Some thirty bindings have survived from the once-substantial library of Paolo Giordano Orsini (1541-1585), the much-maligned duca di Bracciano, suspected of murdering both his first wife, Isabella de’ Medici, daughter of Cosimo I and Eleonora of Toledo, and the husband of his mistress, Vittoria Accoramboni. With the possible exception of one volume (no. 26 in the List below), they were bound for the fifteen-year-old Paolo Giordano during his first and only visit to Paris, in May-September 1556, when he accompanied the apostolic legate Cardinal Carafa to secure an alliance with Henri II against the Spanish. G.D. Hobson was the first to study the bindings, correctly recognising them as French, not Italian.¹ He was followed by Tammaro De Marinis,² Anthony Hobson,³ and by Federico and Livio Macchi, the last providing a succinct list of twenty-four bindings.⁴ Five bindings (nos. 2-3 Bandello, 5 Bembo, 26 Rondelet, 28 Speroni) and two remboîtage (31-32) are added here.

Armorial stamp on no. 28 (image courtesy of Federico Macchi)

The bindings are mostly brown goatskin, the covers decorated either with strapwork ornament (often enamelled or silvered), or with gilt corner and centrepieces. Each has Paolo Giordano’s armorial gilt stamp, the shield divided per pale, showing on the viewer’s left the Orsini symbols of the rose and eel, and on the right the sei palle of the House of Medici, lettered around “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”.

The books are all in Italian, with two exceptions: Erasmus’s Adagiorum, in the edition Basel 1551, and Guillaume Rondelet’s treatise on fish and aquatic mammals printed at Lyon in 1554. A young man’s interest in warfare and in the lives of ancient and modern men of arms is apparent: Appianus’ Civil Wars, Caesar’s Commentaries, Procopius’ Persian wars, Polyaenus’ Stratagems, Cornazzaro’s military tract, Biondo’s Roman history, Roseo’s Lives of the emperors, the Antiquities of Annio da Viterbo, the modern histories of Capella and Corio, and three works by Giovio, including his account of the military campaigns of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba. Also, three books of philosophy: Xenophon, Guevara’s fictionalised life of Marcus Aurelius, and León Hebreo’s Dialogues on the nature and philosophy of love; a Bible; Vitruvius’s Architecture; Daniele Barbaro’s edition of Speroni’s Dialogues; and literature: Bandello’s Novelle, three works of Boccaccio, epistolary collections of Aretino and Bembo, and Bembo’s models of verse composition. Three of the Italian books were printed at Florence (Torrentino editions of Giovio’s histories, 1549-1553), two at Lucca (Busdraghi’s edition of Bandello, 1554), the others are Venetian imprints. The earliest book was printed in 1522, the latest in 1554, which suggests that the books were obtained in Italy, and were taken to France for binding.⁵

Working partly from illustrations, Mirjam Foot assigned nine bindings to an unidentified Parisian atelier, designated “Wotton Binder C” on account of its work for the English bibliophile Thomas Wotton, and another (Boccaccio, Il Decamerone, 1522), with hesitation, to a craftsman known as the “Cupid’s Bow Binder”.⁶

Anthony Hobson assumed that Paolo Giordano was “no bibliophile” because he “did not trouble to acquire any bindings during the last thirty years of his life”.⁷ A recent study by Barbara Furlotti, based on inventories found in Roman archives, proves that Hobson was mistaken: Paolo Giordano did continue to acquire books, however they have either been lost, or bear no recognisable evidence of his ownership.

After his marriage to Isabella (1558), Paolo Giordano became determined to replicate the splendour of the Medici court. He committed himself to an orgy of spending, collecting and commissioning paintings, tapestries, antiquities, sculpture, and especially furnishings, accumulating in Rome and at his castle at Bracciano huge quantities of table silver, embroideries, silk wall and bed hangings, rugs and pillows, in luxurious fabrics, colour-coordinated, and usually trimmed with silk. That taste for varied and brilliant colours extended into Paolo Giordano’s library, where – on the evidence of these inventories – he shelved books bound in, red, yellow, and green velvet, in red, green, blue, and white leather, some bichrome, many with red or blue silk ties. On the whole, these are quite unusual preferences for bookbindings, and suggest strong bibliophile tastes.⁸

The earliest of the inventories itemises some 75 books which Paolo Giordano brought to Bracciano in 1575.⁹ As in most early book lists, a few entries are so truncated or abbreviated, that the text cannot be identified; in most cases, the edition cannot be determined. No more than five or six entries correspond to works which Paolo Giordano gave in 1556 to Parisian bookbinders.¹⁰ Surprisingly, 26 entries are for books in Latin. By 1575, Paolo Giordano was reading Latin editions of Appianus Alexandrinus, Gaius Iulius Caesar, Giovanni Della Casa (Ioannes Casa), Marcus Tullius Cicero, Quintus Curtius Rufus, Euclides, Flavius Josephus, Raffaele Maffei (Raphael Volaterranus), Martialis, Flaminio Nobili (Flaminius Nobilius), Publius Ovidius Naso, Plutarchus, Ioannes de Sacrobosco, Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Terentius Afer, Valerius Maximus, Publius Vergilius Maro, and Xenophon.

As many of the Italian books in this inventory were first published years after Paolo Giordano’s return from Paris, it is certain that his book acquisitions did not cease then, but continued. Mentioned in the inventory (date of first printing in parentheses) are copies of Giovanni Battista Ramusio, Secondo volume delle nauigationi et viaggi (1559); Antonio Francesco Cini, Successi dell'armata della m.ta c.ca destinata all'impresa di Tripoli di Barberia (1560); Il Monte di Feronia nel quale si contengono le cose d'arme fatte in Ferrara nel carneuale (1561); Statuti capitoli et constitutioni del Ordine de caualieri di santo Stephano (1562); Francesco Cattani da Diacceto, L'essamerone (1563); Baccio Baldini, Discorso sopra la mascherata della geneologia degl'iddei de' gentili (1565); Domenico Mellini, Descrizione della entrata della serenissima regina Giouanna d'Austria et dell'apparato, fatto in Firenze (1566), Battista De Ruberti, Osseruazioni de astrologia et altre appartenenze, circa della medicina, & mutazione de' tempi (1567), Scipion Lembo, Trionfi della santissima lega et impresa de Leuante (1572), Francesco de’ Vieri, Trattato delle metheore (1573).

Several works are by authors who attended either his or the Medici court, and these might be presentation copies. The enigmatic inventory entry “All’ illustrissimo et eccellentissimo signore, il signor duca di Braciano signore mio observandissimo” could refer to Poesie toscane, et latine di diuersi eccel. ingegni (1563), a book edited by Lodovico Domenichi, containing a dedication to Paolo Giordano which commences with that phrase. Four volumes in the inventory are by Francesco Sansovino: Delle orationi volgarmente scritte da molti huomini illustri de tempi nostri (1562-1575), Origine de caualieri (1566), and two copies of L’historia di casa Orsina (1565). This last work, a lavishly illustrated folio, had been commissioned by Paolo Giordano. The inventory entries for the two copies are exceptional, in that the compiler has specified their bindings: “de veluta verda”, in green velvet.

A second inventory, prepared by the guardaroba, in 1577-1581, lists books kept in Paolo Giordano’s residences in Rome, Bracciano, and Florence.¹¹ On this occasion, material characteristics were recorded, not the text inside. According to Furlotti’s transcription of the document, 36 volumes were then in Rome, and 42 in Bracciano. Nearly all the volumes kept in Rome are described as “con l’arme di sua eccellenza”, bound in leather of various colours: 15 in white leather (corame) with blue silk ties, 8 in red leather with red silk ties, 7 in green and red leather with silk ties, 2 in green leather with silk ties. One entry records in Rome a “Libro di disegni,” “coperta di carta pecorina [i.e. parchment, or vellum] con l’arme di sua eccellenza”. The great majority of the books kept at Bracciano were bound in vellum; just eight were in goatskin (all bearing his arms), and three in velvets of different colours, including one in yellow velvet adorned with his arms and seven silver bosses. In this inventory, the contents are noted only twice: “quindici pezzi di libri da musicha con coperta di corame biancho con l’arme di sua eccellenza con fettuccia di seta turchina, numero 15”, and a copy of Caesar’s Commentaries.¹² Paolo Giordano’s copy of Rondelet’s treatise on fish, in a vellum binding with his arms (no. 26), is not recognisable in the inventories. It possibly was acquired in France, but bound after his return to Italy. A third inventory, listing Paolo Giordano’s possessions at Bracciano, in 1582, lists (somewhat differently) the same 42 books; one is identified as “un libro di carta pecora pagonazo con l’arme di sua eccellenza”.¹³ A fourth, compiled by a notary shortly after Paolo Giordano’s death (13 November 1585), lists the contents of his Roman palace in the Campo de’Fiori.¹⁴ Sixteen volumes are recorded: the same 15 books of music entered in the 1577-1581 inventory, bound in white leather with Paolo Giordano’s arms on covers and blue silk ties;¹⁵ and a small prayer book bound in vellum.

