Eight bindings are known with the names and arms on covers of the Roman noblemen Giovanni Battista Crescenzi (1577-1635) and Torquato de Cupis (Cuppis; 1578-1657). On four volumes (nos. 1, 4, 7-8 in the List below), Crescenzi’s name and family arms (tre crescenti d’oro) appear on the upper covers, and De Cupis’s name and the impaled De Cupis-Conti arms (un camoscio rampante; aquila scaccata d’oro e di nero) on the lower covers. On the other four, these positions are reversed.

In a previous post, reference was made to comparable bindings featuring the names and arms of the Roman patricians Domenico Massimo and Gaspare Ruggeri, Scipio Orlandini and Giulio Della Fonte, and the initials and arms of two as yet unidentified members of the Jacobilli and Capranica families (see “Roman friendship bindings: Domenico Massimo & Gaspare Ruggeri” on this website, Notabilia [link]). Towards the end of the sixteenth century it had become fashionable for Roman patricians to exchange books as mementos of their friendship, with the giver’s name and arms customarily placed on the lower cover, and those of the recipient on the upper cover. The Soresini Bindery, a prominent Roman shop, working for the Vatican from 1575 until about 1634, produced many of these bindings, including all seven of the Crescenzi-Cupis volumes. Judging from bindings examined and from photographs, the Crescenzi-Cupis bindings were executed ca 1595-1605.

Giovanni Battista Crescenzi was born 17 January 1577, the fourth of six sons of Virgilio (d. 1592) and Constanza del Drago. Nothing is known of his education, apart from the instruction in drawing, painting, and architecture he received together with his younger brother, Francesco, from the painter Cristoforo Roncalli. According to Giovanni Battista’s own testimony, he had resolved aged fourteen to enter the Dominican Order, but was dissuaded from doing so by Filippo Neri.¹ He married in 1601, became Auditor Camerae in 1606, took on Capitoline offices (Priore of rione S. Eustachio), and was appointed Soprintendente of the Cappella Paolina in S. Maria Maggiore in 1610. By 1617, he had moved to Spain, invited by Philip III to design the Pantheon of the Escorial. He continued to work there under Philip IV, who rewarded him with the title Marqués de la Torre, and in 1630 appointed him Superintendente de las Obras Reales.

Torquato de Cupis was born in Rome on 12 March 1578, the elder son of Giovan Domenico De Cupis (d. 1596) and Costanza Conti (d. 1605). Cardinal Giovanni Domenico De Cupis (1493-1553), a close personal friend of Ignacio de Loyola, was his great-grandfather.² In 1597, Torquato entered the Jesuit novitiate at Novellara, and from 1609-1637 he was professor of logic, physics, metaphysics, and theology at the Collegio Romano.

The four volumes of Cicero are bound harmoniously, except that the Epistolae ad Atticum, Epistolae familiares and De Philosophia have Torquato’s name and arms on their upper covers, whereas the Rhetoricorum ad Herennium has Giovanni Battista’s.³

Left Detail Crescenzi-Cupis friendship binding (Muret, no. 7 below)
Centre Detail Jacobilli – Capranica friendship binding (Hieronymus)
Right Detail Scipio Orlandini – Giulio Della Fonte friendship binding (Claudianus)

The same escutcheon with visored helmet used on the four Ciceros appears on the Crescenzi-De Cupis copy of Muretus (no. 7), but combined with different tools.⁴ It is found on the bindings of a 1588 Sallustius and a 1589 Hieronymus, there with the Capranica family arms (tre cipressi, intrecciati nei tronchi da una gomena) and initials C.C. on upper covers, and Jacobilli arms (un lione rampante tenente una spada, attraversato da una fascia) and initials G.I. on lower covers, and again combined with different tools.⁵ It appears also on two bindings having the Orlandini arms and name “Scipio Orlandi” lettered on lower covers, and Della Fonte arms and name “Ivliani Fontivs” on upper covers.⁶

A double-volute tool incorporated in the outer border on the Capranica-Jacobilli Hieronymus seems to be the one used in the frame of the Crescenzi-De Cupis Muretus, and also on a binding with the coat-of-arms of Pope Sixtus V (d. 1590) credited to the shop of the Vatican binder, Francesco Soresini.⁷ The distinctive tool used on the four Crescenzi-De Cupis Cicero bindings of an eagle with wings displayed and inverted (pointing downwards) has not been observed elsewhere.

list of bindings

(1) Pietro Angeli, Poemata omnia, diligenter ab ipso recognita. Quorum catalogum versa pagina indicabit (Rome: Francesco Zanetti, 1585)

provenance
● Giovanni Battista Crescenzi (1577-1635), supralibros, lettered on upper cover “Io Bap Crescen” around a cartouche containing his family arms
● Rome, Biblioteca dell’Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei e Corsiniana, 89 I 9 (opac Legatura in marocchino rosso con stemmi [link])

literature
Armando Petrucci, Scrittura e popolo nella Roma barocca, 1585-1721 (Rome 1982), p.14 no. 10 (“Legatura in marocchino rosso della fine del cinquecento … cm 23 x 16. Triplice cornice di filetti, fregi angolari a festoni, e al centro dei piatti, tempestati di pigne e di rosoncini, stemmi rispettivamente dei Crescenzi e dei Cupi con iscrizioni: ‘Io. Bap. Crescen’ e ‘Torquat. Cupius’; dorso a nervature ornato”)


