Seven bindings are now recorded with the coat of arms of the Tuti family of Siena on their covers. In 1985, Anthony Hobson knew of three (nos. 1, 3, 7 in List below), which he localised to Rome. Judging from general features, he supposed each was made in a different Roman shop, and that the three bindings “date from the 1540s”. Hobson did not discover who bought the books and had them bound, but speculated that he was a learned man, from the serious texts, and because he entered into one (the 1515 Giunta Aristophanes) several pages of Greek in “an accomplished hand”.¹  Hobson was unaware that Tammaro De Marinis had recorded three other volumes with the same coat of arms, as Venetian bindings (nos. 2, 5, 6 below).²

The Tuti were a noble family, originally of Roccalbegna (Grosseto), arrived in Siena by the middle of the fifteenth century. The family palace was in Terzo San Martino in the Via Pantaneto, directly behind the Logge del Papa. A strong family association with the papacy is evidenced by a large escutcheon on the façade of the palace, bearing the arms of Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484) flanked by shields bearing the Tuti family arms: d’azzurro al bastone nodoso posto in banda accompagnato da quattro foglie disposte in cinta, il tutto d’oro.³ In 1462, Pius II appointed a Francesco Tuti as Podestà di Viterbo. Alexander VI in 1497 named Benedetto di Giovanni Tuti (Benedictus de Senis; d. 1505), a monk of the Congregazione Benedettina di Monte Oliveto, as Abbate of S. Gregorio Magno al Celio and Precettore of the Arcispedale di Santo Spirito in Sassia.⁴ Arcangelo di Giovanni Tuti (d. 1524), a professor of medicine and logic successively in Siena (1472-1499), Perugia (1500-ca 1505), and at La Sapienza, was appointed in October 1503 medicus to Pius III;⁵ he afterwards served Julius II, and became personal physician (Archiatra pontificio) to Leo X.⁶ Arcangelo lived in the Borgo opposite the palazzo of Cardinal Adriano Castellesi,⁷ and also, until about 1516, in a suburban residence (vinea sub Monte Mario), where on 25 June 1508 he entertained on behalf of Julius II three ambassadors of the King of Spain.⁸ As a Procurator of Siena, he assisted Leo X in 1516 during negotiations between the city, the papacy, and Lorenzo de’ Medici.

Palazzo Tuti, Siena - Arms of Pope Sixtus IV flanked by the Tuti insignia

Bayerisches Staatsbiliothek, Codices iconographici 278, fol. 65r (0143) [link]

Six of the bindings cover works of Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Lucretius, Macrobius, Plautus, Seneca, and Sophocles, all but one in Aldine editions, published in 1502/1518, 1515, 1515, 1517, 1522, 1528. These texts evidently were acquired for study, as two bindings (on Aristophanes and Lucretius) contain additional endleaves for notes. The remaining volume, gathering four works of Boccaccio, in Italian, published 1524-1531, presumably was intended for recreation.

Detail No. 2 : Boccaccio

Detail No. 7 : Sophocles [link]

Arcangelo Tuti was both a resident of Rome and a scholar, however he died in 1524, too early to have commissioned the bindings on these books. It is conceivable that he acquired some, and that they were rebound by a member of the family with a passion for displaying the family insignia. A son of Arcangelo, Niccolò, was married in 1513 to Cassandra d’Ugo d’Azzolino Ugurgieri, daughter of a prominent Sienese patrician.⁹ Their son, Marcello, married in 1536 Giustina, daughter of Giovanni Battista Piccolomini, sister of Alessandro and Francesco Maria, successively bishops of Pienza (1535-1599) and Montalcino 1528-1599), and cousin of the humanist Alessandro Piccolomini (1508-1579). The 1515 Aristophanes, in addition to the two and a half pages of manuscript, in Greek, on its endleaves, is reported to have the initials “IS[Pi]?” on F6 recto and g6 recto.¹⁰ The binding on the 1524-1531 volume of Boccaccio in the Bibliotheca Brookeriana has the initials “I S P” (or I P S) on its covers. These initials might signify Iustina Picolomini Senensis. In 1549, Marcello was celebrated in a verse of Alessandro Piccolomini.¹¹ After Assisi was incorporated in the papal states, he became Governatore Apostolico, and in 1556 he commissioned from Raffaellino del Colle a painted arcade (“Volta Pinta”) for the Palazzo del Governatore. Marcello incorporated the Tuti coat of arms throughout its decoration,¹² and also on the Fonte dell’Ospedale in Assisi which he commissioned in 1556-1557.