The disposition of Paolo Giordano’s artworks after his death has been widely investigated, however nothing is yet known of the immediate fate of his books. Only a few volumes have recognisable evidence of ownership before the 19th century (see nos. 2-3, 5, 28, with inscriptions of “Pier Francesco Alex. et Amicorum”).

Inscription on title-page of no. 28 (image courtesy of Federico Macchi)

list of bindings

(1) Appianus, Delle guerre ciuili et esterne de romani (Venice: Bartolomeo Cesano, 1550)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● possibly inventory of Paolo Gordano Orsini’s books brought to Bracciano, taken 18 August 1575 (Rome, Archivio Storico Capitolino, Archivio Orsini, II, 1208, “li robe di la guardarobe mandato a Braciano”, fol. 38v: “Apiani Alexandrini Sophiste”; transcription by Barbara Furlotti, A Renaissance baron and his possessions: Paolo Giordano I Orsini, Duke of Bracciano (1541-1585) (Turnhout 2012), p.288, who supposes it is the edition De civilibus Romanorum bellis historiarum libri quinque, Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1551)
● possibly one of the unspecified “Libri diversi” in “coperti di corame verde” described as “profilati d’oro con l’arme di sua eccellenza”, entered in inventories of Paolo Giordano Orsini’s possessions in Rome, and Bracciano, taken 1577-1581 (Furlotti, op. cit., pp.218-219, 238-239)
● Andrea Tessier (1819-1896)
● Jacques Rosenthal, Bibliothek Tessier. Katalog eines grossen Theils der Bibliotheken des verstorbenen Cavaliere Andrea Tessier und des Marchese de ***, Munich, 21-23 May 1900, lot 543 (“Veau brun, orné de riches dorures d’entrelacs sur les plats, fil., tr. d. cis., aux armes dorées de Paulus Jordanus de Aragona. Voir p.70 le facsimilé du premier plat de la reliure. Splendide reliure dans le genre Grolier.”) [link]
● Charles Ludovic Lindsay, Capt. (1862-1925), library stamp
● Manners, family library (Belvoir Castle), library stamp dated in manuscript “1926”, inscription “Left me by Captain C. Lindsay 1923”
● Marlborough Rare Books, London; their Catalogue 146: Fine bindings and distinguished provenances (London [1992]), item 8 (£15,000; illustrated; “watermark, unidentified letters, of the general type of Briquet 9766-9770”)
● Librairie Patrick et Élisabeth Sourget, Chartres; their Catalogue 12: Manuscrits enluminés et livres précieux de Christine de Pisan à Proust (Chartres 1995), item 30 (FF 175,000; “maroquin brun … armoiries dorées au centre … par le troisième relieur de Thomas Wotton”)
● Francesco Federico Cerruti (1922-2015)
● Fondazione Francesco Federico Cerruti per l’Arte
● Rivoli, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea , CC.2.L.1550.A610

literature
Federico & Livio Macchi, “Le legature francesi di Paolo Giordano Orsini d’Aragona: Storia di un personaggio e di una legatura” in Misinta: Rivista di Bibliofilia e Cultura 23 (June 2016), pp.143-149 (p.147 no. 9 & Fig. 8)
Mirjam Foot, in The Cerruti collection: catalogue, edited by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (Turin 2021), p.258 (“by ‘Wotton’s Binder C’ for Paolo Giordano Orsini”)


(2-3) Matteo Bandello, La prima [terza] parte de le novelle del Bandello (Lucca: Vincenzo Busdraghi, 1554)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● unidentified owner, inscription “Di Pier Francesco Alex.ri [?] et Amico[rum]” (opac) [see nos. 5, 28 below]
● unidentified owner(s), inscription “S.W. Bruce” dated 29 April 1842 (vol. I) and “J.W. Bruce” dated April 1842 (vol. 3)
● Jean-François de Rossi (d. 1854), donated by Francesco de Rossi
● Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Stamp.Ross.4407, 4409 (opac Le parti I e III conservano l’antica legatura in pelle con ricchi fregi fitomorfi dorati alle armi di Paolo Giordano Orsini. Il taglio di entrambi gli esemplari è goffrato e dorato. La parte II presenta il blocco delle carte rifilato in una semplice legatura in pelle marrone con il dorso decorato da quattro fregi dorati. Il taglio è puntinato di rosso.) [link]


(4) Pietro Bembo, Prose di monsignor Bembo (Venice: Francesco Marcolini, “1533”)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● possibly inventory of Paolo Gordano Orsini’s books brought to Bracciano, taken 18 August 1575 (Rome, Archivio Storico Capitolino, Archivio Orsini, II, 1208, “li robe di la guardarobe mandato a Braciano”, fol. 39r: “Una de messer Pietro Bembo”; transcription by Furlotti, op. cit., p.290)
● Milan, private collection (Macchi)

literature
Macchi, op. cit., p.147 no. 18 (“Milano, collezione private”; “Bembo, Le prose, Venezia, Marcolini, 1533”) [the only recorded Marcolini edition of this text is dated July 1538, Edit 16 CNCE 5005]


(5) Pietro Bembo, [contents apparently Delle lettere di M. Pietro Bembo. Primo volume. Seconda impressione. Con privilegi In Vinegia MDLII (no colophon) [Edit 16 CNCE 005040], bound with Pietro Bembo, Delle lettere di m. Pietro Bembo. Secondo volume. Con privilegi. In Vinegia M.D.LI (colophon: Stampate in Vinegia per gli figliuoli di Aldo nel Mese di Ottobre M D L. Ad instantia di Messer Carlo Gualteruzzi) [Edit 16 CNCE 005036]

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● possibly inventory of Paolo Gordano Orsini’s books brought to Bracciano, taken 18 August 1575 (Rome, Archivio Storico Capitolino, Archivio Orsini, II, 1208, “li robe di la guardarobe mandato a Braciano”, fol. 39r: “Una de messer Pietro Bembo”; transcription by Furlotti, op. cit., p.290)
● unidentified owner, inscription “P. F. Alex, et amicorum” on title-page (sale 1872) [see nos. 2-3, 28]
● Giovanni Gancia, Brighton & Paris
● Delbergue-Cormont & A. Labitte, Livres et manuscrits rares et précieux composant le cabinet de M. Gancia, Paris, 11-12 April 1872, lot 342 (“Delle lettere di M. Pietro Bembo. Vinegia, Aldo, 1552, 2 vol. en un in-8, mar. br. comp. en or et coul. tr. dor. et cisel. Exemplaire de Paolo Orsini, ami intime de Bembo. Belle reliure du seizième siècle, à riches compartiments, d’un goût très-pur. Sur les plats se trouve, d’un côté, dans un rond au milieu: Lette del Bembo (sic), et de l’autre, vol. I, II : P. G. O. (Paolo Giordano Orsini). Ce personnage célèbre était grand ami du Bembo. On lit aussi sur le titre: P. F. Alex, et amicorum.”) [link]
● unidentified owner [lots 491-513 below consigned “The Property of a Gentleman - Books in fine bindings”]
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of valuable printed books, London, 1-3 July 1935, lot 503 (“Bembo (Pietro) Delle lettere, 2 vol. in 1, contemporary Venetian binding of brown morocco, gilt panel with eight fleur-de-lis and twelve rosettes at intervals. Centre of upper cover: Lett. del Bemb.; arabesques at corners, centre of under cover: vol. I : II : P.G.O.; edges gilt and gauffered with runic motif and rosettes, pencilled inscription inside cover: ‘Teresa Ferreti rarisisima edizione - di Paolo Giordano Orsino amicissime del Bembo’ (Cardinal Bembo’s very dear friend) 8vo. (6 ½ by 4 in.) Vinegia figli Aldo, Ottobre, 1550”)
● Maggs Bros, London - bought in sale (£6 15s)
● Clarence Bertrand Thompson (1882-1969)
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of the Extensive and Valuable Library, the Property of C. Bertrand Thompson. The Second and Final Portion, London, 31 May- 1 June 1948, lot 829 (“Bembo (Pietro), Lettere … Venice, Aldus, 1551-2” [no further detail of edition]; “2 vol. in one, device on titles and at end, contemporary Roman binding of calf, sides gilt tooled, the outer frame with fleur de lys and rosettes repeated in the centre with triangular corner decorations, title in gilt within a circle in the centre of both covers, the lower one with the letters Vol. I, II, P.G.O. (Paolo Giordano Orsini), original back blind and gilt tooled, a little repaired at corners and edges, gilt gauffered edges”)
● Bernard Quaritch, London - bought in sale (£20)


