Five Neapolitan bindings are known with a raised medallion portrait on their covers of the humanist poet Giovanni Pontano (1426-1503), statesman and educator at the royal house of Aragon in Naples. The portrait styles Pontano like a classical author on an antique gem, bald and bare-shouldered. The image was obtained from the obverse of a medal cast by Adriano Fiorentino (Adriano di Giovanni de’ Maestri), a sculptor and bronze founder, who worked in Naples from about 1488 until 1495.¹The lettering around the circumference ioannes iovianvs pontanvs also appears on the bindings. The medallist’s prototype most probably was an image of Pontano in a manuscript.²

Left Obverse of medal by Adriano Fiorentino (diameter 8.42 cm), National Gallery of Art, 1957.14.699.a [image, source]
right – Right Detail from No. 5 

Three bindings cover copies of Pontano’s collection of love lyrics, Parthenopei libri duo… (Naples: Sigismondo Mayr, September 1505), and the others copies of Mayr’s editions of Pontano’s De numeris poeticis (1507) and De Sermone et de bello neapolitano (1509). All these editions had been seen through the press by Pietro Summonte (1463-1526), Pontano’s successor as head of the Accademia Pontaniana, who sought to preserve Pontano’s memory through the publication of his works.

The likelihood that the bindings on these five special copies were made locally and commissioned by Summonte, to bestow on the dedicatees, or on dignitaries, is strong. Summonte addressed the 1505 Carmina to Jacopo Sannazaro, one of Pontano’s disciples, who had helped him recover the manuscript from Pontano’s daughters. Summonte’s edition of the 1507 De numeris poeticis is dedicated to the Neapolitan nobleman Francisco Puderico (d. 1528), a student of Pontano’s and friend of Sannazaro, and his edition of the 1509 De sermone et de bello Neapolitano is dedicated to Suardo Suardino, who had acted as agent for Pontano in the Veneto. Unfortunately, none of the five copies retains evidence of presentation. The copy of the Carmina in the Bibliotheca Brookeriana (no. 1 in the List below) has been refurbished with new endpapers. The copy in Siena (no. 2) is rebound, the original covers laid into a new structure. The earliest mark of ownership in the Naples copy (no. 3) appears to be the 17C inkstamp of a Neapolitan convent of Reformed Franciscans. The volumes in Florence and Rome (nos. 4-5) have no sign of ownership earlier than inscriptions by the Mantuan poet Lelio Capilupi (1497-1563).

In 1989, Anthony Hobson attributed all five bindings to a shadowy Neapolitan artisan, Masone di Maio, famed for his “lavorare in cuoio duro”. ³ We understand that Hobson subsequently withdrew this attribution, proposing instead a bookseller-binder working for the Aragonese court, Girolamo d’Ambrosio (his argument will be presented in Decorated Bookbindings in Renaissance Italy, edited by Edward Potten and Mirjam Foot, forthcoming).

Also recorded by Hobson is a binding of ca 1513 from an anonymous, probably Venetian shop. It covers a copy of the 1513 Aldine edition of Pontano’s Opera, which includes his didactic poem Urania. The binder utilised both the obverse portrait and the reverse of Adriano Fiorentino’s medal, depicting Urania, the muse of astronomy and astrology, walking to right, holding a globe and lyre, with lettering across bottom vrania. Only one binding with this medallion is known (see Appendix below).

bindings with medallion portrait of pontano

(1) Pontano, Hoc in uolumine opera haec continentur. Parthenopei libri duo. De amore coniugali tres. De tumulis duo. Elegia de obitu filii. De eodem iambici. De diuinis laudibus. Hendecasyllaborum seu Baiarum libri duo. Sapphici. Eridani duo libri (Naples: Sigismondo Mayr, 1505)

provenance
● Louis-Alexandre Barbet (1850-1931)
● Henri Baudoin, Maurice Ader & Librairie Giraud-Badin, Catalogue de la Bibliothèque de feu M. L.-A. Barbet. Première partie, Paris, 13-14 June 1932, lot 129 (illustrated)
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (FF 6000)
● Lucien Désiré Prosper Graux (1878-1944), exlibris
● Mme Lucien Graux (née Léontine de Flavigny)
● Maurice Rheims & Jacqueline Vidal-Mégret, Bibliothèque du docteur Lucien-Graux, Sixième partie, Paris, 20-21 March 1958, lot 223
● Arthur Lauria, Paris; their Catalogue 55: Livres rares (Paris [1961]), item 238 & Pl. 1 (NF 12,000)
● Henry Bradley Martin (1906-1988)
● Sotheby’s, The Library of H. Bradley Martin. Part IX: Highly important printed books and illuminated manuscripts, New York, 14 June 1990, lot 3415
● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased in the above sale via Martin Breslauer Inc.) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana ID #2014]
● Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library. Magnificent Books and Bindings, New York, 11 October 2023, lot 75 ($30,480; RBH N11245-75)
● New York, Morgan Library & Museum, 199042 (opac [link])

literature
Tammaro De Marinis, La Legatura artistica in Italia nei secoli XV e XVI (Florence 1960), no. 260 & Pl. 44
Anthony Hobson, Humanists and bookbinders: The origins and diffusion of the humanistic bookbinding 1459-1559 (Cambridge 1989), p.237 (Census of Plaquette and Medallion Bindings, no. 84a), p.259 (Appendix 4: Bindings attributed to Masone di Maio, no. B3)
Roger Stoddard, “Latin verse of the Renaissance: The collection and exhibition at the Houghton Library” in Harvard Library Bulletin (Summer 1990), pp.19-38 no. 3