A Giulio Tuti (d. 1536), of uncertain relation to Arcangelo, is said to have been born about 1500.¹³ Giulio was appointed on 22 February 1521 Canonico of San Pietro,¹⁴ and in May 1521 to the high-ranking and lucrative post of Cubicularius in the papal household.¹⁵ He was a founder-member in 1525 of the patrician literary society established at Siena, the Accademia degli Intronati.¹⁶ In 1535, Giulio commissioned from the architect Baldassare Peruzzi the Villa Montosoli (Montalcino); he died before April of the following year.¹⁷

Hobson compared the binding on the 1515 Aldine Lucretius (no. 3 below) to two others bound in other Roman shops, one commissioned by “F.T.” (Fernando Torres, 1521-1590) sometime after 1542,¹⁸ the other bound at uncertain date for an unidentified “A. Mileti”.¹⁹ Comparing tools, Hobson assigned the binding on the 1515 Giunta Aristophanes (no. 1) to a shop designated by Ilse Schunke the “Filareto Meister,”²⁰ and by Hobson as Niccolò Franzese (Grimaldi’s “Binder C”).²¹ Niccolò is recorded in Rome in the census 1527 and in the Vatican account books from 1537 until his death in 1570-1571.

The last of the three bindings listed by Hobson, covering the 1502 Aldine Sophocles and 1518 Aldine Aeschylus (no. 7), is stamped in gilt with an arabesque panel, in the centre of which is placed a shield bearing the Tuti arms. The same panel is used on the 1522 Aldine Plautus (no. 5), however its larger format - quarto, whereas the Sophocles and Aeschylus are octavos - required the binder to border the panel with a frame of stylized leaf ornament. This panel was widely used in Rome in the 1530s, notably on five bindings for a collector whose initials are G.A.C.,²² and on a binding for an anonymous owner.²³ As they were relatively cheap to manufacture, panels could be produced in multiple copies, and several binders are thus likely to have been using identical panels simultaneously. In fact, a panel of the same design was in use in Bologna in the following decade.²⁴

list of bindings

(1) Aristophanes, Aristophanis Comoediae nouem. Plutus. Nebulae. Ranae. Equites. Acharnes. Vespae. Aues. Pax. Contionantes (Florence: Filippo Giunta, September 1515)

provenance
● bound for a member of the Tuti family of Siena, armorial supralibros
● unidentified owner, “Initials “IS[Pi]”? on F6 recto, and g6 recto (second work)” (opac)
● unidentified owner, “two and a half pages of manuscript at end (more lines of a play, in Greek, in an early hand)” (Hobson)
● Marco Lazzari, “round armorial black ink stamp on title-page, with ox and three stars, lettered Marco Lazzari” (opac) [see M.R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Latin Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library, 1921, I, no. 175: a circular stamp, a coronetted shield bearing an ox, and in chief three stars: inscribed Marco Lazzari]
● Robert Finch (1783-1830), exlibris (opac)
● Oxford, Bodleian Library, Antiq.f.I.1515.1 (opac 16th-century Italian red sheep/goat over pasteboard; gold- and blind-tooled fillets and rolls with armorial centrepiece, and corner fleurons; gold-tooled spine with three raised and two half bands; holes for ties; text-block edges gilt and gauffered with geometric pattern)

literature
Hobson, op. cit., p.71 no. 2


(2) Giovanni Boccaccio, Laberinto d’amore di m. Giouanni Boccaccio. Con vna epistola confortatoria a messer Pino di Rossi del medesimo auttore. Nouamente corretto (Venice: Francesco Bindoni & Maffeo Pasini, December 1529), bound with Boccaccio, Fiammetta amorosa de m. Giouanno Boccaccio ricorretta di nuouo (Venice: Niccolò Zoppino, March 1525), bound with Boccaccio, Ameto ouer comedia delle nimphe fiorentine compilata da Messer Giouanni Boccacci da Certaldo cittadino di Firenze (Venice: Niccolò Zoppino & Vincenzo di Paolo, 20 December 1524), bound with Boccaccio, Amorosa visione di m. Giouan. Boccaccio, nuouamente ritrouata, nella quale si contengono cinque triumphi, cioe. Triumpho di sapientia, di gloria, di ricchezza, di amore, e di fortuna. Apologia di Gieronimo Claricio immol. contro detrattori della poesia del Boccaccio. Osseruationi di uolgar grammatica del Boccaccio (Venice: Niccolò Zoppino, 1531)