(6) La Biblia la quale in se contiene i sacrosanti libri del Vecchio & Nuouo Testamento (Venice: Girolamo Scoto, 1547)


provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● probably inventory of Paolo Gordano Orsini’s books brought to Bracciano, taken 18 August 1575 (Rome, Archivio Storico Capitolino, Archivio Orsini, II, 1208, “li robe di la guardarobe mandato a Braciano”, fol. 38v): “La Biblia la quale contiene il sacro santi libre” (entry transcribed by Furlotti, op. cit., p.285)
● “Catalogue de la Bibliothèque d’un amateur” (Paris [ca 1865-1868?]), p.13 [no item number] (FF 450; “Exemplaire de Paolo Giordano Orsini, relié par le même qui a exécuté le vol. de la Vita di Gonzalvo di Cordova [Florence, Torrentino, 1550; p.47 in same catalogue] … Riche reliure vénitienne à comp. de couleur avec écussons sur les plats. Le titre est habilement reproduit. Voir la photographie”) [link] [fixed-price catalogue issued by an as yet unidentified vendor (Giovanni Gancia? Adolphe Labitte? Antoine-Laurent Potier? Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne?); the only accessible copy, lacking the “couverture” which presumably provides that information, was kept by the Florentine bibliophile Giovanni Nencini (1803-1878), and bequeathed by him to the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze (shelfmark Nencini 2.10.5.42, with notation “Manca il frontispizio” [link]). Some entries state “Voir la photographie” and it is notable that the 1868 sale catalogue was likewise illustrated by photographs. Contains two books published by Gancia (p.36); the latest date found is “1865” (p.53)]
● 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 4 (“Exempl. de Paolo Giordano Orsini … Le titre du présent exemplaire a été reproduit en fac-simile par un célèbre calligraphe: c’est un vrai chef-d’oeuvre”) [link]
● Ricardo Heredia y Livermore, conde de Benahavís (1831-1896) - bought in sale (FF 215), exlibris [priced catalogue in Grolier Club: in pencil, 215; in pen, 400 (the latter a bid limit? expectation?)]
● Maurice Delestre & Ém. Paul, L. Huard et Guillemin, Bibliothèque de M. Ricardo Heredia, comte de Benahavis. Première partie, Paris, 22-30 May 1891, lot 32 (“Mar. brun, comp. de mosaïques de mar. noir, bleu et blanc, fers azurés, tr. dor. et ciselées. (Rel. du XVIe siècle). … les armes des Médicis et des Orsini écartelées, entourées des mots Paul Jordani Urs. D. Aragon. On suppose que ces armes sont celles de l’infortunée duchesse de Bracciano, Isabelle de Médicis, femme de Jordano Orsini, étranglée par son mari a Ceretto en 1561. Le titre de ce volume a été très habilement refait …”) [link]
● unidentified owner- bought in sale (FF 145)
● Bernard Quaritch, London; their Catalogue 166: Examples of the art of book-binding and volumes bearing marks of distinguished ownership (London January 1897), item 389 (£21; “Small 4to. having the title in facsimile, nevertheless a fine ruled copy in the original binding … The design resembles carved wood-work, the figures of which are outlined in gold, filled in with black paint, and (in the chief portions) shewing a silver lining. Parts of the design are painted in blue, and here and there in central places there are roundels of white looking like pearls. The edges are gilt and goffered in arabesque … The escutcheon of Paul Giordano degli Orsini is stamped in gold as a centrepiece on the sides …”) [link]
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of valuable books, manuscripts, autograph letters, etc., including a selection from the library of the late Lawrence Doyle, Esq. barrister, Dublin, a portion of the library of an old county family, and other properties, London, 17-21 December 1898, lot 598 (“original Venetian calf, with a Maioli design on sides and the Orsini arms in centre, gilt, gauffered edges, title in facsimile”) [lots 523-630 are “A Collection of Books in Valuable Historic and Artistic Bindings” - this appears to be a Quaritch consignment of stock, mostly from their bookbinding catalogue of the previous year; numerous lots were either bought-in, or re-purchased by Quaritch]
● Bernard Quaritch, London - acquired in sale (£6); their Catalogue 186: Catalogue of rare & valuable books from the libraries of William Morris, Lord Ashburnham, and the Revd. William Makellar (London February 1899), item 92 (£20) [link]
● Michael Tomkinson (1841-1921), exlibris
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of the extensive and valuable library the property of the late Michael Tomkinson, Esq., of Franche Hall, Kidderminster. The second and final portion, London, 3-7 July 1922, lot 1084 (illustrated; “original brown morocco gilt, tooled with interlaced fillets, and conventional floreate ornaments, enamelled in black, blue, and white, in the style of Maioli, in the centre of each cover is a shield containing the arms of Orsini impaling Medici, encircled with the inscription ‘Paul Iordani Urs. D. Aragon,’ g.e., tooled with arabesques”)
● Beauchamp - bought in sale (£7 5s)
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of valuable books and manuscripts, London, 5-7 February 1923, lot 492 (offered among “Other Properties”; “title in facsimile, original brown morocco gilt … in the centre of each cover is a shield containing the arms of Orsini impaling Medici, encircled with the inscription ‘Pauli Iordani Urs D. Aragon’”)
● Tomkinson - bought in sale (£5) [buyer recorded as “Tomkinson” in Book Auction Records; possibly the elder son of Michael Tomkinson, Herbert (1873-1951), himself a collector (3 of his incunables are now in the Bodleian)]
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of valuable printed books, fine bindings, autograph letters, literary mss. and historical documents, London, 8-9 November 1960, lot 393 (“Twenty-one bindings (including one remboitage) are known with his arms, all of Parisian execution and no doubt commissioned during his only visit to France in 1556.”) [RBH 08Nov1960-393]
● Proctor - bought in sale (£160)
● Henry Bradley Martin (1906-1988), exlibris
● Sotheby’s, The Library of H. Bradley Martin. Part IX: Highly important printed books and illuminated manuscripts, New York, 14 June 1990, lot 3373
● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased in the above sale via Martin Breslauer Inc.) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana ID #2191; offered by Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, Magnificent Books and Bindings, New York, 11 October 2023, lot 13]

literature
Macchi, op. cit., p.147 no. 22


(7) Flavio Biondo, Roma trionfante di Biondo da Forli, tradotta pur hora per Lucio Fauno di latino in buona lingua uolgare (Venice: Michele Tramezzino, 1549)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● unidentified owner, inscription “Del Sig. Stefano Burone (?) Sonetto …”) (De Marinis; opac)
● Rome, Biblioteca nazionale centrale, 71. 10.A.1. (opac Leg. in pelle sec.17. restaur. con impressioni in oro e stemma di P.G. Orsini al centro dei piatti; taglio cesellato. - 4 poesie mss. di Stefano Burone)

literature
Mostra storica della legatura artistica in Palazzo Pitti (Florence 1922), no. 211 [link]
Exposition du livre Italien Mai-Juin 1926: Catalogue des manuscrits, livres imprimés, reliures (Paris 1926), no. 959 (“Relié en maroquin brun à entrelacs, aux armes de Paolo Giordano Orsini. Rome, Biblioteca Vittorio Emanuele”)
Tammaro De Marinis, Appunti e richerche bibliografiche (Milan 1940), pp.129-131, “IX. Legature Francesi del Cinquecento in Raccolte Italiane” (p.129 no. 43 & Pl. 244)
Mirjam Foot, The Henry Davis Gift: a collection of bookbindings, 1: Studies in the history of bookbinding (London 1978), pp.152-154, Appendix V: Bindings by Wotton’s Binder III (Wotton binder C) for other collectors” (p.153 no. 33, as Wotton’s Binder III)
Macchi, op. cit., p.146 no. 8


