In 1991, Anthony Hobson drew attention to five bindings made in the shop of the “Fugger Binder” for an unidentified collector whose initials are “A. A.”.¹ Hobson added two bindings to the group in 1999, when he presented a census of bindings made by the Fugger Binder.² Two bindings and another two, provisional additions to that list, are added here (nos. 1-2, 7, 11 in List below).

With one possible exception (declared by Hobson to be a remboîtage) the eleven bindings contain secular texts of the kind used in schools. Two are works by the humanist historian Antonio de Guevara: an educational tract written for his patron, Charles V (Libro Aureo de Marco Aurelio, first printed Seville, 1528) and a handbook for princes (Relox de Principes, first printed Valladolid, 1529), both translated into Italian by Mambrino Roseo da Fabriano (original editions Rome, 1542 and 1543).³ Another is the Cyri institutio of Xenophon, an account of the education and life of the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great, presented as a model of a good ruler, translated (from an abridged Latin version prepared by his father) by Jacopo Bracciolini (original edition Florence, 1521). Six volumes are histories: Justinus’ epitome of Pompeius Trogus’ “Historiae Philippicae,” by an anonymous translator (original edition Venice, 1524); a compilation of Suetonius’ De Vita Caesarum and Herodian of Syria’s Historiarum libri VIII, by anonymous translators (the former apparently here in first edition; the latter a reprint of the Giunta edition, Florence, 1522); Pius II’s unfinished geographical-historical compendium (Historia rerum ubique gestarum, Venice, 1477), edited and translated by Sebastiano Fausto da Longiano (here in first edition); the antiquarian Flavio Biondo’s two topographical works (Roma instaurata and Italia illustrata), translated by Lucio Fauno (original edition Venice, 1542); Biondo’s history of medieval Europe and modern Italy, also translated by Fauno (original edition Venice, 1543); and Polydore Vergil’s history of discoveries (De inventoribus rerum libri tres), translated by Pietro Lauro (original edition Venice, 1543). The Spanish pedagogue Juan Luis Vives’ works on women and the family (De officio mariti and De institutione feminae christianae, first printed 1529 and 1524), by an anonymous translator (here in first edition), are bound with Lodovico Dolce’s adaptation of Vives’s text, Dialogo della institution delle donne (also in first edition). The last of the eleven volumes contains the 1524 Aldine Homerus (Odysseia only), the upper cover gilt-lettered within a circle “Homeri Odyssea 1524,” but according to Hobson a remboîtage.⁴

Hobson had speculated in 1991 that the initials “A. A.” on the lower cover might signify Arnoldus Arlenius (Arndt or Arnout van Eynthouts; ca 1510-1582), who in 1542 became librarian to the Spanish ambassador in Venice, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza. Arlenius resided in Venice during the years 1542-1547, and the latest of the eleven books with the supralibros “A. A.” was published in 1546. These texts do not reflect however a scholar of Arlenius’s calibre and focus, and it is noteworthy that Hobson did not repeat the conjecture in any subsequent publication. Arlenius had studied Greek at Paris, Ferrara, and Bologna (1537-1540),⁵ and during the years 1542-1547 he was preparing the editiones principes of Flavius Josephus (1544) and the scholia to Lycophron (1546), contributing to the Lexicon graecolatinum (Venice 1546), and augmenting Niccolò Perotti’s Latin translation of Polybius (1549). After Mendoza’s departure from Venice, Arlenius worked as a corrector for printers in Ferrara, Florence, and Mondovì. His library passed posthumously into the possession of Fulvio Orsini. The known volumes (all manuscripts) contain dense critical-textual annotations in his hand, but none bears his inscription of ownership, or an external mark of his ownership.⁶

The “Fugger Binder” is the name given to a Venetian shop associated with a large commission from Johann Jakob Fugger (some 193 bindings, executed ca 1548-1556).⁷ Hobson supposes that it commenced operation not later than the mid 1530s; by the second half of the 1540s, it had “become the largest producer of fine bindings in [Venice].”⁸ The shop completed another large order, for Antoine Perronet de Granvelle, undertook work for discerning foreign bibliophiles, notably Thomas Mahieu and Marc Laurin, and received commissions from members of prominent Venetian families. Although a variety of cover designs were in use, a title was generally lettered in gilt on the upper covers.⁹ The pattern used for A. A.’s bindings, where a double circle on the upper cover holds a title and an empty shield placed on the lower cover is flanked by initials, was employed on bindings made by the Fugger Binder for the unidentified owners “A. M.”¹⁰ and “A. N.”¹¹ A variation of the design (shield and initials on both covers) was used on a binding for “T. S.”.¹² Related designs for the owners “M. C.”¹³ (image), “S. C.”¹⁴ (image), “S. S.”¹⁵ and “V. V.”¹⁶ also are known.

