A sale in Paris in 1870 of a select portion of the vast library of the marqueses de Astorga introduced to the market the family library of the marquesado de Velada.¹ The finest of these books had been collected by don Gómez Dávila y Toledo (ca 1535-1616), II marqués de Velada, a major figure at the Spanish court from the 1590s until his death in 1616,² and by his younger brother, Sancho Dávila y Toledo (1546-1625), successively Bishop of Cartagena (1591), Jaén (1600-1615), Sigüenza (1615-1622), and Plasencia (1622-1625). Sometime after 1784, their libraries were absorbed by inheritance into the Astorga-Altamira library, mixed there among books from the libraries of the Conde-Duque, Montemar, Leganés, Sessa, and other families. A financial crisis, occasioned by the death in 1864 of Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, and XV duque de Sessa, required his heir to dispose of assets.³ The Parisian bookseller Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne reputedly purchased all the books offered in 1870 for 20,000 pesetas.⁴

Bindings for Gómez Dávila y Toledo (ca 1535-1616)
Poliziano (I, lot 726) — Stifel (III, lot 1466) — Statius (III, lot 857)

Bindings for Gómez Dávila y Toledo (ca 1535-1616)
Agricola (I, lot 355) — Ricardus de Mediavilla (III, lot 461) — Tacitus (III, lot 1071)

Gómez Dávila had assembled a traditional humanist library, containing not only books in Spanish, but also in Latin, Italian and Portuguese, Greek and Hebrew. His library was divided between a private study in his residence, known as the “Camarin de los azulejos”, on account of its decoration by ceramic tiles from Talavera, and the Franciscan convent of San Antonio in Velada. Gómez was friendly with the King’s architect, Francisco de Mora, who in 1603-1607 designed a galería for a new library in the convent, a “biblioteca museo” emulating the Laurenziana, in which Gómez arranged paintings, scientific instruments, and works of art, displaying his books (as in in El Escorial) with their fore-edges facing into the room.⁵ On the fore-edges of Gómez’s books, two armorial shields were painted, representing Dávila (en campo de oro seis roeles de azur) and Toledo (equipolado de quince piezas, ocho de azur y siete de plata), each shield surmounted by a corona marquesal, with the abbreviated title of the book in between. An inventory of Gómez’s books conducted after the death of his wife, Doña Ana de Toledo y Colonna (15 February 1596), records about 300 volumes; the next surviving inventory, made in 1624, seven years after his own death, lists 2506 books, however the great majority of these were collected by Bishop Sancho.⁶

Binding for Sancho Dávila y Toledo (1546-1625)
Seneca (cf. III, 479-481)

Sancho Dávila, the author of at least twelve works, was also a passionate collector.⁷ He intended to donate his library to his brother, but Gómez died before the donation occurred, and the gift was transferred in 1617 to a nephew, Antonio Sancho Dávila (1590-1666).⁸ Sancho’s books also were installed in the convent of San Antonio, where they stood on the blue and gold shelves (estanterías de madera dorada y azul, these being the heraldic tinctures of the Dávila) with their fore-edges likewise turned into the room. On Sancho’s books, a tasselled galero indicating his ecclesiastical rank was painted above the insignia of the Dávila and Toledo families. An unusually detailed inventory of Sancho’s books was taken in 1617.⁹ Besides the aforementioned inventory of 1624, inventories of the conventual library and of books in the family residences taken in 1648, 1678, 1689, 1698, 1737, and 1782 also survive.¹⁰

The Parisian sale cataloguer was attracted to the Dávila books, and sometimes noted the presence of fore-edge decoration, as for example:

première partie – january 1870

Lot 63 (cuir gaufré, tranche peinte, aux armes de Don Sancho Davila, évêque de Carthagène [link])

Biblia sacra ad vetustissima exemplaria castigata, necnon figuris & chorographicis descriptionibus illustrata (Lyon: Guillaume Rouillé, 1569) ● Ricardo Heredia, comte de Benahavis (1831-1896) ● Maurice Delestre & Em. Paul, L. Huard et Guillemin, Bibliothèque de M. Ricardo Heredia, comte de Benahavis, Quatrième partie, Paris, 12 April-11 May 1894, lot 3832 (“Exemplaire du duc de Sessa, avec les armes de don Sancho Davila, évêque de Carthagène, peintes sur la tranche” [link])