(8) Giovanni Boccaccio, Il Decamerone di m. Giouanni Boccaccio; nouamente corretto con tre nouelle aggiunte (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano), 1522

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● Milan, Archivio Storico Civico e Biblioteca Trivulziana, Triv. G. 48

literature
Giambattista Passano, I novellieri italiani in prosa. Parte I (Turin 1878), p. 62 (“La Trivulziana ne possiede un esemplare interlineato di rosso con lo stemma di Paolo Giordano Orsini, cui apparteneva”)
Caterina Santoro, I tesori della Trivulziana: la storia del libro dal secolo VIII al secolo XVIII (Milan 1962), pp.61, 250 & Tav. 148 (“Legatura francese per Paolo Giordano Orsini”; “Altra legatura per Paolo Giordano Orsini in mar. verde scuro, con rabeschi dorati agli angoli e con grande rombo racchiudente lo stemma Orsini e Medici (G 48)”)
Foot, op. cit., p.150 (“another binding with P.G. Orsini’s arms, illustrated by C. Santoro, op. cit., pl. CXLVIII, is probably the work of the Cupid’s Bow Binder”)
Caterina Santoro, “La Biblioteca Trivulziana e alcune sue belle legature dei secoli XV-XVI” in L’Esopo 7 (1980), pp.41-52 (p.51: “marocchino verde scuro, con rabeschi dorati agli angoli e un grande rombo, con intrecci di filetti curvi e al centro lo stemma Orsini unito quello dei Medici…”)
Macchi, op. cit., no. 3


(9) Giovanni Boccaccio, Il Philocopo (Venice: Bernardino Bindoni, 1538)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● Librairie Damascène Morgand, Paris; their Bulletin, Nouvelle série - No. 5, Mai 1907 (Paris 1907), item 97 (FF1000); Librairie Damascène Morgand, Livres dans de riches reliures anciennes et modernes (Paris 1910), item 18 (FF1000; “Belle reliure italienne du seizième siècle avec élégants compartiments. Sur les plats, un écusson aux armes accolées des Orsini et des Médicis avec cette légende: Paul Jordan. Urs. D. Aragon.”)
● Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919)
● Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of a further portion of the valuable library collected by the late Charles Fairfax Murray, Esq., of London and Florence, London, 17-20 July 1922, lot 132 (“ruled in red, contemporary Italian binding, interlacing fillets on sides to an oval, design, with arms of Paolo Giordano Orsini in centre, round the arms the legend ‘Paul Iordan Urs. d’Aragon,’ gilt back, edges gilt and tooled au pointille, binding a little rubbed, in padded case” [link]) [RBH Jul171922-132]
● Leo S. Olschki, Florence - bought in sale (£5 10s)
● Christie Manson & Woods International Inc., Fine printed books and manuscripts including Americana, New York, 15 December 2005, lot 337 (“contemporary Italian morocco, interlace design, some open tools painted gray, others with pointille tooling, central oval coat-of-arms of Paolo Giordano Orsini with lettered legend around arms, spine in six compartments with floral design, gilt and gauffered edges. (spine ends and edges restored).”) [RBH 1587-331]
● unidentified owner - bought in sale ($8000)

literature
Macchi, op. cit., p.147 no. 21


(10) Giovanni Boccaccio, Geneologia de gli dei. I quindeci libri di m. Giouanni Boccaccio sopra la origine et discendenza di tutti gli dei de’ gentili (Venice: Andrea Arrivabene, 1547)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● Walther Fol (1832-1890)
● Geneva, Musée Fol
● Geneva, Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Cote MF 4101

literature
Walther Fol, Catalogue du Musée Fol. Quatrième et dernière partie (Geneva 1879), pp.213 (illustrated), 237 (“Reliure en veau plein, genre Grolier, portant au centre sur le plat les armes d‘Aragon; gaufrure en noir et petits fers dorés”)
Geoffrey D. Hobson, “Une reliure au Musée d’Art et d’Histoire” in Genava 9 (1931), pp.204-207 (illustrated) [link]
Véronique Goncerut Estèbe, De la reliure décorative à la reliure d'artiste l'art de tirer la couverture: Guide de l'exposition de la Bibliothèque d'art et d'archéologie, 21 octobre 2004-31 mars 2005 (Geneva 2004), p.5 no. 4
Macchi, op. cit., p.146 no. 1


(11) Gaius Iulius Caesar, Commentarii di Caio Giulio Cesare tradotti di latino in volgar lingua (Venice: Comin da Trino, 1541)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● unidentified owners, inscriptions “Julij Simonij”, “[-] de Barga” on endleaves (Maggs)
● possibly inventory of Paolo Gordano Orsini’s books brought to Bracciano, taken 18 August 1575 (Rome, Archivio Storico Capitolino, Archivio Orsini, II, 1208, “li robe di la guardarobe mandato a Braciano”, fol. 38v): “Comentarii di Caio Giulio Cesare traduta di latina vulgare” (transcription by Furlotti, op. cit., p.284); and/or inventory of Paolo Giordano Orsini’s possessions in Rome, taken in 1579 (Rome, Archivio Storico Capitolino, Archivio Orsini, II, 1205, “Inventario generale dell’illustrissimo signor Paolo Giordano”, no foliation): “un libro di corame verde et rosso profilato d’oro con l’arme di sua eccellenza con sua fettuccia di seta nominato li comentarii di Cesare, numero 1” (transcription by Furlotti, op. cit., p.219)
● Maggs Bros, London; their Catalogue 1234: Provenance (London 1997), item 24 (£2500)
● Percy Nils Barnevik (b. 1941)
● Sotheby’s, Six centuries of book binding, London, 7 November 2002, lot 25 (“ruled in red, contemporary Parisian binding of c. 1550 by Wotton binder C for Paolo Giordano Orsini with his arms at centre, brown goatskin, covers with an elaborate interlacing strapwork design of one block, gilt, small sprays of leaf tools in ground, some azured, spine in 8 compartments, the main panels (5) with an open eight-petalled flower tool, the smaller decorated with a quatrefoil tool, edges gauffered with an arabesque design, and gilt, spotted, joints repaired at head and tail, upper corners repaired, all ties missing, covers rubbed with loss of staining from strapwork”) [RHB 07Nov2002-25]
● Tajan & Bertrand Meaudre, Bibliothèques des comtes Henri et François Chandon de Briailles et à divers amateurs, Paris, 25 November 2003, lot 117 (part-lot; “Exemplaire réglé aux armes de Paolo Giordano Orsini, duc de Bracciano, marquis d’Anguilla. On connaît 24 reliures à ses armes”; “Reliure restaurée. Incomplet de 8 ff.”)
● Milan, private collection (Macchi)

literature
Macchi, op. cit., p.147 no. 19 & Fig. 4 ("Milano, collezione privata … Esemplare oggetto dell’articolo”)


