This decorative scheme is seen on about forty bindings executed by the Mendoza Binder, and is designated by Anthony Hobson as the “simple style” of the Mendoza Binder’s “trade bindings”.1 Most have no owner’s name on the upper cover; four are lettered with the name “D. Piero” (Hobson nos. 90, 92, 94-95), four with the initials G.S. (nos. 66, 80, 82, 98), two with the name of Schenk Eberhard XIV, Graf zu Erbach (nos. 74, 85; see our Notabilia, [link]), one with the initials N.G and C.G. (no. 93), and another with the initials HI. C. (no. 81).
Chris Coppens proposed that the lettering “Alex. Rha.” might signify Alexios Rhartouros (Rhaturus, Rartouros, Rarturo), a priest and self-described chartophylax (archivist or librarian) of Cyprus, who was born about 1504 and died in 1574.2 Alexios made his first visit to Italy in 1539-1540, when he led a mission of the Corfiot clergy to Rome, and afterwards travelled to Venice, at his own expense, for uncertain purposes and for an uncertain period (we find him again in Corfu on 19 August 1541).3 In Rome, Alexios had associated with humanists, notably Giovanni Gaddi, in whose house in June 1540 he copied a Greek manuscript.4 He presumably forged similar relationships in Venice, and perhaps worked anonymously as a copyist, independently, or in an organised scriptorium.
The Mendoza Binder had a close relationship with the local Greek community, particularly with some Corfiot scholars who had fled to Venice after the Turkish siege of 1537, and become dealers in ancient Greek codexes, or involved in the thriving trade of producing transcripts of Greek manuscripts. Prominent among these refugees were Antonios Eparchos, who became a supplier of manuscripts to Hurtado de Mendoza, and Andronicus Nucius, who in 1541 joined the team of scribes working for Hurtado de Mendoza. The Mendoza Binder built upon these relationships and became the principal binder in Venice of Greek manuscripts, executing more than 100 such bindings for Hurtado de Mendoza and other customers, more than any other Venetian binder.5
Hobson believed that from the mid-1530s onwards, the Mendoza Binder was wholly occupied with commissions from major collectors like Hurtado de Mendoza and Johann Jakob Fugger, and had ceased to produce standard “trade bindings” for the book-buying public. He records very few such bindings on books printed after 1534, the latest one a Venetian book printed in 1543 (no. 99).6 If “Alex. Rha.” is indeed Alexios Rhartouros, then the nine, uniformly decorated bindings might have been specially made for him ca 1539-1541 in a spirit of friendship. Alexios returned to Venice in 1545-1546, and for a third time, in 1559-1561, by which date, however, the Mendoza Binder was no longer working.
1. Anthony Hobson, Renaissance book collecting: Jean Grolier and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, their books and bindings (Cambridge 1999), pp.244-250 (Appendix 5: Bindings by the Mendoza Binder (Andrea di Lorenzo), nos. 63-99). Hobson was aware of four bindings for “Alex. Rhav.” (nos. 67, 70, 87-88).
2. Christopher Coppens, “Recensies: Boekgeschiedenis” [review of Mirjam M. Foot, The Henry Davis Gift, A collection of bookbindings, Volume 3: A catalogue of South-European bindings, London: The British Library; New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll, 2010] in De Gulden Passer 88 (2010), pp.171-174.
3. Katerína Ph. Zarídi, Αλέξιος Ραρτούρος: ένας Κερκυραίος λόγιος και Πρωτοπαπάς του 16ου αι [Alexios Rartouros: a Corfiot scholar and Protopapas of the 16th Century], PhD thesis, University of Ioannina, 1991, pp.81-82 (translation: “It was obviously his first trip there for which, apart from the fact that he made it at his own expense, there is no other information. This trip would take place during the time that elapsed from June 9, 1540, when copying the codex Parisinus Gr. 2412, until August 19, 1541, when we find him again in Corfu. How long he stayed in Venice, with whom he came in contact and what was the purpose of this trip, are facts that the sources do not reveal to us. However, it must be considered certain that Alexios, until the sponsorship given to him by the Holy Order was ratified, had to spend his own money to cover the expenses of his trip to Italy.”) [link].
4. “Anonymi commentarius in Ptolemæi tetrabiblon; Porphyrii introductio ad Ptolemæi apotelesmaticam”, now Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des manuscrits, Grec 2412. The colophon is dated 9 June 1540. Ernst Gamillscheg & Dieter Harlfinger, Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten, 800-1600, 2. Frankreich. A: Verzeichnis der Kopisten (Vienna 1989), p.30 no. 15 (as “Alexios (Priester),” the only Ms associated with him).
5. See Hobson, op. cit., Appendix 5, p.250.
6. Viaggi fatti da Vinetia, alla Tana, in Persia, in India, et in Costantinopoli: con la descrittione particolare di città, luoghi, siti, costumi, et della porta del gran Turco (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio, 1543), in Chantilly, Musée Condé, Bibliothèque, VIII-B-009. No name or initials are lettered on the upper cover; previous owners of the copy were Paul Heinrich Buroner (1701-1750) and Armand-Bernard Cigongne (1790-1859).
(1) Aristoteles, Habentur hoc volumine haec Theodoro Gaza interprete. Aristotelis De natura animalium, lib. IX (Venice: Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, 1513)