(2) Pontano, Hoc in volumine opera haec continentur. Parthenopei libri duo (Naples: Sigismondo Mayr, 1505)

provenance
● Nicola Oliva, OSA (1617-1684), Bishop of Cortona (1677-1684), inscription, exlibris [cf. Egisto Bragaglia, Gli ex libris italiani dalle origini alla fine dell'Ottocento (Milan 1993), nos. 124, 132-133, for three exlibris of Oliva, Priore generale agostiniani, one ca 1670 and two dated 1673]
● Siena, Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati, IV D 055 (opac Legatura moderna in piena pelle con i piatti della legatura antica, con ritratto dell’autore a rilievo, applicati su quella nuova … Nota ms. ed ex libris a stampa di Nicola Oliva e del Convento di Sant’Agostino di Siena) [link]

literature
Mostra storica della legatura artistica in Palazzo Pitti (Florence 1922), pp.59-60 (cited, “Una legatura simile è nella Bibl. Com. di Siena”) [link]
De Marinis, op. cit., no. 261
Hobson, op. cit., p.237 no. 84b, pp.258-259 no. B4


(3) Pontano, Hoc in volumine opera haec continentur. Parthenopei libri duo (Naples: Sigismondo Mayr, 1505)

provenance
● Convento di Santa Croce di Palazzo, Naples, inkstamp
● Naples, Biblioteca nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III, S.Q. 20. F 0015 (opac Sul frontespizio, timbro del convento di Santa Croce di Palazzo. - Alle cc. T3v, T4r, bianche, Elegia di Girolamo Carbone ad Agostino Nifo, manoscritta … Legatura coeva in marocchino marrone con fregi dorati e a secco, nel centro dei piatti medaglioni con ritratto a rilievo del Pontano; tagli dorati e incisi) [link]

literature
Mostra storica della legatura artistica in Palazzo Pitti (Florence 1922), no. 190 (“Leg. in assi ricoperte in mar. scuro. Cornice dorata di fiori e foglie racchiudente due riquadri graticolati seminati di stelle ed un medaglione ad alto rilievo raffigurante il Pontano. Taglio dorato. Il dorso è rifatto.”) [link]
The Italian book, 1465-1900: Catalogue of an exhibition held at the National Book League (London 1953), no. 264 (“Morocco over wooden boards with a cameo portrait of the author, probably after a medal by Adriano Fiorentino; rebacked; gilt edges. … Lent by the Biblioteca Nazionale, Naples”)
De Marinis, op. cit., no. 262 & Pl. 45
Hobson, op. cit., p.237 no. 84c, pp.258-259 no. B5
Angela Pinto, “‘Coverti di seda e d’oro…’ Legature per la corte aragonese” in Libri a corte: testi e immagini nella Napoli aragonese (Naples 1997), pp.76-83 (p.82)
Teresa D’Urso, “Un manifesto del ‘classicismo’ aragonese: Il frontespizio della Naturalis historia di Plinio il Vecchio della Biblioteca di Valenza” in Prospettiva 105 (2002), pp.29-50 (p.49 & Fig. 21)


(4) Pontano, Pontani Actius de numeris poeticis: & lege historiae (Naples: Sigismondo Mayr, October 1507)

provenance
● Lelio Capilupi (ca 1497-ca 1560), inscription (f. L4r)
● Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, RARI.22.B.2.1 (opac [link])

literature
Mostra storica della legatura artistica in Palazzo Pitti (Florence 1922), no. 191 (“Legatura in assi coperte di pelle marrone; cornici e ornamenti impressi a freddo, intramezzati a qualche fiorame dorato. Al centro dei piatti in un medaglione di cuoio sbalzato riportato, il busto nudo a d. dell’autore, con l’iscrizione intorno: Joannes Jovianvs Pontanvs. Dorso impresso a freddo e dorato; taglio inciso e dorato.”) [link]
Exposition du livre italien, mai-juin 1926: catalogue des manuscrits, livres imprimés, reliures (Paris 1926), no. 865 (“Reliure contemporaine en veau fauve, avec buste de l'auteur en relief sur les plats.”)
De Marinis, op. cit., no. 263 & Pl. 46
Hobson, op. cit., p.237 no. 84d, pp.258-259 no. B6
Sara Cirasole, “La biblioteca dimenticata e la sua rinascita nel XIX secolo: Aggiornamento dello studio per la ricostruzione della biblioteca Capilupi di Mantova” in La famiglia Capilupi di Mantova: Vicende storiche di un nobile casato (Mantova 2018), pp.271-298 (p.64: “Legatura in assi coperte di pelle marrone; cornici e ornamenti impressi a freddo, intramezzati a qualche fiorame dorato. Al centro dei piatti in un medaglione di cuoio sbalzato riportato, il busto nudo a d. dell’autore, con l’iscrizione intorno: Joannes Jovianvs Pontanvs. Dorso impresso a freddo e dorato; taglio inciso e dorato.”) [online, link]