(12) Galeazzo Flavio Capella, Commentarii di m. Galeazzo Capella delle cose fatte per la restitutione di Francesco Sforza secondo duca di Milano (Venice: Giovanni Giolito De Ferrari, 1539)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● Guglielmo Bruto Icilio Timoleone, Count Libri-Carrucci (1803-1869)
● S. Leigh Sotheby & John Wilkinson, Catalogue of the choicer portion of the magnificent library, formed by M. Guglielmo Libri, London, 1-15 August 1859, lot 512 (“Fine copy from the Orsini Library, ruled, in old brown morocco, gilt gaufré edges, the sides covered with gold scroll-tooling in the Grolier style, painted in compartments, having the arms with inscription of ‘Paul Joran Vrs. D. Aragon’ stamped in the centre. This P.J. Orsini (or in Latin ‘Ursini’), who had such good taste for fine bindings, was the nobleman who strangled his wife (a princess of the Medici family) with his own hands.”)
● Jacques Techener, Paris - bought in sale (£17 10s)
● Joseph-Louis Léopold, baron Double (1812-1881)
● Bibliothèque de M. Léopold Double, Paris 24-27 March 1863, lot 357 (“Belle reliure du XVIe siècle, à riches compartiments, d’un gout très-pur, dans le style de Maioli. Sur les plats est un écusson formé des armes de Médicis et des Orsini écartelées, avec cette devise: Paul Jordan. Urs. D. Aragon”) [link]
● Sir Richard Tufton, 1st Baronet (1813-1871) - bought in sale (FF 800) [not traced in his sale, 7-8 April 1873]
● Charles Alexandre, marquis de Ganay (1803-1881)
● Maurice Delestre, L. Potier & Charles Porquet, Livres rares et précieux, manuscrits et imprimés composant le cabinet de feu M. le Marquis de Ganay, Paris, 12-14 May 1881, lot 257 (“Belle reliure italienne du XVIe siècle, a riches et élégants compartiments, noir et or, dans le style de Maioli. Sur les plats, un écusson aux armes accolées des Orsini et des Médicis, avec cette légende: Paul Jordan. Ors. D. Aragon. De la bibliothèque de M. Double. Il est dit dans son catalogue (no. 357) que ces armes sont celles de la duchesse de Bracciano, Isabelle de Médicis, femme de Jordano Orsini, qui fut étranglée par son mari à Cerreto, en 1576”)
● François-Gustave-Adolphe Guyot de Villeneuve (1825-1898)
● Maurice Delestre & Edouard Rahir, Catalogue des livres manuscrits et imprimés des dessins et des estampes du cabinet de feu M. Guyot de Villeneuve. Deuxième partie, Paris, 25-30 March 1901, lot 1156 (“Reliure italienne du XVIe siècle, à riches et élégants compartiments, noir et or. Sur les plats, un écusson aux armes accolées des Orsini et des Médicis avec cette légende: Paul Jordan. Ors. D. Aragon. … Exemplaire du marquis de Ganay”)
● Librairie Damascène Morgand, Paris; their Bulletin mensuel - No. 53, juin 1901 (Paris 1901), item 40650 (FF1500; illustrated) [link]

literature
Macchi, op. cit., p.147 no. 20


(13) Bernardino Corio, L’historia di Milano (Venice: Giovanni Maria Bonelli, 1554)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● unidentified owner, inscription “D. Alexandri Belli abbatis Cajs” (Foot)
● possibly inventory of Paolo Gordano Orsini’s books brought to Bracciano, taken 18 August 1575 (Rome, Archivio Storico Capitolino, Archivio Orsini, II, 1208, “li robe di la guardarobe mandato a Braciano”, fol. 38v): “Historia di Mellani vulgarmenta scritta del eccellentissimo autore messer Bernardino” (transcribed by Furlotti, op. cit., pp.283-284)
● Jacques Rosenthal, Munich; their Catalogue 36: Auswahl seltener und werthvoller Bücher, Bilderhandschriften, Inkunabeln und Autographen (Munich 1905), item 138 (“Maroquin brun, superbes dorures à compartiments sur les plats, entrelacs mosaiqués en noir et argent, au milieu les armes dorés de Paulus Jordanus de Aragona, tr. dorée, gentiment ciselee”)
● Librairie Théophile Belin, Paris; their Catalogue 335: Catalogue de livres anciens (Paris 1912), item 2452 (illustrated); Livres des XVe et XVIe siècles (Paris 1914), item 101 & Pl. 48 (FF 4000; “Exemplaire réglé dans une superbe reliure ornée et mosaïquée de ce temps. Aux armes de Paul-Jordan Orsini”)
● René Boisgirard & Librairie Giraud-Badin with Charles Bosse, Bibliothèque de Mme Th. Belin: Précieux manuscrits à miniatures, livres à figures des XVIe, XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, riches reliures anciennes armoriées, Paris, 19-20 February 1936, lot 46 (“Reliure légèrement restaurée” [link])
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (FF 3000)
● Francesco Federico Cerruti (1922-2015)
● Fondazione Francesco Federico Cerruti per l’Arte
● Rivoli, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, CC.2.L.1554-A462

literature
Exposition du livre Italien Mai-Juin 1926: Catalogue des manuscrits, livres imprimés, reliures (Paris 1926), no. 962 (“Reliure en maroquin brun à entrelacs, aux armes de Paolo Giordano Orsini”, “A Mme Th, Belin, Paris”)
Foot, op. cit., pp.146, 154 no. 47 (as Wotton Binder III)
Macchi, op. cit., p.148 no. 23
Mirjam Foot, in The Cerruti collection: catalogue, edited by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (Turin 2021), p.259 (“by ‘Wotton’s Binder C’ for Paolo Giordano Orsini”)


(14) Antonio Cornazzano, De re militari nuouamente con somma diligentia impresso (Venice: Pietro Nicolini da Sabbio, 1536)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● Étienne Audin, Florence; their Catalogue de livres imprimés et manuscrits (Florence 1839), item 785 (“veau à compartimens en couleurs, avec les armes de Pavl. Iordan. Vrs(ini). D. Aragona imprimées en or, et avec la tranche dorée et gauffrée”)
● Guglielmo Bruto Icilio Tirnoleone, Count Libri (Libri-Carrucci|)1803-1869
● Commendeur, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de M. L****, Paris, 28 June-4 August 1847, lot 1003 (“Magnifique exemplaire portant sur les plats l’écusson de Paul Jourdain Orsini d’Aragon. Cette belle reliure, parfaitement conservée, a été exécutée en Italie: elle est du milieu du XVIe siècle”)
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (FF 80)
● Felix Joseph Slade (1788-1868)
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of the exceedingly choice and valuable library of the late Felix Slade, Esq., in magnificent specimens of binding, London, 3-8 August 1868, lot 234 (“A beautiful specimen of the Orsini Library, with the arms and inscription Paul Iordan Urs. D. Aragon. stamped in gold on sides”) [link]
● André Blasini Knox (1839-1885)
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of the exceedingly choice library of André B. Knox, Esq., London, 12-13 August 1872, lot 26 (“ruled with red lines, a most beautiful specimen of ornamental binding of the XVIth Century, old morocco, the sides covered with exquisite scroll-tooling, the interstices painted in black and white in the Grolier style, and in the centre the arms with inscription Paul Jordan Urs. D. Aragon in gold, edges gilt and gauffred, in a morocco case. This is Paul Orsini, so famous for his love of fine bindings…”)
● Bernard Quaritch, London - bought in sale (£17 5s)
● possibly Paradis (bibliophile of Lyon) [the BnF provenance record for this book (see opac below) includes in provenance chain “Paradis, bibliophile - volumes lui ayant appartenu”; but binding not traced in his sale, by Georges Boulland & Librairie Bachelin Deflorenne, Livres rares et précieux provenant du cabinet d’un amateur lyonnais, Paris, 5-8 November 1879]
● James, baron de Rothschild (1844-1881)
● Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, Rothschild 1031 (opac, link)

literature
Catalogue of the special exhibition of works of art of the mediæval, renaissance, and more recent periods: on loan at the South Kensington Museum, June 1862 (London [1863]), p.598 no. 7004 [link]
“Catalog of the library of Felix Slade,” manuscript, England, ca 1866, f. 28 (New York, Grolier Club, link)
A Catalogue of the antiquities and works of art exhibited at Ironmonger’s Hall, London, in the month of May, 1861 (London 1869), pp.298-304, “Books and book-bindings in the collection of Felix Slade, Esquire” (p.300: “Cornazano De re militari. Venegia, Sabbio, 1536. An elegant specimen of Italian binding of the period, in old brown morocco, richly gilt, and painted in compartments, in the Grolier style; the Orsini arms on the sides have the motto ‘Paul Jordan. Urs. D’Aragon,’ which is rare; gilt gaufre edges”)
Émile Picot, Catalogue des livres composant la bibliothèque de feu M. le baron James de Rothschild (Paris 1884), I, no. 1031 (illustrated)
De Marinis, op. cit, p.131 (cited)
Foot, op. cit., pp.146, p.152 no. 11 (Wotton’s Binder III)
Macchi, op. cit., p.147 no. 13


