Fourteen bindings with versions of the name “Marcantonio Totila” lettered on their lower covers are presently recorded. They cover eighteen books printed between 1520 and 1546 (the great majority in 1542-1546), at Venice (11), Rome (2), Lyon (2), Florence, Bari, and Basel. Two books are in Latin, and the rest in Italian. The bindings vary greatly in appearance, some being decorated by an arabesque plaque, others individually tooled, however the centre of the upper cover is invariably left empty for a title in gilt, and the lower cover for Totila’s name. In both places the lettering sometimes overruns the available space, giving the impression that it was added to a book already bound for display in a bookshop. Anthony Hobson linked six of the bindings to four Bolognese workshops: “The Second Achille Bocchi binder” (no. 6 in the List below), “The ‘Pflug and Ebeleben Binder’” (nos. 7, 10), “The ‘Binder of Ulrich Fugger’s Bible’” (nos. 4, 9), and a nameless shop using a two-part plaque (no. 3).¹

Marcantonio Totila (Totile, Totili, Totellis, Totilae) was a merchant, a member of the guild of apothecaries (Compagnia de’ Speziali), one of the most prominent of the twelve guilds that formed the merchants’ tribunal (Foro dei Mercanti) in Bologna. In October 1529, he was the sole representative of the Speziali in a procession of high-ranking officials and “Massari delle Arti” sent to greet Pope Clement VII as he arrived in Bologna for the forthcoming coronation of Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor. He was named in a criminal case in 1539, accused together with dozens of other Bolognese citizens of having lent to usury.² Marcantonio appears in the accounts of the Fabbriceria di San Petronio in 1546, as a supplier of wine to the architects Giulio Romano and Cristoforo Lombardo.³ His son, Francesco (1503-1556), is mentioned in the same accounts, for facilitating payments in 1543 and 1546 for the rival project of Vignola.⁴ Francesco had received a degree in civil and canon law at Bologna (30 June 1531),⁵ and commenced a distinguished legal career in Bologna and in Rome.⁶ On his diploma, he is identified as “D[omi]n[u]s Franciscus filius Honesti uiri Marci antonij Totilae Ciuis Bononien[sis],” and incorporated in the border decoration is a shield displaying the family coat of arms: d’azzurro, ad un monte di tre cime d’argento, accompagnato in capo da tre stelle (8 raggi) dello stesso poste 2 e 1, ed in punta da una corona d’azzurro.⁷An inscription on Francesco’s tomb indicates that had been created a Count Palatine.⁸ None of the fourteen volumes appears to have any mark of Francesco Totila’s ownership.

The volumes of Dubois and the Dioscorides are relevant to Marcantonio’s profession; the latter volume subsequently belonged to a local aromatario (pharmacist), who inscribed it “A di 18 de Magio 1590 di me Fabian Beninij aromatarij Bologesse”.⁹ The other volumes presumably were acquired by Marcantonio for recreation.

list of bindings

(1) Luigi Alamanni, Opere toscane al christianissimo re Francesco primo (Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1532-1533) [2 volumes in 1]