Bindings for A. M. – A. N. – T. S.

bindings for a.a.

(1) Flavio Biondo, Le historie del Biondo, da la declinatione de l’imperio di Roma, insino al tempo suo (che ui corsero circa mille anni). Ridotte in compendio da papa Pio; e tradotte per Lucio Fauno in buona lingua volgare (Venice: Michele Tramezzino, 1543)

provenance
● unidentified owner, supralibros, initials A. A. on lower cover
● Piacenza, Biblioteca Comunale Passerini Landi, E/3.03.046 (opac Sulla cop. tit. impresso in oro; iniziali in oro sulla cop. inf.: A.A. [link])

literature
Federico Macchi, Catalogo delle legature storiche di pregio della Biblioteca comunale Passerini-Landi (2007-2009), no. 360 (“Legatura del secondo quarto del secolo XVI, eseguita dal ‘Venezianischer Fugger-Meister’” [image source, link])
Massimo Baucia & Federico Macchi, L’involucro è sostanza: legature storiche (secoli XV-XX) della Biblioteca Comunale Passerini-Landi di Piacenza ([Piacenza] 2009), pp.28, 32-33, no. 5
Federico Macchi, “Legature storiche (secoli XV-XX) della Biblioteca Comunale Passerini-Landi a Piacenza una selezione” in Bollettino storico piacentino 104 (January-June 2009), pp.3-48 (p.30 no. 5 & Pl. II-5)


(2) Flavio Biondo, Roma ristaurata, et Italia illustrata di Biondo da Forlì. Tradotte in buona lingua uolgare per Lucio Fauno (Venice: Michele Tramezzino, 1543)

provenance
● unidentified owner, supralibros, initials A. A. on lower cover
● James Thomson Gibson Craig (1799-1886)
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, The Gibson Craig Library: Catalogue of the valuable and very extensive library of the late James T. Gibson Craig, Esq. (removed from Edinburgh). First portion, London, 27 June-7 July 1887, lot 265 (“original Venetian binding, gold tooled sides, with title of book on side, and on reverse the initials A. A. gilt edges” [link])
● James Toovey, London - bought in sale (£2 18s)


(3) Antonio de Guevara, Vita, Gesti, Costumi, Discorsi, Lettere di M. Aurelio Imperatore (Venice: Vincenzo Valgrisi, 1544)

Unidentified inkstamp (also appears on the-page versos of nos. 4 and 11)

provenance
● unidentified owner, supralibros, initials A. A. on lower cover
● unidentified owner, armorial inkstamp on verso of title [same stamp in same place in no. 4 below]
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of valuable printed books, music, autograph letters, literary manuscripts and historical documents, London, 24-25 May 1954, lot 85 (“contemporary Venetian brown morocco gilt, fillets in gilt and blind, gilt fleurons and leaf-tools, a central roundel contains the title of the book on the upper cover and a shield flanked by the initials ‘A A’ on the lower, g.e. … From the bindery that worked at this time for Cardinal Granvelle and supplied Thomas Mahieu’s only Italian binding”) [offered among “Other Properties”] [RBH ROCK-85]
● Maggs Bros, London - bought in sale (£38)
● Jean Fürstenberg (1890-1982), exlibris “Ex Musaeo Hans Fürstenberg”
● Martin Breslauer Inc., New York; their Catalogue 107: Italy, Part II: Books printed 1501 to c. 1840 (New York [1984]), item 164 ($3800; upper cover reproduced)
● T. Kimball Brooker, purchased from the above, 1991 [Bibliotheca Brookeriana #2145; to be offered by Sotheby’s in 2024-2025]

literature
Hobson, op. cit. 1999, p.257, Appendix 8, no. 79


(4) Antonio de Guevara, Institutione del prencipe christiano. Tradotto di spagnuolo in lingua Toscana per Mambrino Roseo da Fabriano. Nouamente con diligenza riueduto & corretto, & alla sua pristina forma ridotto (Venice: Comin da Trino, 1546)