(15) Desiderius Erasmus, Adagiorum chiliades quatuor cum dimidia ex postrema autoris recognitione (Basel: Hieronymus Froben & Nikolaus Episcopius, 1551)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● Antoine-Laurent Potier, Paris
● Delbergue-Cormont & Adolphe Labitte, Catalogue des livres rares et précieux, manuscrits et imprimés, faisant partie de la Librairie de L. Potier, Paris, 29 March 1870, lot 1662 (“Belle reliure italienne … Sur les plats est un écusson aux armes des Orsini accolées de celles des Médicis, avec cette inscription autour: Paul. Jordan. Ors. D. Aragon. On croit que ces armes sont celles de P. Jordano Orsini, duc de Bracciano, marie a une princesse de la maison de Medicis, qu’il etrangla de ces propres mains”) [link]
● Eugène (1806-1886) or Auguste Dutuit (1812-1902) - bought in sale (FF 1000)
● Paris, Petit Palais, Collection Dutuit

literature
Édouard Rahir, La Collection Dutuit: Livres et manuscrits (Paris 1899), no. 553
Macchi, op. cit., p.146 no. 5


(16) Paolo Giovio, Le vite di Leon decimo, et d’Adriano sesto sommi pontefici, et del cardinal Pompeo Colonna (Florence: Lorenzo Torrentino, 1549)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● Giovanni Cigerza
● Libreria antiquaria T. De Marinis & C., Florence
● Libreria antiquaria Ulrico Hoepli, Manoscritti, incunabuli, legature, libri figurati dei secoli XVI e XVIII. Terza parte della collezione De Marinis, Milan, 17-19 June 1926, lot 265 & Pl. XXV (“Legatura alle armi di Paolo Giordano Orsini d’Aragona. Pelle bruna con compartimenti a mosaico filettati d’oro; nel centro dei piatti lo stemma entro un ornato d’arabeschi e fogliami; dorso a nervi con rosoni mosaicati; tagli dorati e cesellati.”)
● Jean Fürstenberg (1890-1982)
● Martin Breslauer Inc., New York; their Catalogue 106: Rare books and bindings 1463-1845 from a famous European collection (New York [1984?]), item 45 ($20,000)
● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 1988) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana ID #2219; to be offered by Sotheby’s in 2024-2025]

literature
Mostra storica della legatura artistica in Palazzo Pitti (Florence 1922), no. 214 (“Ing. G. Cigerza, Roma”) [link]
Exposition de reliures de la Renaissance: collection Jean Furstenberg: 30 September 1961 (Paris 1961), no. 52
Musée d’art et d’histoire, Collection Jean Furstenberg: 3 mai-5 juin 1966 (Geneva 1966), no. 96 (“Armes de Paul Jordan Urs d’Aragon (Orsini de Milan). Reliure française”)
De Marinis, op. cit, p. 130 no. 45 (cited) & Pl. 245 (top)
Foot, op. cit., p.153 no. 34 (Wotton’s Binder III, as De Marinis Pl. 247)
Macchi, op. cit., p.147 no. 24


(17) Paolo Giovio, La vita di Consaluo Ferrando di Cordoua detto il Gran Capitano (Florence: Lorenzo Torrentino, 1550)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● “Catalogue de la Bibliothèque d’un amateur” (Paris [ca 1865-1868]), p.47 (FF 600; “réglé, mar. brun, tr. dor. et ciselée. Riche reliure italienne du temps. Exemplaire de Paul Jourdain Ursinus. Les reliures de cet amateur sont d’une grande beauté. Jusqu’à présent nous n’avons vu passer en vente que G. Capella, cat. Libri de 1859, vendu 800 fr. et revendu à la vente Double pour le même prix, sans le frais. Voir la photographie.”) [link] [fixed-price catalogue issued by as yet unidentified vendor (Giovanni Gancia? Adolphe Labitte? Antoine-Laurent Potier? Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne?), the only accessible copy, lacking the “couverture” providing that information, was kept by the Florentine bibliophile Giovanni Nencini (1803-1878), and bequeathed by him to the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze (shelfmark Nencini 2.10.5.42, with notation “Manca il frontispizio” [link]. Contains two books published by Gancia (p.36); the latest date found is “1865” (p.53). Some books in this catalogue were offered in Gancia’s sale in 1868 (see no. 4 in this List)]
● James, baron de Rothschild (1844-1881)
● Henri de Rothschild (1872-1947), “Ex Libris Henri de Rothschild” on pastedown
● Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, Rothschild 2510 [link]

literature
Émile Picot, Catalogue des livres composant la bibliothèque de feu M. le baron James de Rothschild (Paris 1884), III, no. 2510 [link]
Carlo Alberto Girotto, “Da tre biblioteche parigine per Lodovico Domenichi, autore ed editore” in Bollettino storico piacentino 110 (2015), no. 1, pp.98-119 (pp.108-109) [link]
Macchi, op. cit., p.146 no. 6
Carlo Alberto Girotto, “La collection Rothschild et l’édition italienne de la Renaissance” in De la sphère privée à la sphère publique: Les collections Rothschild dans les institutions publiques françaises (Paris 2019), Fig. 1 (lower cover illustrated) [link]


(18-19) Paolo Giovio, La seconda parte dell’historie del suo tempo di mons. Paolo Giouio vescouo di Nocera, tradotte per m. Lodouico Domenichi [in 2 volumes] (Florence: Lorenzo Torrentino, 1553)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● possibly inventory of Paolo Gordano Orsini’s books brought to Bracciano, taken 18 August 1575 (Rome, Archivio Storico Capitolino, Archivio Orsini, II, 1208, “li robe di la guardarobe mandato a Braciano”, fol. 38v): “Prima parte de li historia del suo tempe di monsignor Paulo Giovio vescova” (transcription by Furlotti, op. cit., p.283)
● Medici Palace Library, inkstamp (Hobson)
● Arthur Kay (1860-1939)
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of a selected portion of the extensive and valuable library the property of Arthur Kay, Esq., London, 26-29 May 1930, lot 414 (upper covers of both volumes illustrated; “the second part in 2 vol. in 16th cent. French bindings (different designs) for Paolo Giordano Irsini. I. Brown morocco, the sides decorated with elaborate interlacing geometrical frames and scroll-work formed by broad black fillets between gold lines, the scrolls silvered; in the background foliate and floreate tools in gold or silver; in the centre of both sides the arms of Paolo Giordano Orsini with lettering PAVL IORDAN VRS D’ARAGON (the arms on upper cover somewhat rubbed, and on the lower cover defaced); neatly rebacked, edges gilt and tooled au pointille, on the title the stamp of the Medici Palace library. II. Brown morocco, a black fillet round sides between gold lines, large centre and corner-pieces of elaborate interlaced work in gold and silver, the background decorated with azured and silvered foliate tools; at top and bottom the arms of PAOLO GIORDANO ORSINI as before (the arms defaced): neatly rebacked, edges gilt and tooled, au pointille, stamp on first page of the Medici Palace library.”) [RBH May261930-414]
● Sharman - bought in sale (£19)
● John Roland Abbey (1894-1969) (JA 2114)
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of valuable printed books and fine bindings from the celebrated collection; the property of Major J.R. Abbey, London, 21-23 June 1965, lot 412 and Pl. 49
● Alan G. Thomas, London - bought in sale (£120)

literature
Anthony Hobson, French and Italian collectors and their bindings illustrated from examples in the library of J.R. Abbey (Oxford 1953), no. 18
Macchi, op. cit., p.147 no. 17