(2) Marcus Tullius Cicero, M.T. Ciceronis Epistolae ad Atticum, ad Brutum, & ad Q. fratrem (Lyon [Geneva]: [Jacques II Berjon for] Antoine Gryphe, 1585)

provenance
● Torquato de Cuppis (1578-1657), supralibros, his name and arms on upper cover
● 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 68 ([as “Lugduni, apud Antonium Gryphium, 1581”] “in-16, veau rouge … Reliure italienne de l’époque portant sur le premier plat les armes de J.B. Crescenzi et sur le second celles de Torquato Cupio” [link])
● unidentified owner – bought in sale (FF 310)
● Sotheby’s, Music, Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts and Continental books, London, 4 December 2018, lot 110 (“contemporary Italian calf gilt, upper cover lettered torquat cupius with armorial, lower cover lettered io. bap. crescen with Crescenzi armorial, spine gilt in compartments, edges gilt and gauffered”) (realised £3750) [catalogue, link; RBH L18406-110]
● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased at the above sale) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana ID #2448]
● Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, Part V, London, 10 December 2024, lot 1065 [RBH L24405-1065]
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (£4826)

literature
Unpublished


(3) Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epistolae familiares, optimis quibusque exemplaribus collatis, emendatae (Lyon [Geneva]: [Jacques II Berjon for] Antoine Gryphe, 1585)

provenance
● Torquato de Cuppis (1578-1657), supralibros, his name and arms on upper cover
● Colonna-Avalos, family library (Naples) (?) (Sotheby’s)
● Jan Willem Six de Vromade (1874-1936), exlibris
● Van Stockum’s Antiquariaat, Catalogue de la Bibliothèque de M. J.W. Six de Vromade. Première partie, The Hague, 16-21 November 1925, lot 97 (“Reliure de l’époque en maroquin rouge richement doré à petits fers, aux armes, et à l’inscription, distribuée aux deux plats: Jo. Bsp. Crescen. Torquat. Cu. Pius. tranches dorées et ciselées” [link])
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (Dfl 300)
● Anton W.M. Mensing (1866-1936)
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of the very valuable and important library formed by the late Mr. Ant. W.M. Mensing of Amsterdam, London, 15-17 December 1936, lot 127 (“A Roman binding, circa 1600; brown calf, the sides elaborately gilt, decorated with large foliated curved tools, crescents, roundels, eaglets, a small flower stamp, etc.; coat-of-arms in centre of each cover; gilt back, edges gilt and tooled au pointille; with book-label of J.W. Six … an interesting problem of double ownership; probably explicable on the basis of a wedding or other present, or legacy. The recipient seems to have disposed of the book during his life-time (possibly on leaving Rome permanently for Spain about 1620), as it bears at the end the armorial bookplate (Colonna impaling d’Avalos) of the well-known Roman patron of letters, Prospero Colonna, who died in 1661” [link])
● Menno Hertzberger, Amsterdam - bought in sale (£16)
● Internationaal Antiquariat, Bibliothèques choisies et collections de gravures surtout de feu M. Rud. Teltscher, Heemstede; M. R.G.H. Steinberg, Amsterdam, 7-8 June 1939, lot 511 [link]
● Christie’s, Valuable manuscripts, autograph letters, music and printed books, London, 27 November 1996, lot 367 (“Contemporary Lyonnais(?) red morocco gilt over pasteboard, covers with roll-tool and double fillet border enclosing an elaborate design of curved fillets, hatched tools and flower-tools with various other small tools including roundels, crescents, stars, eagles, the central area tooled with original owner’s names on the upper cover ‘torquot cupius’ flanking Cupius’s arms, and on the lower cover ‘.jo.bap. crescen’ flanking Crescentius’s arms, spine in four compartments with raised bands with repeat geometrical pattern of flower and foliage tooling, edges gilt and gauffered with floral motifs (corners and head of spine chipped, leather ties lacking, later label in top compartment of spine), modern cloth box. Provenance: Torquatus Cupius and Joannis Baptista Crescentius (binding); unidentified later armorial bookplate. This attractive binding may have been commissioned in France by two Italian students who shared a small library.” [link])
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (£1725) [estimate £1200-1800]

literature
Unpublished


(4) Marcus Tullius Cicero, Rhetoricorum ad Herennium libri quatuor. De inventione libri duo. Omnia ad optima quaeque, eaque vetusta exemplaria, castigata (Lyon [Geneva]: [Jacques II Berjon for] Antoine Gryphe, 1585)