provenance
● unidentified owner, supralibros, initials A. A. on lower cover
● unidentified owner, armorial inkstamp on verso of title [same stamp in same place in nos. 3 and 11 in this list]
● Michel Wittock (1936-2020)
● Christie’s, The Michel Wittock Collection, Part 1: Important Renaissance bindings, London, 7 July 2004, lot 64 (estimate £6000-8000; unsold) [RBH 6996-64]
● Alde, Collection Michel Wittock, Septième partie: Livres choisis du XVe au XIXe siècle, Paris, 14 November 2017, lot 10 (€3800) [RBH 25868-10]
● Sokol Books Ltd, London [description online in 2023, link; £9750]

literature
Cinq siècles d’ornements dans le décor extérieur du livre, 1515-1983, catalogue succinct des reliures exposées à l’occasion de l’inauguration de la Bibliotheca Wittockiana (Brussels 1983), no. 11
Hobson & Culot, op. cit. 1991, no. 11
Hobson, op. cit. 1999, Appendix 8, no. 90
Federico & Livio Macchi, Atlante della legatura italiana: Il Rinascimento (XV-XVI secolo) (Milan 2007), pp.204-205 & Pl. 79


(5) Homerus, Odysseia, Batrachomyomachia, Ymnoi 32. Vlyssea, Batrachomyomachia, Hymni XXXII [wanting volume 1, Iliad] (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, 1524)

provenance
● unidentified owner, supralibros, initials A. A. on lower cover
● Henry de Cessole, inscription at head of front fly-leaf recto (opac)
● Richard Copley Christie (1830-1901), exlibris
● Manchester, John Rylands Library, R213326 (opac Sixteenth-century full brown goatskin; single gilt fillet and multiple blind fillets to form a border; single gilt fillet and multiple blind fillets and border of interlocking gilt tools forming an inner panel; panel has ivy leaf tools at corners; cornerpieces; title gilt-lettered inside a double circle on upper board: Homeri Odyssea 1524; the same position on the lower board is occupied by an empty shield flanked by the initials A A; traces of two pairs of ties; sewn onto three raised supports; eight compartments blind-tooled with leafy curls; all edges gilt. [link])

literature
Catalogue of the Christie collection comprising the printed books and manuscripts bequeathed to the library of the University of Manchester by the late Richard Copley Christie, LL. D (1915), p.209 (“contemporary Venetian morocco, with gold tooling. Wanting Vol. 1”) [link]
Hobson & Culot, op. cit. 1991, p.37 (“a remboîtage, now containing the Aldine Odyssey of 1524”)
Hobson, op. cit. 1999, p.257, Appendix 8, no. 80 (“a remboîtage, now containing Homer, Odyssey, in aedibus Aldi et Andreae soceri, 1524”)


(6) Marcus Iunianus Iustinus, Iustino historico clarissimo, nelle historie di Trogo Pompeo. Nuouamente in lingua toscana tradotto, & con somma diligentia & cura stampato (Venice: Bernardino Bindoni, 1542)

provenance
● unidentified owner, supralibros, initials A. A. on lower cover
● Maggs Bros, London; their Catalogue 407: Book bindings: historical & decorative (London 1921), item 412 (£10 10s; “Contemporary Venetian binding of black morocco, g.e., sides beautifully tooled with fleurons at inner angles of panels, and with the words on sides ‘Justino Historico,’ and on the back an escutcheon with the initials ‘A. A.’” [link])
● New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 27.189.1 [link]

literature
Hobson, op. cit. 1999, Appendix 8, no. 66 (erroneous shelfmark)


(7) Enea Silvio Piccolomini (Pius II), La discrittione de l’Asia, et Europa di papa Pio II e l’historia de le cose memorabili fatte in quelle (Venice: Vincenzo Valgrisi, 1544)

provenance
● unidentified owner, supralibros, initials A. A. on lower cover
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of valuable printed books, London, 1-3 August 1934, lot 177 (“contemporary Venetian binding, line tooling in gold and blind on sides forming a panel decorated with foliate and floreate stamps; in the centre of the upper cover the title within a double circle; on the lower cover within a double circle a blank ornamental shield flanked by the initials ‘A. A.’, re-backed and repaired”) [lots 148-188 are “Other properties”; RBH 01Aug1934-177]
● Lindsay - bought in sale (£2 15s) [link]


