Sansovino, Ordine dei cavalieri del tosone, [Venice], Accademia Veneziana, 1558, nineteenth-century blue straight-grained morocco

Sansovino, Francesco. Ordine de caualieri del tosone. [Venice]: Accademia Veneziana, 1558

The dedication to Francesco I de’ Medici is subscribed by Francesco Sansovino, who calls himself “Academico Venetiano”. According to Cicogna, it is a translated summary of the statutes of the Order. It was reprinted in the work Origine de cavalieri di Francesco Sansovino in 1566.

4to (194 x 134 mm). Roman type, 33 lines plus headline. collation: A⁴ B-E⁴ F²: 22 leaves. Printer's device to title-page, guide letters in initial spaces. (Dampstain to upper outer corner throughout.)

binding: Nineteenth-century blue straight-grained morocco (199 x 143 mm), two gilt fillets around sides, blind roll border, spine gilt, red morocco label, marbled endpapers, brown speckled edges. (Somewhat rubbed.)

provenance: Samuel Butler (1774-1839), Bishop of Lichfield & Coventry, inscription citing Renouard (1825 edition) on endleaf; his sale, Christie's London, 1-10 June 1840, lot 1544 — Henry G. Bohn, London; Catalogue of books (London 1847), p.297; his sale, Sotheby's London, 9 May-1 June 1870, lot 6521. acquisition: Purchased from Fernand de Nobele, Paris, 1973. references: UCLA 558; Renouard 272/11; Edit16 10473; USTC 827688; Patrick Mula, "'Dipinto in scrittura': Pour une bibliographie des travaux de Francesco Sansovino, polygraphe vénitien (1521-1583)" in La Bibliofilía 112 (2010), pp. 245-280 (p. 252)