provenance
● Giovanni Battista Crescenzi (1577-1635), supralibros, his name and arms on upper cover
● Ex-libris manuscrit du comte Alphonse de la Guère (Bado e Mart, as 1846-1899]
● Guillaume Delon & Librairie Gaëlle Cambon, Importante bibliothèque d’un Chateau du Berry, Paris, 23-25 June 2021, lot 104 (“2 tomes en 1 vol. in-18. Maroquin rouge d’époque, armes dorées et inscriptions au centre des plats, décors végétaux et animaliers, guirlande d’encadrement dorée, tranches ciselées, dos à nerfs orné. Exemplaire en maroquin d’époque dont la provenance n’est pas identifiée. La reliure porte les indications dorées sur les plats : Io. Bap. Crescen. - Torquat Cupius.” [link])
● Bado e Mart Auctions, Rare books & graphic arts, Padua, 7 June 2022, lot 28 (“Si registrano altre legature sia con lo stemma di de Cupis che con quello di Crescenzi” [link]) (unsold, estimate €5000-6000); Bado e Mart Auctions, Rare books, pamphlets & autographs, Padua, 26 September 2024, lot 33 (estimate €1600)

literature
Unpublished


(5) Marcus Tullius Cicero, M.T. Ciceronis De philosophia Volumen primum, ita doctissimis animaduersionibus illustratum, vt integra vbique vulgata lectio seruata sit (Lyon [Geneva]: [Jacques II Berjon for] Antoine Gryphe, 1585)

Image courtesy of Federico Macchi

provenance
● Torquato de Cuppis (1578-1657), supralibros, his name and arms on upper cover
● Cappuccini, Piacenza (opac)
● Piacenza, Biblioteca Comunale Passerini-Landi, (C) 7B.16.36 (opac, [link])

literature
Catalogo delle legature storiche di pregio della Biblioteca comunale Passerini-Landi, Parte prima, no. 142 [link]


(6) Marcus Tullius Cicero, M. T. Ciceronis De Philosophia Volumen secundum, in quo quidem quae contineantur, sequens pagella indicabit (Lyon [Geneva]: [Jacques II Berjon for] Antoine Gryphe, 1585)

provenance
● Torquato de Cuppis (1578-1657), supralibros, his name and arms on upper cover
● Cappuccini, Piacenza (opac)
● Piacenza, Biblioteca Comunale Passerini-Landi, (C) 7B.16.37 (opac, [link])

literature
Catalogo delle legature storiche di pregio della Biblioteca comunale Passerini-Landi, Parte prima, no. 143 [link]


(7) Marc Antoine Muret, Orationes XXIII (Venice: Giovanni Alberti, 1586)

provenance
● Giovanni Battista Crescenzi (1577-1635), supralibros, his name and arms on upper cover
● Torquato de Cuppis (1578-1657), supralibros, lettered on lower cover “Torqvat Cvpivs” around a cartouche containing his family arms
● Alfred Maria Fortunatus von Oberndorff (1870-1963)
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of the collection of valuable printed books, manuscripts and fine bindings, the property of Count A. Oberndorff, London, 6 July 1955, lot 112 (“contemporary Roman binding of red morocco gilt, roll-tooled borders, foliate corner ornaments with small tools of terms and fir-cones in the field, in the centre of the upper cover the arms of Giovanni Battista Crescenzi with his name above and below, in the centre of the lower cover the arms of Torquato Cupis (impaling those of Segni), with his name above and below, tooled and panelled back, g. e., ties missing” [RBH Narwhale-112]
● Henry Davis (1897-1977) - bought in sale (£15)
● British Library, Henry Davis Gift 356

literature
Mirjam Foot, The Henry Davis Gift: A Collection of bookbindings, Volume 1: Studies in the history of bookbinding (London 1978), p.326
M. Foot, The Henry Davis Gift: A Collection of bookbindings, Volume 3: A Catalogue of South-European bindings (London 2010), no. 356 (“A binding made in Rome by Soresino (‘Borghese bindery’), c. 1600-10”)
British Library, Database of bookbindings [link]


(8) Publius Papinius Statius, Statii Syluarum libri quinque, Thebaidos libri duodecim, Achilleidos duo (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, August 1502)

provenance
● Giovanni Battista Crescenzi (1577-1635), supralibros, lettered on upper cover “Io Bap Crescen” around a cartouche containing his family arms
● Cambridge, King’s College, M.28.47 (opac red morocco; ornate gold-tooled decorative patterns (incl. fleurs-de-lis and angels); gold-tooled coat of arms with names: ‘Io. Bap. Crescen.’ (front) and ‘Torquat. Cupius’ (rear); four raised bands, gold-tooled decorations and title within a panel on spine; text block in gold, goffered; clasp holes)

literature
Charles Henry Hartshorne, The Book rarities in the University of Cambridge (London 1829), p.197 (“beautiful old binding, on one side of it is stamped in gold letters Jo. Bap. Crescen. upon the other side Torqvat. Cvpivs” [link])
Foot, op. cit. 1978, p.331 (note 22)