provenance
● Marcantonio Totila (fl. 1527-1550), supralibros, lettered: mar. an. totila on lower cover (opac)
● “initiales A B. ms.” (opac)
● Guglielmo Bruto Icilio Tirnoleone, Count Libri (Libri-Carrucci) (1803-1869)
● Commendeur & L.C. Silvestre with P. Jannet, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de M. L****, Paris, 28 June-4 August 1847, lot 865
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (FF 81)
● A. Franck, Catalogue d’une belle collection de livres rares et curieux principalement en langue Italienne, Espagnole, Provençale, Française, Grecque, Latine, etc. (Paris [1848]), p.2 item 10 (FF 100; “2 tom. en 1 vol. in-8. mar. brun à compart, large dent. tr. d. et gauf. Anc. rel. … La reliure de ce volume est magnifique: elle a dû être exécutée en Italie dans la première moitié du XVIe siècle. Les plats sont dorés entièrement, avec des arabesques pleines de gout. D’un côté il y a ces mots Luigi Alamanni, et de l’autre Mar. Ant. Totila. A en juger par ce volume, ce Totila devait être un amateur non mois distingue qué le fut Majoili.”)
● Florimond Lévêque & Victor Tilliard, Catalogue de livres, la plupart rares et curieux provenant de la bibliothèque de M. Libri Carucci, Paris, 12-28 April 1855, lot 711 (“mar. br. à comp., tr. d. et gauff. Belle reliure italienne du XVIe siècle. On lit sur l’un des plats: Mar. Ant. Totila”)
● Henri d’Orléans, duc d’Aumale (1822-1897)
● Chantilly, Bibliothèque du Château, VIII-C-030 (opac “Reliure italienne, 16^e siècle, maroquin noir, décor doré: panneau rempli de fers pleins et bordure, tranches dorées et ciselées”; Richement doré. Sur l’un des plats, on lit: “mar. an. Totila”. Rarement complet.” (cat. du duc d’Aumale) Provenance: ? (initiales A B. ms.); Libri; duc d’Aumale (acq. vente Libri, avril 1855)”)

literature
Léopold Delisle, Chantilly. Le Cabinet des livres. Imprimés antérieurs au milieu du XVIe siècle (Paris 1905), nos. 28-29


(2) Colantonio Carmignano, Operette del Parthenopeo Suauio in uarij tempi & per diuersi subietti composte, et da Siluan Flammineo insiemi raccolte, et alla amorosa & moral sua calamita intitulate (Bari: Gilbert Nehou, 15 October 1535)

Images courtesy of Federico Macchi

provenance
● Marcantonio Totila (fl. 1527-1550), supralibros, lettered: mar: an. | totila on lower cover
● Abate Michele Colombo (1747-1838)
● presumably Giovanni Bonaventura Porta, purchaser in 1818 of his library; his widow, Sofia Bulgarini Porta, sale in 1843 to
● Biblioteca Palatina, inventario 216 (Catalogo Alvisi, q.v. Suavio [link])
● Parma, Biblioteca Palatina, GG. II.295. (PAL 216) (opac Sul verso della guardia anteriore nota mss. di Michele Colombo sulla rarità di questa edizione [link])

literature
Unpublished

(3) Antonio Cornazzano, De re militari (Florence: Heirs of Filippo Giunta, 15 May 1520)

provenance
● Marcantonio Totila (fl. 1527-1550), supralibros, lettered: mar. | an. | totila on lower cover
● Bologna, Biblioteca universitaria, Raro B. 59 (digitised catalogue, link)

literature
Tammaro De Marinis, La Legatura artistica in Italia nei secoli XV e XVI (Florence 1960), no. 1351bis
Anthony Hobson, “Bookbinding in Bologna” in Schede umanistiche, n.s., 1 (1998), pp.147-176 (p.174 & Fig. 15 lower cover)
Anthony Hobson & Leonardo Quaquarelli, Legature bolognesi del rinascimento (Bologna 1998), no. 45 (lower cover)
Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna, Catalogo online delle legature storiche [link]


(4) Dioscorides Pedianus, De medica materia libri sex (Basel: Michael Isengrin, 1542)

provenance
● Marcantonio Totila (fl. 1527-1550), supralibros
● unidentified owner, inscription “Fabian Beninij” (Hobson & Quaquarelli, as “A di 18 de Magio 1590 di me Fabian Beninij aromatarij Bologesse”)
● Lodovico Montefani Caprara (1709-1785), his inscriptions “Ulissis Aldrouandi et amicorum. C8” on title-page and “U.A.” on front endpaper (Hobson & Quaquarelli, as Aldrovandi inscription “non autografa”)
● Bologna, Biblioteca universitaria, Raro B. 62

literature
Hobson, op. cit., p.171 no. 8 (Binder of Ulrich Fugger’s Bible)
Hobson & Quaquarelli, op. cit., p.27 & no. 42 (upper cover)
Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna, Catalogo online delle legature storiche [link]