provenance
● bound for a member of the Tuti family of Siena, armorial supralibros, accompanied by initials IPS (or ISP) on both covers
● Abate Giovanni Pagni (fl. 1821-1829), oval black armorial inkstamp “Bibliotheca Pagni” (Bragaglia T95)
● Gian Giacomo Trivulzio di Musocco, 6th marchese (1774-1831), oval exlibris lettered “Bibliotheca Io. Iacopo Trivulti” [cf Bragaglia 1716, recording two versions: 48 x 30, and 31 x 22mm]
● Gustavo Camillo Galletti (1805-1868), blue inkstamp “Bibl. Gust. C. Galletti Flor.”
● Baron Horace de Landau (1824-1903) (De Marinis)
● Carlo Alberto Chiesa, Milan
● Purchased from Librairie Lardanchet, Paris
● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 2015) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana ID #2046]
● Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, New York, 11 October 2023, lot 16
● unidentified owner - bought in sale ($10,160)

literature
Fr. Roediger, Catalogue des livres manuscrits et imprimés composant la bibliothèque de M. Horace de Landau (Florence 1885-1890), I, pp.86-87 (Fiammetta amorosa, 1525), p.87 (Ameto, 1524), p.89 (Laberinto d’Amore, 1529), p.90 (Amorose visione, 1531)
Tammaro De Marinis, La Legatura artistica in Italia nei secoli XV e XVI (Florence 1960), no. 2329 (“Marr. castano; dec. dorata: doppi filetti diritti e curvi formano elegante disegno; nel mezzo arme come sopra con l’aggiunta delle iniziali I P S”; “Firenze, coll. Landau: 47757. Marr. castano; dec. dorata: doppi fileti diritti e curvi formano elegante disegno; nel mezzo arme come sopra [i.e. his no. 2327, the Seneca at Chantilly] con l’aggiunta delle iniziali I P S”)”)


(3) Lucretius, De reum natura (Venice: Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, January 1515)

provenance
● bound for a member of the Tuti family of Siena, armorial supralibros
● Lawrence Feinberg, Brooklyn, New York; his Catalogue 5: Rare and important books and mss including the newly discovered book of secrets of the Jesuati (New York 1980), item 39 ($1600; illustrated p.44; “Contemporary Venetian blind and gilt panelled red-brown morocco with central sun burst encompassing an armorial device, the spine gilt banded and blind stamped with florals (hinges and upper forecorner of back cover skilfully restored, most of original spine preserved). Edge gilt … Of further interest are its eight fly leaves and two pastedowns which seem to be Aldine paper, quite indistinguishable from that used for the book itself. We suppose that they were supplied with the unbound volume for protection. The pristine condition of the text is remarkable.”)

literature
Hobson, op. cit., p.71 no.1 & Pl. 3


(4) Ambrosius Aurelius Theodosius Macrobius, In Somnium Scipionis ex Ciceronis VI libro De rep. eruditissima explanatio (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, April 1528)


provenance
● bound for a member of the Tuti family of Siena, armorial supralibros
● unidentified owner, inscription “M. Lechini” at foot of title-page (18C?)
● Librairie Thomas-Scheler, Paris; their Cent livres pour un centenaire: quatre générations de libraires à Saint-Germain-des-Prés: 1901-2001 (Paris 2001), item 28 (€35,000; “maroquin fauve, décor d’arabesques dorées sur les plats, armoiries au centre, dos à nerfs orné de filets dorés, traches dorées et ciselées” [coat of arms not identified])
● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 2005) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana ID #0361; offered by Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, The Aldine Collection, D-M, New York, 18 October 2024, lot 890]

literature
Unrecorded


(5) Plautus, Ex Plauti comoediis XX quarum carmina magna ex parte in mensum suum restituta sunt (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, July 1522)