(5) Pontano, Pontani De sermone et de bello Neapolitano (Naples: Sigismondo Mayr, August 1509)

provenance
● Lelio Capilupi (ca 1497-ca 1560), inscription “Laelij Capilupi” (verso of title)
● Ernst Philip Goldschmidt (1887-1954), exlibris
● E.P. Goldschmidt & Co., London; their Catalogue 36: One hundred books (London 1935), item 79 & Pl. 2 (Grolier Club, E.P. Goldschmidt & Co., Financial records, 1919-1981, Stock Books, #1066; sold (£120) on 16 April 1935, to:)
● Tammaro De Marinis (1878-1969)
● Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Stamp.De.Marinis.19(int.1) (opac “Sulla risguardia anteriore, su etichetta in pelle ‘Ex libris E.PH. G.’. A carta a1v, ad inchiostro ‘Laelij Capilupi’.”; “Legatura in pelle su assi. Piatti decorati con cornici a secco e fregi angolari dorati. Nello specchio, tondo con profilo di Giovanni Pontano. Dorso a 3 doppi nervi. Fermagli in ottone e stoffa. Titulus al taglio di piede. Taglio goffrato e dorato.”) [link; image, link (upper cover)]

literature
E.P. Goldschmidt, Gothic & Renaissance bookbindings exemplified and illustrated from the author’s collection (London 1928), no. 51 & Pl. 21 (lower cover; p.72: “These bindings, of which two other specimens seem to have survived beside my own, are the finest examples of the application of a Renaissance medal on bookbindings”)
Irving Davis, “Contemporary collectors XXI: Tammaro De Marinis” in The Book Collector 8 (1959), pp.262-270 (lower cover illustrated)
De Marinis, op. cit., no. 264 & Pl. 47
Hobson, op. cit., p.237 no. 84e, pp.258-259 no. B7 & Fig. 88 (upper cover)

appendix

Left Reverse of medal by Adriano Fiorentino (diameter 8.42 cm), National Gallery of Art, 1957.14.699.a [image, source]. Right Detail from A1

(A1) Giovanni Gioviano Pontano, Pontani Opera. Vrania, siue de stellis libri quinque (Venice: Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, 1513)

provenance
● unidentified owner, inscription αληvovίoυ και τωv Χρωμιvώv φίλωv on title-page
● Libreria antiquaria T. De Marinis & C., Florence; their Catalogue 11: Manuscrits autographes incunables et livres rares (Florence 1911), item 323 (“vendu”; “Reliure contempor. en veau rouge, dans les milieux le portrait de Pontanus et la représentation d'Urania. Précieuse reliure dont nous donnons, dans une planche, la reproduction du plat antérieur…”)
● Albert Figdor (1843-1927)
● Gilhofer & Ranschburg, Auktion 8: Kostbare Bücher und Manuskripte aus den Bibliotheken der russischen Zaren in Zarskoje-Selo, Herzog Albrecht v. Sachsen-Teschen, Dr. Albert Figdor, Wien: dazu ausgewählte Inkunabeln einer Stifts-Bibliothek und wertvolle frühe Urkunden und Autographen, Lucerne, 14-15 June 1932, lot 367 & Tafel 32 (“Zeitgen. roter Lederband mit Fileten u. d. typ. Aldusblättern in d. Ecken. In der Mitte des Vorderdeckels ein großes, in bronzfarbig. Leder eingelassenes Cameo-Portrait des Pontanus; auf der Rückseite das Cameo-Medaillon der Urania. Goldschmitt, ohen Schießen. … Unser Einband ist tadellos erhalten und auch der Rücken ist intakt.”)
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (CHF 750)
● Emil Offenbacher, Kew Gardens, NY
● Cornelius J. Hauck (1893-1967), acquired from the above, 7 April 1954
● Cincinnati Historical Society Library
● Christie Manson & Woods International Inc., The History of the book: the Cornelius J. Hauck collection of the Cincinnati Museum Center, New York, 27 June 2006, lot 257 [RBH 1769-257]
● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased in the above sale) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana ID #0148; to be offered by Sotheby’s in 2025]

literature
De Marinis, op. cit., no. 265
Hobson, op. cit., p.237 (“Census of plaquette and medallion bindings”, no. 84f: “Ownership unknown”)