(8) Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, Vita di duodeci imperatori descritta per Suetonio. Nuouamente tradotta in volgare. Historia d’Herodiano de lo imperio dopo Marco tradotta in lingua toscana (Venice: Venturino Ruffinelli for Curzio Troiano de’Navo, 1539 [colophon: del mese di Febraio 1529, i.e. 1539])

provenance
● unidentified owner, supralibros, initials A. A. on lower cover
● Sir Andrew Fountaine (1676-1753); by family descent (Narford Hall)
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of a selection of valuable books & manuscripts from the library of Sir Andrew Fountaine, London, 11-14 June 1902, lot 817 (illustrated; “contemporary Venetian brown morocco, with elegant gilt scroll and line-tooled ornaments, title in centre of upper cover and initials A.A. in the under one, g.e. (Maioliesque)” [link])
● "Perry” - bought in sale (£12 10s) [link]
● J. Pearson & Co., London; their Very choice books, including an extremely important series of historical bindings. Part I (London [1905]), item 126 (£55; illustrated; “Old black morocco extra, gilt leaves, the sides elegantly tooled in gold with a border of double fillets, followed by a second border of double fillets, fleurons as corner ornaments, with a centre panel of arabesques and floral decoration within which a double circle containing the title ‘Historia d’ Herodiano’ is impressed on the recto; and a gracefully tooled escutcheon on the verso, with the letters A. A. on either side” [link])
● Hodgson & Co., A catalogue of rare & valuable books including the library of the late Wm. Roots, Esq., M.D., F.S.A. (removed from Kingston-on-Thames, and sold by order of W.H. Roots, Esq., on changing residence), London, 20-21 March 1907, lot 150 (“contemporary black morocco, the sides decorated with an interlaced geometrical border, within which is a panel of delicate tooling enclosing a circular ornament, in the centre of the upper cover, ‘Historia d’Herodiano’, the lower cover having a shield with the initials ‘A.A.’”) [offered among “Other properties”]
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (£5) [link; link]
● Hodgson & Co., A Catalogue of rare and valuable books including a small collection of interesting early Americana, London, 21 November 1907, lot 73
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (£6) [link]
● J. Pearson & Co., London; their 500 important books manuscripts, and autograph letters (London [1910?]), item 22 (“old black morocco extra … with the letters A. A. on either side”) [link]; Very choice books including an extremely important series of historical bindings (London [1911?], item 126 (£55) [link]
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of valuable illuminated & other manuscripts, rare early printed books (English and foreign), London, 5-7 March 1913, lot 511 (“old black morocco extra, g.e. the sides tooled in gold with a border of double fillets, followed by a second border of double fillets, fleurons as corner ornaments, with a centre panel of arabesques and floral decoration, within which a double circle containing the title, ‘Historia d’Herodiano,’ is impressed on the recto, and a gracefully tooled escutcheon on the verso, with the letters A. A. on either side. A beautiful Grolieresque binding.”) [lots 495-610 are “Other properties”]
● Lees - bought in sale (£15)
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of valuable books and illuminated and other manuscripts, London, 11-12 December 1913, lot 353
● Maggs Bros, London - bought in sale (£23 10s) [link]
● William King Richardson (1859-1951), exlibris (opac) [his bequest, 1950-1951]
● Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, Houghton Library, WKR 25.6.13 (opac Contemporary Grolieresque morocco; initials “A. A.” stamped on back cover; bookplate of W. K. Richardson inside front cover [link])

literature
Foot, op. cit. 1978, p.319, no. 2
Hobson & Culot, op. cit. 1991, p.37
Hobson, op. cit. 1999, Appendix 8, no. 30


(9) Polydore Vergil, Polidoro Virgilio d' Vrbino, De l’origine e de gl'inuentori de le leggi, costumi, scientie, arti, et di tutto quello che a l’humano uso conuiensi, con la espositione di Pater nostro: ogni cosa di latino in uolgar tradotto, con la tauola di cio che si contiene ne l’opera (Venice: Gabriele Giolito De Ferrari, 1545)

