GUALLA, Jacobus (d. 1505). Papie Sanctuarium . Edited by Joannes Franciscus Picius and Paulus Morbius. Pavia: Jacobus de Burgofranco, 10 November 1505. 4° (198 x 140 mm). Collation: A 4 a-l 8 m 4 n 6 . 102 leaves. Gothic types. Title with woodcut author portrait repeated on a1r within four-piece architectural border, and on l3v, 68 small woodcut vignettes of saints printed from 24 blocks, the block of St. Siro on a2v with the name "S.SI" cut on the block, repeated for other saints with the name removed, mostly white-on-black woodcut floriated initials, printer's device on n6r. (Some staining and soiling, title-leaf with gutter reinforced, other small repairs to gutters of fols. A2-4 and h4.5.) 19th-century dark blue janséniste morocco (slightly scuffed). Provenance : Joannes Jacobus Panellus, jurisconsult of Pavia, inscriptions on title page dated 1605, and at end; "Margarita f. Dalmatii Georgii patria mea natusq[ue] Ma... Bertolini Georgii a s . . sat . Carminam animent", inscription on A1v-A2r, a few other marginalia in the same hand; other marginalia (cropped); Biblioteca Sommi Picenardi [Cremona], bookplate; Baron Horace de Landau, bookplate. FIRST EDITION, "the most important of the Pavian books with woodcuts" (Kristeller, "Books with Woodcuts Printed at Pavia", Bibliographica , I, 1895, pp. 347-372). The book has been described as the Pavian equivalent of the Mirabilia Romae , giving the history of Pavia and a description of its saints and relics. These were abundant, Pavia having been the capital of the Lombard empire and the home of Theodoric the Great. The text includes lists of the writings of the more important saints, with incipits. Described by Kristeller as "amongst the best work of the Italian wood engravers", the woodcuts by an unknown artist portray saints, male and female, officers of the Church, martyrs, Lombard princes, and other personages. Some show a direct Ferrarese influence: for example, the cut of St. Jerome with the lion was copied in reverse from a woodcut in Laurentius de Rubeis's Ferrara 1497 edition of Jerome's Vitae et epistole , and the architectural border was copied, also in reverse, from the border used in Francesco Negri's Pullata contio in d. Herculis inferias printed in Ferrara earlier in 1505. Other cuts were copied from the title-page of the Pavia Statuta printed by Burgofranco in August of the same year. Purportedly a life-like portrayal of Gualla, the striking full-face woodcut of the author writing with his left hand uplifted was directly copied for an edition of Cornelius Nepo, Vitae printed in Turin three years later. "This is the most important illustrated book of Pavia, since it presents proof of the influence of Ferrarese books together with material for establishing the distinguishing characteristics of the Pavian artist" (Mortimer, p. 318). Adams G-1351; Dyson-Perrins 174; Harvard/Mortimer Italian 222; Sander 3288.
GUALLA, Jacobus (d. 1505). Papie Sanctuarium . Edited by Joannes Franciscus Picius and Paulus Morbius. Pavia: Jacobus de Burgofranco, 10 November 1505. 4° (198 x 140 mm). Collation: A 4 a-l 8 m 4 n 6 . 102 leaves. Gothic types. Title with woodcut author portrait repeated on a1r within four-piece architectural border, and on l3v, 68 small woodcut vignettes of saints printed from 24 blocks, the block of St. Siro on a2v with the name "S.SI" cut on the block, repeated for other saints with the name removed, mostly white-on-black woodcut floriated initials, printer's device on n6r. (Some staining and soiling, title-leaf with gutter reinforced, other small repairs to gutters of fols. A2-4 and h4.5.) 19th-century dark blue janséniste morocco (slightly scuffed). Provenance : Joannes Jacobus Panellus, jurisconsult of Pavia, inscriptions on title page dated 1605, and at end; "Margarita f. Dalmatii Georgii patria mea natusq[ue] Ma... Bertolini Georgii a s . . sat . Carminam animent", inscription on A1v-A2r, a few other marginalia in the same hand; other marginalia (cropped); Biblioteca Sommi Picenardi [Cremona], bookplate; Baron Horace de Landau, bookplate. FIRST EDITION, "the most important of the Pavian books with woodcuts" (Kristeller, "Books with Woodcuts Printed at Pavia", Bibliographica , I, 1895, pp. 347-372). The book has been described as the Pavian equivalent of the Mirabilia Romae , giving the history of Pavia and a description of its saints and relics. These were abundant, Pavia having been the capital of the Lombard empire and the home of Theodoric the Great. The text includes lists of the writings of the more important saints, with incipits. Described by Kristeller as "amongst the best work of the Italian wood engravers", the woodcuts by an unknown artist portray saints, male and female, officers of the Church, martyrs, Lombard princes, and other personages. Some show a direct Ferrarese influence: for example, the cut of St. Jerome with the lion was copied in reverse from a woodcut in Laurentius de Rubeis's Ferrara 1497 edition of Jerome's Vitae et epistole , and the architectural border was copied, also in reverse, from the border used in Francesco Negri's Pullata contio in d. Herculis inferias printed in Ferrara earlier in 1505. Other cuts were copied from the title-page of the Pavia Statuta printed by Burgofranco in August of the same year. Purportedly a life-like portrayal of Gualla, the striking full-face woodcut of the author writing with his left hand uplifted was directly copied for an edition of Cornelius Nepo, Vitae printed in Turin three years later. "This is the most important illustrated book of Pavia, since it presents proof of the influence of Ferrarese books together with material for establishing the distinguishing characteristics of the Pavian artist" (Mortimer, p. 318). Adams G-1351; Dyson-Perrins 174; Harvard/Mortimer Italian 222; Sander 3288.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