provenance
● bound for a member of the Tuti family of Siena, armorial supralibros
● Thomas Fontaine (opac “‘Ex libris Thomae Fo[n]tanae A.is M[…]’, parzialmente depennata e ‘[…]lii forlani’.”)
● Thomas Crofts (1722-1781)
● Samuel Paterson, Bibliotheca Croftsiana: a catalogue of the curious and distinguished library of the late Reverend and learned Thomas Crofts, London 7 April-27 May 1783, lot 2194 (“Plautus Fr Asulani, 4to. cor. turc. Venet. ap. Ald. & socer. 1522”)
● Stephen Weston (1747-1830) (opac A carta *1r stemma di S. Weston: scudo abitato da croce su tre scalini, al di sotto iniziali WS.)
● Sotheby & Son, Catalogue of the remaining portion of the library of the late Rev. Stephen Weston, B.D., F.R.S., F.S.A., London, 7-11 May 1830, lot 936 (“Plauti Comoediae, early Italian binding, with gilt leaves, Venet. apud Aldum, 1522”)
● Bernard Quaritch, Catalogue 166: Examples of the Art of Book-binding (London 1897), item 339 (“Dark smooth-grained morocco, full-gilt on the sides with arabesque ornamentation of metal-work pattern. The border compartment is stamped with finer and smaller tooling; the inner design is large and bold with an escutcheon in the centre. There are gilt leaves at the corners; and the edges are gilt and gauffered. The back is modern, lettered and overlaid on the old bands (three large and four small ones). The escutcheon is the ragged staff (or tree trunk) with two fleurs-de-lis above, and two below, all three pieces arranged as bends”)
● J. & J. Leighton, Early printed books arranged by presses (London [1916?]), item 1097 & Pl. 122 (£22; “fine orig. Venetian olive mor., richly and elaborately gold tooled with arabesques on sides, in centres being the arms of the original owner, viz., a ragged staff per bend between four vine leaves: gilt and tooled edges, neatly rebacked … Belonged successively to Thomas Fontana, Dr. Crofts, and Stephen Weston 1794”)
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of the third portion of the famous stock of the late Mr. W. J. Leighton (who traded as messrs. J. & J. Leighton), of 40 Brewer Street, Golden Square, W. (sold by order of the Executor), London, 27-30 October 1919, lot 1999 (“original Venetian olive morocco, richly and elaborately gilt tooled with arabesques on sides, in centre the arms of the original owner (a ragged staff per bend between four vine leaves), gilt and tooled edges, neatly rebacked”)
● Maggs Bros, London - bought in sale (£9 5s)
● Tammaro De Marinis (1878-1969)
● Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, Stamp.De Marinis.70 (opac “Sul recto della II carta di guardia anteriore ad inchiostro bruno: “1794 Weston […].4 Vendit. Crofts. 10.6”. - Numerose annotazioni marginali in latino ad inchiostro bruno.”; “A carta *1r ad inchiostro bruno: “Ex libris Thomae Fo[n]tanae A.is M[…]”, parzialmente depennata e “[…]lii forlani”.”; “Sui piatti stemma non identificato: scudo accartocciato, d’oro al bastone e ai quattro trifogli.”; “legatura in piena pelle su piatti di cartone, recante sui piatti cornici a secco e in oro; al centro dei piatti stemma citato in oro. - Dorso diviso in quattro compartimenti, recanti autore, titolo e note tipografiche in oro. - Tagli goffrati in oro. - [2] carte di guardia anteriori e posteriori, coeve alla legatura.”) [image source, link]

literature
De Marinis, op. cit., no. 2328 (“Marr. oliva; ricca dec. come sopra, ma dorata, non mosaicata. Nel mezzo il medesimo stemma del Seneca. Taglio inciso”)