(5) Jacques Dubois, De medicamentorum simplicium delectu, praeparationibus, mistionis modo, libri tres (Venice: Vincenzo Valgrisi, 1543)

provenance
● Marcantonio Totila (fl. 1527-1550), supralibros, lettered mar. anto. toti | la on lower cover (Quilici)
● Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense, o.IX.9

literature
Hobson, op. cit., p.174
Hobson & Quaquarelli, op. cit., p.29
Piccarda Quilici, “La Legatura aldina” in La Stampa in Italia nel Cinquecento, Atti del Convegno Roma, 17-21 Ottobre 1989 (Rome 1992), pp.379-400 (p.396)
Piccarda Quilici, Legature antiche e di pregio: sec. XIV-XVIII: catalogo (Rome 1995), no. 291 & Fig. 124 (upper cover)


(6) Sigismondo Fanti, Triompho di Fortuna (Venice: Agostino Zani, 1527)

provenance
● Marcantonio Totila (fl. 1527-1550), supralibros
● Lodovico Montefani Caprara (1709-1785), inscription “L” on front endpaper (Hobson & Quaquarelli)
● Girolamo Legnani Ferri (d. 1805) (Hobson & Quaquarelli)
● Bologna, Biblioteca universitaria, Raro D. 7

literature
De Marinis, op. cit., no. 1322bis
Hobson, op. cit., p.154 (bound by “The Second Achille Bocchi Binder”)
Hobson & Quaquarelli, op. cit., p.14 & no. 12 (upper cover)
Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna, Catalogo online delle legature storiche [link]


(7) Marsilio Ficino, Tomo primo delle diuine lettere del gran Marsilio Ficino tradotte in lingua toscana (Venice: Gabriele Giolito De Ferrari, 1546)

provenance
● Marcantonio Totila (fl. 1527-1550), supralibros, lettered: marco | anton | io to | tila on lower cover
● Martin Breslauer Inc., New York; their Catalogue 104/II: Fine books in fine bindings from the fourteenth to the present century (New York [1981]), item 159 (illustrated)
● London, British Library, C.183.a.37 (opac In a contemporary Bologna gold-tooled brown morocco binding)

literature
Hobson, op. cit., p.168 (Pflug & Ebeleben Binder)
Hobson & Quaquarelli, op. cit., p.25
British Library, Database of Bookbindings, link


(8) Donato Giannotti, Libro de la republica de Vinitiani (Rome: Antonio Blado, 1542), bound with Gaspare Contarini, La republica, e i magistrati di Vinegia (Venice: Girolamo Scoto, 1544), bound with Girolamo Garimberti, De Regimenti publici de la città (Venice: Girolamo Scoto, October 1544)

provenance
● Marcantonio Totila (fl. 1527-1550), supralibros, lettered: la repv | blica | di ven | egia on upper cover, and: marco | anto. | totila on lower cover (opac)
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of a valuable and important collection of rare, curious and standard books and manuscripts, London, 8-9 May 1868, lot 50 (“fine copy in the original richly ornamented Venetian morocco, having stamped within a wreath, in letters of gold, on obverse of cover, La Republica di Venegia, and on reverse Marco. Ant. Totila”)
● Boone - bought in sale (£1)
● Henri d’Orléans, duc d’Aumale (1822-1897)
● Chantilly, Bibliothèque du Château, VIII-E-025-(2) (ccfr Reliure italienne, 16^e siècle, maroquin brun, décor doré d’un motif central et de bordure de fers pleins, titre sur le plat supérieur et “Marco Anto. Totila” sur le plat inférieur, dos refait, tranches bleues; 152 X 103 mm; note ms.; Belle et ancienne reliure Venetiana. Inscription: “Marco Anto. Totila” sur l’un des plats. (cat. du duc d’Aumale) Provenance: Marco Antonio Totila (reliure); Sotheby; duc d’Aumale (acq. vente Sotheby, mai 1868))

