841150; cf. Emil Offenbacher, "La bibliothèque de Wilibald Pirckheimer," in La Bibliofilía 40 (1938), pp. 241-263 ("Liste de livres provenant de la Bibliothèque de Wilibald Pirckheimer", p. 254: "Avec dédicace autographe d'Andr. Conerus à Pirckheimer")