(20) Antonio Guevara, Aureo libro di Marco Aurelio con l’horologio de principi composto per il signor don Antonio di Gueuara (Venice: Francesco Portonari, 1553)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● possibly inventory of Paolo Gordano Orsini’s books brought to Bracciano, taken 18 August 1575 (Rome, Archivio Storico Capitolino, Archivio Orsini, II, 1208, “li robe di la guardarobe mandato a Braciano”, fol. 38v): “Di Marco Aurelio con l’orologio de principi” (transcription by Furlotti, op. cit., p.288)
● Laure Eugénie (née Pillet) Belin [not in traced in sales of the Bibliothèque de Mme Th. Belin]

literature
Mostra storica della legatura artistica in Palazzo Pitti (Florence 1922), no. 215 (“M.me Belin, Paris”) [link]
Filippo Rossi, “Le Legature italiane del ‘500” in Dedalo: Rassegna d’arte, Anno 3 (1922-1923), pp.373-396 (p.384, illustrated)
De Marinis, op. cit., p.130 no. 45 (cited) & Pl. 246 (no location)
Foot, op. cit., p.154 no. 46
Macchi, op. cit., p.147 no. 12


(21) León, Hebreo (Abravanel), Dialoghi di amore, composti per Leone medico, di natione hebreo, et dipoi fatto christiano (Venice: Heirs of Aldo I Manuzio, 1545)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● George John, 2nd Earl Spencer (1758-1834)
● Manchester, University, John Rylands Library, 12090 (opac “Sixteenth-century (?) full brown goatskin; all over fanfare design; interlacing ribbon/strapwork; board edges have straight and diagonal gilt lines; turn-ins gilt-rolled; marbled end-papers; arms [possibly later in date?] stamped in gilt on front and rear boards with wording: Pavl Iordan [v?]rs. D. Aragon; rebacked in nineteenth-century (?) matching goatskin; five raised bands to spine; gilt-tooled; direct-lettered in gilt: Leone / Dialoge / di amore/ Ven. Ap. Ald. / M.D.XLV.; all edges gilt and gauffered.”) [link]

literature
Foot, op. cit., p.146 (“This binding connects with a group of eight or possibly even nine bindings, all with the arms of Paolo Giordano Orsini, which are decorated with tools from both [Wotton Binder] group IIb and group III”), p.153 no. 18 (Wotton’s Binder III)
Macchi, op. cit., p.146 no. 2


(22) Lettere scritte al signor Pietro Aretino, da molti signori, comunità, donne di ualore, poeti, & altri eccellentissimi spiriti [volume 1 (of 2) only] (Venice: Francesco Marcolini, 1551)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● Henri Leclerc, Paris (Bouland)
● Louis-Alexandre Barbet (1850-1931)
● Maurice Ader, Henri Baudoin & Librairie Giraud-Badin, Bibliothèque de feu M. L.-A. Barbet. Première partie, Paris, 13-14 June 1932, lot 108 (“aux armes de Paul Jourdain des Ursins”)
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (FF 2000)
● Tammaro De Marinis (1878-1969)

literature
Ludovic Bouland, “Livre aux armes de P.J. des Ursins” in Bulletin du bibliophile et du bibliothécaire (nos. 3-4, 15 March-15 April 1918), pp.152-153 [link]
Ludovic Bouland, Marques de livres anciennes et modernes, francaises et étrangères (Paris 1925), pp.143-144
De Marinis, op. cit., pp.130-131 no. 46 & Pl. 247 (“Firenze, raccolta T. De Marinis”)
Foot, op. cit., p.153 no. 38 (as Wotton’s Binder III)
Macchi, op. cit., p.147 no. 11 (“Collezione Tammaro De Marinis”)


(23) Giovanni Nanni, I cinque libri de le antichita de Beroso sacerdote Caldeo (Venice: Pietro & Giovanni Maria Nicolini da Sabbio for Baldassarre Costantini, 1550)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● Rome, Biblioteca nazionale, 71. 10.A.3 (opac “Leg. coeva pelle, piatti dorati, stemma Paolo Giordano Orsini d’Aragona. -Taglio in oro. - Front. sottolineato, pagine riquadrate a penna. - Stemma incollato s. front.”)

literature
Mostra storica della legatura artistica in Palazzo Pitti (Florence 1922), no. 212 [link]
Exposition du livre Italien Mai-Juin 1926: Catalogue des manuscrits, livres imprimés, reliures (Paris 1926), no. 960 (“Relié en maroquin brun à entrelacs aux armes de Paolo Giordano Orsini”)
De Marinis, op. cit., no. 44 & Pl. 244
Macchi, op. cit., p.146 no. 7


(24) Polyaenus, Gli stratagemi di Polieno (Venice: Gabriele Giolito De Ferrari & Bros, 1552)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● Milan, Biblioteca Trivulziana, 86, 3

literature
De Marinis, op. cit., p.130 no. 45 (“marrocchino rosso … con smalti a colori”) & Pl. 245 (bottom, “Milano, Castello Sforzesco”)
Pio Colombo, “Il bibliofilo Maioli fu italiano o francese” in L’Arte: Revista di storia dell’arte, new series 18 (1948-1951), pp.43-50 & Fig. 10
Caterina Santoro, I tesori della Trivulziana: la storia del libro dal secolo VIII al secolo XVIII (Milan 1962), pp.60, 250 & Tav. 147 (“Legatura francese in mar. rosso con filetti fasce e foglie dorate e smalti a colori; al centro lo stemma di Paolo Giordano Orsini d’Aragona, marito di Isabella de’Medici, contornato dal suo nome (L 3655)”)
Foot, op. cit., p.153 no. 43 (as Wotton’s Binder III)
Caterina Santoro, “La Biblioteca Trivulziana e alcune sue belle legature dei secoli XV-XVI” in L’Esopo 7 (1980), pp.41-52 (p.51: “in marocchino rosso con filetti, fascie e foglie dorati e smalti a colori, al centro lo stemma Orsini contornato dal su nome…”)
Macchi, op. cit., p.146 no. 4 & Fig. 7


(25) Procopius Caesariensis, De la guerra di Giustiniano imperatore contra i Persiani (Venice: Michele Tramezzino, 1547), bound with Procopius, De gli edifici di Giustiniano, imperatore (Venice: Michele Tramezzino, 1547)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● possibly inventory of Paolo Gordano Orsini’s books brought to Bracciano, taken 18 August 1575 (Rome, Archivio Storico Capitolino, Archivio Orsini, II, 1208, “li robe di la guardarobe mandato a Braciano”, fol. 39r): “Procopio Cesariense di la guerra di Giustiniano” (transcription by Furlotti, op. cit., p.289)
● unidentified owner, “MS prayer in Italian in an early hand on second free front end-paper recto” (opac)
● unidentified owner, inscription “Bac[?] Petris de Ba[?] Brathia[?] ord. ex. St. Augustin 1664 / Iam fuit sed Donn fecit [?] 1669; on title-page: Bibliotec. St. Augn. C. Blibis” (opac)
● Bernard Quaritch, London; their Catalogue 166: Examples of the art of book-binding and volumes bearing marks of distinguished ownership (London 1897) item 388 (£12 12s; “Smooth brown morocco gilt. The sides are decorated with an elegant pattern of interlacements in the Grolier style, having a geometrical basis worked out in arabesques. … Stamped as a centrepiece on the sides, is the escutcheon of Paolo Giordano degli Orsini, Duke of Bracciano; and around the rim of the oblong frame which encloses the escutcheon and crest, runs the inscription: Pavl Iordan Vrs D’Aragon. The book was probably bound for him when, in 1560, he married a daughter of the Medici, whose arms are impaled with his”) [link]
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of valuable books, manuscripts, autograph letters, etc., including a selection from the library of the late Lawrence Doyle, Esq. barrister, Dublin, a portion of the library of an old county family, and other properties, London, 17-21 December 1898, lot 569 (“original Venetian morocco, with a gilt interlaced Grolieresque design on sides, with the Orsini arms in centre, gilt gauffered edges”) [lots 523-630 are “A Collection of Books in Valuable Historic and Artistic Bindings” - this appears to be a Quaritch consignment of stock, mostly from the bookbinding catalogue of the previous year; numerous lots bought-in, or re-purchased by Quaritch]
● Bernard Quaritch, London - bought in sale (£4 10s); their Catalogue 186: Catalogue of rare & valuable books from the libraries of William Morris, Lord Ashburnham, and the Revd. William Makellar (London 1899), item 107 (£10); Rough List 202 (London November 1900), item 976
● David Lloyd Roberts (1834-1920) (opac)
● Manchester, John Rylands Library, R52121.1-2 (opac Sixteenth-century full brown goatskin; double gilt fillet to form a border; gilt interlaced strapwork in the Grolier style; board edges and turn-ins gilt; seven raised bands to spine, with a fleuron in each compartment; all edges gilt and gauffered; gilt arms of Paolo Giordano Orsini (1541-1585) at centre [a rose above diagonal stripes and six Medici balls surrounded by Pavl Iordan Vrs d'Aragon].) [link]