literature
Delisle, op. cit., nos. 825
De Marinis, op. cit., no. 1319


(9) Girolamo Malipiero, Il Petrarcha spirituale, ristampato nuouamente, et dall’authore corretto (Venice: Francesco Marcolini, September 1538)

provenance
● Marcantonio Totila (fl. 1527-1550), supralibros, lettered: il pe | trarcha | .spir. on upper cover, and: marco an | totila on lower cover (obliterated by the original binder by overtooling)
● unidentified owner (?), supralibros, lettered: constantia on spine
● unidentified owner, inscription “Franciscus Gianibellus” (Giambelli?) on title-page (16C)
● William Bateman, FSA (1787-1835), armorial exlibris “W.m Bateman, F.A.S., of Middleton-by-Youlgrave, in the County of Derby”
● 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 560 (“Magnifique reliure vénitienne de l’époque, d’un goût exquis. Sur un côté du plat se trouve il Petrarca Spir; sur l’autre, Marco Anotima; et sur le dos, Constantia”)
● William & Thomas Boone, London - bought in sale (FF 90)
● Delbergue-Cormont & Adolphe Labitte, Catalogue des livres et manuscrits rares et précieux composant le cabinet de M. Gancia, Paris, 11-12 April 1872, lot 222
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (FF 47)
● Capt. Charles Ludovic Lindsay (1862-1925), presentation inscription
● John Henry Montagu Manners, 9th Duke of Rutland (1886-1940)
● Manners, family library (Belvoir Castle)
● Marlborough Rare Books, London; their Catalogue 146: Fine bindings and distinguished provenances (London [1992]), item 3 (£12,500); Catalogue 160: Fine bindings and distinguished provenances (London [1995]), item 6 (£7500)
● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 1996) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana ID #2097]
● Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, New York, 11 October 2024, lot 60 [catalogue online, link]
● unidentified owner - bought in sale ($10,160) [RBH N11245-60]

literature
Hobson, op. cit., p.171 no. 7 (“The Binder of Ulrich Fugger’s Bible”)
Hobson & Quaquarelli, op. cit., p.27 no. 7


(10) Paolo Manuzio, Lettere volgari di diuersi nobilissimi huomini, et eccellentissimi ingegni (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio, 1545), bound with: Antonio de Guevara, Libro primo delle littere dell’ill. signor don Antonio di Gueuara vescouo di Mondognetto … sono nuouamente tradotte di spagnuolo in questa lingua per m. Domenico Gaztelu … nouamente & non piu stampate con la sua tauola (Venice: Bernardino Bindoni, 8 April 1545)

provenance
● Marcantonio Totila (fl. 1527-1550), supralibros, lettered: ma | rco | anto. | toti | la on lower cover
● Filippo Saverio Fanelli (fl. 1764-1771), inscription on first leaf of text “ex bibliotheca Philippi Xaverii Fanilli J.C. Florentini” (Filippo Saverio Fanelli Giureconsulto Fiorentino)
● Renzo Salvadè (d. 2018)
● Libreria Docet, Bologna
● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 2018) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana ID #0462; offered by Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library: The Aldine Collection D-M, New York, 18 October 2024, lot 934]

literature
Hobson, op. cit., p.173 & Fig. 14 (“Bologna, Ing. R. Salvadè”, lower cover)
Hobson & Quaquarelli, op. cit., p.12 no. 43 (lower cover)


