88
●
PETRARCA, FRANCESCO.
Le Cose Volgari.
[192]
leaves, including blanks z4
and A8, with early manuscript foliation to facilitate use of the index of first lines. 8vo,
164
x95 mm, 19th-century Italian diced russia gilt-tooled to panel design with center car-
touche containing author’s name (front cover) and imprint (rear cover), vellum endleaves;
occasional light marginal soiling and stains, title with minor restoration along bottom edge
and faded 16th-century ownership inscription (“Ex libris quondam D. Prioris Casarotti
seminario legatis”); original gilt edges, gauffered to ropework pattern, with “Petrarca” let-
tered in ink on bottom edges. Bookplate and collation note of the bookseller Giuseppe
Martini (sale, Hoepli, 21 May 1934, lot 154); bookplate of Giannalisa Feltrinelli.
(
Venice: House of Aldus, July 1501)
[10,000/15,000]
FIRST ALDINE EDITION
;
second issue, with 4-leaf gathering at end containing an address by
Aldus to the reader and errata. Leaf h7, sometimes lacking or defective because of verses attack-
ing the Court of Rome, is marked for cancellation but otherwise intact. This is the first
vernacular text to be printed in the recently-introduced Aldine italic type and to be published in
Aldus’s innovative small-format series of classics and selected works in Italian aimed at a wider
reading public. Renouard, page 28(5); New UCLA 43; Gamba 712; Harvard/Mortimer-
Italian 371.
89
●
PETRARCA, FRANCESCO.
Le Cose Volgari.
[187] (
of [188]) leaves, including
blank z4; lacks final blank A8. 8vo, 145x90 mm, 17th-century vellum boards, spine dark-
ened; margins trimmed eliminating most manuscript foliation, light marginal dampstaining
toward end, marginal numbering added to the index in an early hand; red sprinkled edges.
17
th-century signature of Alessandro Gras[s?]i on title; inscription of Jo. Barker, “di Sigr.
Ales. Grassi,” dated Rome, 15 April 1671.
[
Lyon: Balthasard de Gabiano the Elder
for Barthélemy Trot?, circa 1502]
[4,000/6,000]
FIRST LYON COUNTERFEIT EDITION
of 1501 Aldine Petrarch, made from the uncorrected
first issue, and one of the earliest piracies of the Aldine octavo series. Renouard, page 308(17);
New UCLA 1101; Shaw 1A/2, in D. J. Shaw, “The Lyons Counterfeit of Aldus’ Italic
Type, A New Chronology,” The Italian Book 1465-1800: Studies presented to Dennis E.
Rhodes (1993), pages 117-133.
90
●
PETRARCA, FRANCESCO.
Il Petrarca.
176, [18]
leaves, including final leaf
with Aldine device on verso. 8vo, 151x96 mm, 20th-century brown calf with red morocco
lettering piece; faint dampstain in lower margin of last several leaves; red sprinkled edges.
18
th-century armorial bookplate of Philip Lord Hardwicke.
Venice: (House of the Sons of Aldus), 1546
[400/600]
Fifth and final Aldine edition. Renouard, page 38(19); New UCLA 359.
91
●
PHILOPONUS, JOANNES.
In Posteriora resolutoria Aristotelis Comen-
taria.
Greek text. 295, [25] pages. Folio, 279x181 mm, early 16th-century Breslau binding
of blind-tooled brown calf over pasteboard with concentric roll borders on covers, spine
ends restored; light marginal dampstaining at beginning and end, free endpapers lacking.
(
Venice: Aldus, March 1504)
[3,000/5,000]
FIRST EDITION IN THE ORIGINAL GREEK
of a commentary on Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics
by a 6th-century Neoplatonist. The outermost roll border, incorporating the monogram I H and
dated 1525, is found on books bound for Johann Hess (1490-1547), the Lutheran theologian
and first Protestant pastor of Breslau. Renouard, page 45(1); New UCLA 80; Haebler,
Rollen- und Plattenstempel I, 40.