64 (mar. vert., milieu tranche dor. et peinte aux armes de Don Sancho Davila y fil., Toledo, évêque de Carthagène [link])

The Plantin Polyglot Bible (1569-1573) ● Ricardo Heredia, comte de Benahavis (1831-1896) ● Maurice Delestre & Em. Paul, L. Huard et Guillemin, Bibliothèque de M. Ricardo Heredia, comte de Benahavis, Première partie, Paris, 22-30 May 1891, lot 3 [link]. Cf. S. Martínez Hernández, “La biblioteca del convento”, op. cit., pp.53-54 (entry for this work in 1617 inventory)

65 (tranche avec le titre et les armes peintes)
71 (avec titre et armes peintes sur la tranche)
73 (v. gaufré [link])

Diego de Villalobos y Benavides, Concordia Euangelistarum, seu sanctum Iesu Christi Euangelium secundum quatuor, Didaco de Villalobos concinnatore: cum eiusdem annotationibus perpaucis illis quidem, sed minime vulgaribus (Valladolid: Sebastián Martínez, 1555) ● Gómez Dávila y Toledo ● Fraysse & Associés, Livres anciens & modernes, Paris, 6 March 2013, lot 25 (“écussons et blasons peintes sur les tranches” [link]) ● Jean-Baptiste de Proyart, Paris ● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 2013) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana #2287; to be sold by Sotheby’s in 2024-2025]

83 (tranche peinte et armoriée)
86 (tranche armoriée)
87 (tranche peinte et armoriée)
90 (tranche peinte et armoriée)
94 (tranche peinte et armoriée aux armes de Don Sanche Davila [link])

Ludolphus de Saxonia, Ludolphi Chartus In Psal. Dauid, diligentiss. simul & doctissima enarratio (Lyon: Antoine Vincent, 1542)

97 (tranche dorée et ciselée. Armoiries du cardinal Don Sanche Davila, archevêque de Tolède [link])

Gaspar Sánchez, Gasparis Sanctii Centumputeolani … In Isaiam prophetam commentarii cum paraphrasi (Lyon: Horace Cardon, 1616)

112 (tranche armoriée)
126 (3 vol. in-8, v. gaufré. Rel ancienne, aux armes [link])

Luis de Granada, Conciones quae de praecipuis sanctorum festis in ecclesia habentur, a festo sancti Andreae usque ad festum beatae Mariae Magdalenae (Antwerp: Christophe Plantin, 1584), with: II: quae quartis et sextis feriis et diebus dominicis quadragesimae in ecclesia haberi sunt (Antwerp: Christophe Plantin, 1584 [1587]), with: Quinque de poenitentia conciones, habitae in quadragesima post meridiem: in quibus primum quidem exhortatio ad poenitentiam continetur (Antwerp: Christophe Plantin, 1584 [1587]) ● Gómez Dávila y Toledo ● Bauffremont, inkstamps ● Thomas Kendrick, exlibris ● Eric Speeckaert, Brussels ● Claude Sorgeloos, Labore et constantia: a collection of 510 editions issued by Christopher Plantin from 1555 till 1589 [catalogue of an exhibition from Speeckaert’s stock at the Bibliotheca Wittockiana, 10 May-16 June 1990] (Brussels: Eric Speeckaert, 1990), nos. 319-320, 322 ● Culturafonds, NV, Dilbeek, Belgium

157 (3 tom. en 2 vol. in-fol. v. fauve, milieu, rel. du temps [link])

Jean Gerson, Ioannis Gersonii doctoris et cancellarii parisiensis, Opera multò quàm antehac auctiora & castigatiora Inque parte quatuor distributa [part 2:] Secunda pars Operam; Maximè continet, quae ad mores sanctius informandos conducent [part 3:] Tertia pars Operum, Mysticam theologiam, & meditandi rationem demonstrat [part 4:] Quarta pars Operum, conciones ad populum praesertim complectitur (Paris: Compagnie de la Grand-Navire, 1606) ● Sancho Dávila y Toledo ● Jean-Baptiste de Proyart, Paris ● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 2013) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana #2427; to be sold by Sotheby’s in 2024-2025]