(11) Giovanni Antonio Pantera, Monarchia del nostro Signor Iesu Christo, di messer Gioan’Antonio Panthera parentino (Venice: Gabriele Giolito de Ferrari, 1545)

provenance
● Marcantonio Totila (fl. 1527-1550), supralibros
● Rosanini (Rosmini?), family library, inscriptions “Ad uso di Giovanni Rosanini” and “questo libro si prestato à me Pompeo Pemense Badini Arciprete d’Aspra dell’ Illū. Sig.a Angela Giovanna Rosanini - Leggo lo l’anno 1704 essendo: somno Pontefice Pap. Clemente XI”
● Pompeo Clemente Badini, Arciprete di Aspra nella Sabina (from 1692 “da Gavignano in Sabina, Canonico della Collegiata di Torri” (in Sabina)
● unidentified owner, inscription “Pietro Paolo Pernini 1780” on title-page
● Gabriel Hanotaux (1853-1944) (Ader)
● William Tudor Wilkinson (1879-1969)
● Etienne Ader & Lucien Lefèvre with Claude Guérin, Bibliothèque de M. Tudor Wilkinson. Deuxième partie: livres anciens, principalement du seizième siècle, Paris, 16-17 December 1964, lot 313 (“veau brun, plats ornés de fleurons dor. et fil. entrelacés, dos ornés, tr. ciselées et dor … Très jolie reliure de l’époque au nom de Marco Antonio Totila. La premier plat porte au centre le titre de l’ouvrage. Cette reliure ressemble à celle, d’origine bolognaise, reproduite pl. CCXXVI du volume II de l’ouvrage de T. de Marinis … Les coiffes sont restaurées. De la Bibliothèque Gabriel Hanotaux”)
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (FF 1050)
● Purchased from Librairie Lardanchet, Paris
● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 2016) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana ID #2170]
● Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, Part V, London, 10 December 2024, lot 1173 [link] [RBH L24405-1173]
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (£5080)

literature
Unpublished


(12) Francesco Patrizi, De discorsi del reuerendo monsignor Francesco Patritij sanese vescouo gaiettano, sopra alle cose appartenenti ad una città libera, e famiglia nobile; tradotti in lingua toscana da Giouanni Fabrini fiorentino, à beneficio de figliuoli di messer Antonio Massimi nobile romano, m. Domenico, e m. Horatio, libri noue (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio, 1545)

provenance
● Marcantonio Totila (fl. 1527-1550), supralibros
● Carl D. Becher (1857-1934)
● Leipzig, Deutsches Buch- und Schriftmuseum, Bö M 206/8° (opac, link; link)

literature
Unpublished


(13) Francesco Petrarca, Il Petrarcha con l’espositione d’Alessandro Vellutello (Venice: Bartolomeo Zanetti, for Alessandro Vellutello & Giovanni Giolito De Ferrari, 1538)

provenance
● Marcantonio Totila, supralibros
● Anton Giulio Brignole Sale (1605-1662)
● Genoa, Biblioteca Berio, BCBS B.S.XVI.B.87

literature
Laura Malfatto, Da Tesori privati a bene pubblico: le collezioni antiche della Biblioteca Berio di Genova (Ospedaletto [Pisa] 1998), no. 11


(14) Jacopo Sannazzaro, Sonetti, e canzoni di m. Iacobo Sannazaro gentilhvomo napolitano (Rome: Antonio Blado, 1530), bound with Ercole Bentivoglio, Il sogno amoroso, e l’Egloge di Hercole Bentiuogli (Venice: Francesco Bindoni & Maffeo Pasini, July 1530)

Images courtesy of Federico Macchi

provenance
● Marcantonio Totila (fl. 1527-1550), supralibros, lettered: ma | rco | antonio | toti | la on lower cover
● Abate Michele Colombo (1747-1838)
● presumably Giovanni Bonaventura Porta, purchaser in 1818 of his library; his widow, Sofia Bulgarini Porta, sale in 1843 to
● Biblioteca Palatina, inventario 143 (Catalogo Alvisi, q.v. Bentivoglio [link])
● Parma, Biblioteca Palatina, GG. II.292 (opac All'inizio e alla fine del volume 2 carte + 2 carte con note manoscritte di Michele Colombo [link])

literature
Unpublished