literature
Macchi, op. cit., p.147 no. 16


(26) Guillaume Rondelet, Gvlielmi Rondeletii doctoris medici et medicinae in schola Monspeliensi professoris regii. Libri de piscibus marinis, in quibus verae piscium effigies expressae sunt (Lyon: Matthias Bonhomme, 1554)

provenance
● François Désiré Roulin (1796-1874)
● Maurice Delestre & Adolphe Labitte, Catalogue des livres anciens sur les sciences naturelles et l'Amérique composant la bibliotheque de feu M. Roulin, Paris, 25-27 November 1875, lot 65 (“in-fol. vélin. Reliure du XVIe siècle à compartiments peints aux armes de Paul Jodan Urs. D. Aragon. La reliure a besoin d’une restauration.”) [link]


(27) Mambrino Roseo, Le vite dei diece imperatori, incominciando dal fine di Suetonio, nella lingua italiana tradotte per Mambrino Roseo da Fabriano (Venice: Michele Tramezzino, 1544)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● W.S. Kundig, Livres anciens et modernes, incunables, très belles reliures, éditions de luxe et éditions originales des XIXe et XXe siècles, Geneva, 27-29 March 1950, lot 112 & Pl. 5 (“réglé, dans une très belle reliure mosaïquée italienne de l’époque, aux armes de Paolo-Giordano Orsini avec son nom en exergue: Paul Iordan Vrs. Aragon[ensis]”)

literature
Macchi, op. cit., no. 14 (misidentified as “Giovio, Paolo, Le vite, Venezia, 1547”)


(28) Sperone Speroni, Dialoghi di m. Speron Speroni, nuouamente ristampati, & con molta diligenza riueduti, & corretti (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio, 1550)

Images courtesy of Federico Macchi

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● unidentified owner, inscription “di P.o F.o Alex. et Amico[rum]” [see above nos. 2-3, 5]
● Parma, Biblioteca Palatina, GG III. 165 (opac [link])


(29) Vitruvius Pollio, M. L. Vitruvio Pollione Di architettura dal vero esemplare latino nella volgar lingua tradotto (Venice: Niccolò Zoppino, March 1535)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● Félix Solar (1815-1871)
● Charles Pillet & Jacques Techener, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de m. Félix Solar, Paris, 19 November-8 December 1860, lot 705 (“A riches compartiments, d’un goût très-pur, dans le style de Maioli. Sur les plats est un écusson formé des armes de Médicis et des Orsini écartelés, avec cette devise: Paul Iordan. Urs. D. Aragon”)
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (FF 400) [sale report in Gazette des beaux-arts 9 (1861), p.118: “Nous croyons que ces armes sont celles de l'infortunée duchesse de Bracciano, Isabelle de Médicis, femme de Jordano Orsini, étranglée par son mari à Cerreto, en 1576. 400 fr.”]
● Guglielmo Bruto Icilio Timoleone, Count Libri-Carrucci (1803-1869)
● S. Leigh Sotheby & John Wilkinson, Catalogue of the reserved & most valuable portion of the Libri collection, containing one of the most extraordinary assemblages of ancient manuscripts & printed books ever submitted for sale, London, 25-29 July 1862, lot 561 (“Very beautiful Italian binding of the XVIth Century, in brown morocco, gilt guaffré [sic] edges. This copy belonged to Paolo Giordano Orsini, and has his name and arms on sides.”)
● Pickering & Co., London - bought in sale (£30)
● Adèle de Rothschild (widow of Salomon de Rothschild), donation to the Bibliothèque nationale in 1922
● Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, RES G-V-157

literature
Félix Solar, Catalogue des livres et manuscrits composant la bibliothèque de m. Félix Solar. Tome premier (Paris 1860), pp.92-93 no. 522 [link]
Guillaume Libri, Monuments inédits ou peu connus faisant partie du cabinet de Guillaume Libri; et qui se rapportent à l’histoire des arts du dessin considérés dans leur application à l’ornement des livres (London 1862), pl. 17
Pio Colombo, “Il bibliofilo Maioli fu italiano o francese” in L’Arte: Revista di storia dell’arte, new series 18 (1948-1951), pp.43-50 & Fig. 13
Foot, op. cit., p.146 & p.152 no. 9 (Wotton’s Binder III)
Macchi, op. cit., no. 15


(30) Xenophon, L’opere morali di Xenophonte tradotte per m. Lodoulco Domenichi. (Venice: Gabriel Giolito De Ferrari, 1547), bound with: Xenophon, I fatti de greci di Xenophonte tradotti per m. Lodouico Domenichi (Venice: Gabriel Giolito de Ferrari, 1548), bound with: Xenophon, I sette libri di Xenophonte della impresa di Ciro minore. Tradotti per m. Lodouico Domenichi (Venice: Gabriele Giolito De Ferrari, 1547)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● Georges Heilbrun, Paris; their Catalogue 31: Cent vingt livres 1475-1875 (Paris [1960]), item 32 (FF11,500)
● Librairie Patrick et Élisabeth Sourget, Chartres; their Catalogue 12: Manuscrits enluminés et livres précieux de Christine de Pisan à Proust (Chartres 1995), no. 29 (FF75,000; as “par le troisième relieur de Thomas Wotton”)
● Francesco Federico Cerruti (1922-2015)
● Fondazione Francesco Federico Cerruti per l’Arte
● Rivoli, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, CC.2.L.1547.A609

literature
Macchi, op. cit., p.147 no. 10
Mirjam Foot, in The Cerruti collection: catalogue, edited by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (Turin 2021), p.258 (“by ‘Wotton’s Binder C’ for Paolo Giordano Orsini”)

remboîtage

(31) Statuta Concilii Florentini (Florence: Bartolomeo Sermartelli, 1564)

provenance
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of valuable printed books, 15-16 February 1960, lot 520 (“inserted into a Parisian binding of 1556 with the arms of Paolo Giordano Orsini (1535-85), decorated to an architectural pattern, badly rubbed, sides Laid down, rebacked”) [RBH 15Feb1960-520]
● Maggs, Bros - bought in sale (£200)


(32) Paolo Sarti, La simmetria dell’ottima fortificatione regolare (Venice: Evangelista Deuchino, 1630)

provenance
● Paolo Giordano Orsini, duca di Bracciano (1541-1585), armorial supralibros, lettered “Pavl Iordan Vrs D. Aragon”
● Zisska & Lacher, Katalog 62, Munich, 6 November 2013, lot 403 (“the richly gilt, but unfortunately stronger rubbed and worn old cover material is one of ca. 20 preserved bindings or remains of a book cover from the collection of Paolo Giordano Orsini d’Aragona Signore di Bracciano e Anguillara (1541-1585), with his armorial bookplate and the lettering all around ‘Paul Jordan Urs d’Aragona’ … Calf of the 19th century with applied leather cover material of the 16th century on both sides (scratched, scuffed) [link]
● Kiefer Buch und Kunstauktionen, Auktion 112, Pforzheim, 14-15 February 2020, lot 547 [link]

rejected

Francesco Sansovino, La historia delle cose fatte in diuersi tempi da’ signori di casa Orsina (Venice: Niccolò Bevilacqua, 1564)

provenance
● Ludovico Orsini [Furlotti, op. cit., p.51, identifies him as a son of Girolamo, from Monterotondo branch of the Orsini family; this volume not owned by Paolo Giordano, as was argued by Bredekamp]

literature
Horst Bredekamp, Vicino Orsini und der heilige Wald von Bomarzo: ein Fürst als Künstler und Anarchist (Worms 1991), p.130