PETRARCA, Francesco (1303-74). Le cose volgari di messer Francesco Petrarcha . Edited by Pietro Bembo. Venice: Aldus Manutius July 1501. Aldine 8° (164 x 95 mm). Collation: a-y 8 z 4 A 8 B 4 . 192 leaves, z4 and A8 blank. Italic type 1:80. Initial spaces with guide letters. (Very small repair to lower margin of title-leaf, occasional marginal soiling or minor staining.) 19th-century Italian diced russia tooled in gold and blind; vellum endleaves, original gilt and gauffred edges, "Petrarca" lettered in ink on lower fore-edge (minute scuffing to extremities of spine). Provenance : early MS foliation (as in most copies); "Ex libris quondam D. Prioris Casarotti(?) seminario legatis", faded 16th-century ownership inscription on title; shelfmark CXVIII E5 in ink on lower pastedown; erased 20th-century inscription on front free endpaper; Giuseppe Martini bookplate and collation note (sale, Part II, Zurich: Hoepli, 21 May 1935, lot 154). FIRST ALDINE EDITION. The Petrarch was the third Aldine edition, and the first vernacular text, to be printed in Griffo's italic type and published in Aldus's series of octavo-sized libri portatiles , intended to make scholarly editions of the classics and of Italian poetry available to a wider reading public. Francesco Griffo based his type on the cursive bookhands used by humanist scribes in Aldus's circle, including Pomponio Leto and Bartolommeo Sanvito, but the type appears to have been specifically modelled on the hand of Aldus himself. The use of this typeface in the context of the new slender octavo format, recently shown by Paul Needham (W. H. Scheide Festschrift, Princeton 1994, pp. 135-55) to have resulted from the Aldine shop's use of an unprecedented paper size, had an immense and immediate appeal throughout Europe. Aldine pocket editions were quickly counterfeited by printers in Lyons, and the style was imitated by publishers throughout Europe. This copy bears an ineffective cancel mark on fol. h7v, often defective or lacking as a result of censorship of the verses criticizing Rome as the "new Babylon". Adams P-787; Brunet IV, 543; H. G. Fletcher, New Aldine Studies , pp. 95-99; Harvard/Mortimer Italian 371; Renouard Alde , 28.5.
PETRARCA, Francesco (1303-74). Le cose volgari di messer Francesco Petrarcha . Edited by Pietro Bembo. Venice: Aldus Manutius July 1501. Aldine 8° (164 x 95 mm). Collation: a-y 8 z 4 A 8 B 4 . 192 leaves, z4 and A8 blank. Italic type 1:80. Initial spaces with guide letters. (Very small repair to lower margin of title-leaf, occasional marginal soiling or minor staining.) 19th-century Italian diced russia tooled in gold and blind; vellum endleaves, original gilt and gauffred edges, "Petrarca" lettered in ink on lower fore-edge (minute scuffing to extremities of spine). Provenance : early MS foliation (as in most copies); "Ex libris quondam D. Prioris Casarotti(?) seminario legatis", faded 16th-century ownership inscription on title; shelfmark CXVIII E5 in ink on lower pastedown; erased 20th-century inscription on front free endpaper; Giuseppe Martini bookplate and collation note (sale, Part II, Zurich: Hoepli, 21 May 1935, lot 154). FIRST ALDINE EDITION. The Petrarch was the third Aldine edition, and the first vernacular text, to be printed in Griffo's italic type and published in Aldus's series of octavo-sized libri portatiles , intended to make scholarly editions of the classics and of Italian poetry available to a wider reading public. Francesco Griffo based his type on the cursive bookhands used by humanist scribes in Aldus's circle, including Pomponio Leto and Bartolommeo Sanvito, but the type appears to have been specifically modelled on the hand of Aldus himself. The use of this typeface in the context of the new slender octavo format, recently shown by Paul Needham (W. H. Scheide Festschrift, Princeton 1994, pp. 135-55) to have resulted from the Aldine shop's use of an unprecedented paper size, had an immense and immediate appeal throughout Europe. Aldine pocket editions were quickly counterfeited by printers in Lyons, and the style was imitated by publishers throughout Europe. This copy bears an ineffective cancel mark on fol. h7v, often defective or lacking as a result of censorship of the verses criticizing Rome as the "new Babylon". Adams P-787; Brunet IV, 543; H. G. Fletcher, New Aldine Studies , pp. 95-99; Harvard/Mortimer Italian 371; Renouard Alde , 28.5.
Try LotSearch and its premium features for 7 days - without any costs!
Be notified automatically about new items in upcoming auctions.
Create an alert
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