(6) Seneca, Tragoediae (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, October 1517)

provenance
● bound for a member of the Tuti family of Siena, armorial supralibros
● Giovanni Gancia, Brighton & Paris
● Delbergue-Cormont & Librairie Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de M. G. Gancia composée en partie de livres de la première Bibliothèque du Cardinal Mazarin et d’Ouvrages précieux, Paris, 27 April-2 May 1868, lot 665 (“Riche reliure vénitienne du milieu du XVIe siècle, avec riches compart. en or d’un dessin parfait, écusson peint avec quatre tresses barrées en losange. (Armes attribuées à la famille de la Vallette. Grandes marges.) Haut. : 159 mill.” [link])
● Henri d’Orléans, duc d’Aumale (1822-1897) - bought in sale (FF 100) (opac)
● Chantilly, Bibliothèque et les Archives, XXII-BIS-B-006 [opac identifies the copy as Delisle 1787; “Reliure italienne, 16e siècle, maroquin brun, armes de La Valette, tranches dorées et ciselées.”; link]

literature
Léopold Delisle, Chantilly. Le Cabinet des livres. Imprimés antérieurs au milieu du XVIe siècle (Paris 1905), no. 1787 [link]
De Marinis, op. cit., no. 2327 (“Marr. castano chiaro; ricca, elegante dec. di ferri aldini mosaicati in cera nei colori nero, grigio, verde, rosso; nel mezzo, in uno scudo, armi da identificare. Taglio inciso; nervi del dorso dorati”) [De Marinis indicates that the armorial insignia is the same as that on the Plautus above, his no. 2328]


(7) Sophocles, Sophocleous Tragodiai hepta metexegeseon. Sophoclis Tragaediae septem cum commentariis (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, August 1502), bound with Aeschylus, Aeschyli tragoediae sex (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, 1518)

provenance
● bound for a member of the Tuti family of Siena, armorial supralibros
● Altemps, family library, inscription “Ex Bibl.ca Altempsiana” (Foot)
● Arthur Kay, exlibris
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of a selected portion of the extensive and valuable library the property of Arthur Kay, Esq., H.R.S.A., 11, Regent Terrace, Edinburgh, London, 26-29 May 1930, lot 646B (“contemporary Italian binding, arabesque gold tooling on sides with arms in centre, gilt gauffred edges”)
● E.P. Goldschmidt, London - bought in sale (£37); their Catalogue 24: Woodcut books, classics, bibliography (London [1930]), item 167 & Pl. 8 (“red morocco binding, probably Roman, made about 1540-50 … Some of the tools used are strikingly similar to those on the Farnese (so-called ‘Canevari’) bindings and the volume probably comes from the same Roman bindery. We have unfortunately not been able to identify the owner’s arms”)
● Lucius Wilmerding (1880-1949)
● Parke Bernet Galleries, Rare XV-XIX century continental literature … Part III of the important library belonging to the estate of the late Lucius Wilmerding, New York, 29-31 October 1951, lot 861 (“full old red Italian sixteenth century morocco, with an interesting pattern on covers of scrolls and conventional fleurons with gilt and blind fillet borders, corner ornaments. In the centers of covers is a gilt coat of arms featuring a knotted branch and four trefoil ornaments, plain back with high and low raised bands, gilt gauffered edges; lacks ties … A note on the fly-leaf regarding the shield in centers of covers reads: Perhaps the knotted branch of the Calfucci mentioned by Dante.”) [RBH 1278-861]
● Henry Davis (1897-1977)
● London, British Library, Henry Davis Gift 739

literature
Hobson, op. cit., p.71 no. 3
Mirjam Foot, The Henry Davis Gift: A Collection of bookbindings, Volume 3: A Catalogue of South-European bindings (London 2010), no. 292 [as Rome or possibly Bologna, disagrees with Hobson, who believes the binding was decorated by a panel: “the design appears to have been built up with single tools”]
British Library, Database of Bookbindings (“Macchi states; Bologna, 1540-1550. See A. Hobson, Legature bolognesi, 1998, n. 40, p.92; n. 45-47, p. 97-99”) [image, link]
Anthony Hobson, [review of “The Henry Davis Gift: A Collection of Bookbindings, vol. III: A Catalogue of South European Bindings. By Mirjam Foot”] in The Library 12 (2011), pp.60-64 (“one of seven known bindings with the unidentified arms, ‘a ragged staff bendwise between four oakleaves’. The binding is blocked with a panel known in indistinguishable copies in Rome and Bologna. As the other six recorded bindings with these arms are Roman I think we may assume that this one also was made in Rome. It is unfortunate that the arms have defied identification. They look French, and are perhaps another case of a foreign visitor or resident buying books in Rome.”)