provenance
● unidentified owner, supralibros, initials A. A. on lower cover
● unidentified owner, inscription “Achapt[?] 50 ſ [?] du 20e Juillet 1676” on upper pastedown (opac)
● Frédéric Raison (1851-1923), inscription “Ex libris Fred. Raisin advoc. gener. 1908” on upper endpaper recto (opac) [cf. Agnes Wegmann, Schweizer exlibris bis zum Jahre 1900 (Zurich 1937), no. 5763, etc]
● Giuseppe Martini, Lugano; their Catalogue 24: A catalogue of manuscripts, early printed and other rare books, including a number of interesting items from the Bodoni Press (Lugano [1932?]), item 152 ($120; illustrated p.75; “contemporary Venetian binding in brown morocco, panelled sides formed by a border of flowers and leaves on a gold ground … a circle formed by double lines in the centre accompanied by two fleurons, one above and the other under, with the title of the work printed in gold in the circle on the front cover, and an empty coat of arms in that of the back cover, accompanied by the initial AA; back with blind ornaments, gilt edges”)
● Librairie ancienne Ulrico Hoepli, Bibliothèque Joseph Martini, Deuxième partie. Livres rares et précieux d’autres provenances, Zürich, 21-23 May 1935, lot 199 [link]
● Albert Ehrman (1890-1969), note on upper endpaper (opac)
● Oxford, Bodleian Library, Broxb. 24.19 (opac Italian binding, mid 16th century, attributed to the Venetian Apple Binder. Brown morcco over pasteboard. On both covers, a gold-tooled foliate frame comprised of a roll outlined by fillets, with decorations to sides and lotus flowers at corners, within outermost border of a single gilt fillet and blind-tooled fillets in triplicate; in central compartment, a gilt circle, with closed foliate cornerpieces and tools above and below. Within gilt circle on upper cover, a lettered title, gilt; on lower cover, a blank rococo shield flanked by initials ‘A A’. Spine in eight compartments with a blind-tooled vine roll, with alternating raised (with a single gilt gillet) and decorative (with gilt hatcheting) bands. Gilt and gauffered textblock edges. Traces of ties (missing). Note: See Hobson, ‘Maioli, Canevari and Others’ number LIII, plate 53 for similar cornerpieces, side decorations, and fleuron, and attribution to Venice [link])

literature
Tammaro De Marinis, La Legatura artistica in Italia nei secoli XV e XVI (Florence 1960), no. 2211
Foot, op. cit., p.319, Appendix I, no. 7
Hobson & Culot, op. cit. 1991, p.37
Hobson, op. cit. 1999, p.257, Appendix 8, no. 81


(10) Juan Luis Vives, De l’vfficio del marito, come si debba portare uerso la moglie. De l’istitutione de la femina christiana, uergine, maritata, o uedoua. De lo ammaestrare i fanciulli ne le arti liberali. (Venice: Vincenzo Vaugris, 1546), bound with: Lodovico Dolce, Dialogo di m. Lodouico Dolce della institution delle donne, secondo li tre stati, che cadono nella vita humana (Venice: Gabriel Giolito, 1545)

provenance
● unidentified owner, supralibros, initials A. A. on lower cover
● W.H. Robinson, London; their Catalogue 80: Miscellaneous old books and a few manuscripts including English books, Spanish and other Continental books, art, science, medicine, law (London 1950), item 114 (contemporary Italian binding of brown morocco gilt, panelled sides, lettered in the centre of the upper cover ‘LODOVICO VIV. de L’VFF. DEL MARIT. ED ‘L’FEMINA,’ on the lower a blank shield flanked by the initials A. A., rebacked, g.e.”)
● Robinson Trust, 1976 (Hobson)
● Christie’s South Kensington Ltd, Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, London, 18 June 2013, lot 64 (“Contemporary gilt-tooled red-brown goatskin over thin pasteboard by the Fugger Binder, panelled sides with central roundel containing name of author and title, lower cover with empty shield flanked by initials A.A., foliate tools, spine in compartments with three double and four single bands, painted and over-tooled in the ?17th-century, binding fragment of a Missal on vellum, England or France, mid 12th-century, edges gilt and gauffered with dotted-line border (missing two pairs of fore-edge ties and front flyleaves, some wear, mostly at extremities). Provenance: A.A. (?Arnoldus Arlenius)”) [entry online in 2023, link]
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (£4375) [RBH 8952-64]
● Mayfair Rare Books (Paolo Rambaldi), London [description online in 2023, link; €10,800]

literature
Hobson & Culot, op. cit. 1991, p.37
Hobson, op. cit. 1999, p.257, Appendix 8, no. 88 (“Formerly London, Robinson Trust (1976)”)

(11) Xenophon, Xenophonte Della vita di Cyro re de Persi tradotto in lingua toscana da Iacopo di messer Poggio fiorentino nuouamente impresso (Toscolano: Alessandro de Paganini, 9 August 1527)

Unidentified inkstamp (also appears on the-page versos of nos. 3 and 4)

provenance
● unidentified owner, supralibros, initials A. A. on lower cover
● unidentified owner, “Italian armorial library stamp on verso of title page” (opac)
● Libreria antiquaria Leonardo Lapiccirella, Florence (1961) (opac)
● Washington, DC, Folger Library, 182-313q (opac, link)

literature
Fine and historic bookbindings from the Folger Shakespeare Library (Washington, DC & New York 1992), p.194 no. 12:3
LUNA: Folger bindings image collection, link