165 (2 vol. in-fol., rel. en bois, cuir gaufré [link])

Rupert de Deutz, Ruperti Abbatis Monasterii Tuitiensis, ordinis D. Benedicti, viri undequaque doctissimi, summique inter veteres theologi. Opera omnia. Nunc recens in unum corpus collecta, diligenter recognita, & à quàm plurimis mendis vindicata: divisa in tres tomos, quorum quid singuli contineant, vide pagina sequente. Additis Indicibus quàm locupletissimis [- II, III] (Cologne: Heirs of Arnold I Birckmann, 1577) ● Gómez Dávila y Toledo ● Order of Capuchin Friars Minor, Province of Flanders ● unidentified owner, blue inkstamp, “B” under a ducal crown ● Lamotte, booksellers’ ticket ● Romantic Agony Book auctions, Auction 37, Brussels, 21-22 November 2008, lot 1151 ● Jean-Baptiste de Proyart, Paris ● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 2009) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana #2354; to be sold by Sotheby’s in 2024-2025]

185 (tranche peinte aux armes de Don Sancho Davila, évêque de Carthagène [link])

Jean Gerson, Summa theologica et canonica Ioannis Gerson, praestantissimi, ac cancellarii insignis ecclesiae cathedralis Parisien. in sex libros digesta (Venice: Domenico Nicolini da Sabbio, 1587)

217 (6 vol. in-4, bas. [link])

presumably Felipe Díez, Quadruplicium concionum super Evangelia omnium Sanctorum, quibus etiam funebres conciones accesserunt, tomi tertii secunda pars (Salamanca: Juan Fernández, 1584) ● Lyon, Bibliothèque municipale, Chomarat 5432 (“peintes avec titre: ‘Sermones ff. Philippe Diez…’ et deux blasons 16e siècle” [link])

329 (aux armes de don Sancho Davila, évêque de Carthagène [link])

Gabriel Vázquez, Opuscula moralia (Alcalá de Henares: Widow of Juan Gracián, 1617)

355 (cuir, gaufré, tranche peinte aux armes de Don Sanche Davila [link])

Georg Agricola, De re metallica libri XII (Basel: Hieronymus Froben & Nikolaus Episcopius, 1556) ● Gómez Dávila y Toledo ● Schweinfurt, Bibliothek Otto Schäfer ● Jonathan Hill, New York; their Catalogue 218 (New York 2016), item 2 (incorrectly identifying the book as from the library of Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, 3rd Duke of Alba [link]). Manfred von Arnim, “Otto Schäfer: Ein Sammlerporträt” in Philobiblon 26 (1982) p.137; Fünf Jahrhunderte Buchillustration: Meisterwerke der Buchgraphik aus der Bibliothek Otto Schäfer, catalogue by Eduard Isphording and Manfred von Arnim ([Nuremberg] 1987), no. 95 (incorrectly identifying the fore-edge insignia as “Ex. Cosimo I Medici”)

379 (tr. peinte et armoriée)
404 (tranche peinte et armoriée)
458 (tranche peinte et armoriée)
600 (tranche peinte aux armes de Don Sanche Davila [link])

Sidonius Apollinaris, Epistolae et carmina (Milan: Uldericus Scinzenzeler for Hieronymus de Asula and Johannes de Abbatibus, 4 May 1498) ● John Francis Naylon (1885-1960) ● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of a selected portion of the well-known library of the late John Francis Neylan of San Francisco, London, 28 May 1962, lot 173 (“the title of the work, two coats of arms, and leafy sprays painted on the fore-edge”) ● University of Iowa Libraries, Folio PA6694 .S7 1498 (“Fore-edge painting enclosing title”; link, images)

601 (armoiries peintes sur les tranches)
602 (tr. peinte [link])

Publius Vergilius Maro, Bucolicorum, Georgicorum et Aeneidos: cum accurata simul & fideli Seruij Mauri Honorati expositione (Basel: Johannes Walder, 1534) ● Alain & Evelyne Morel de Westgaver, Brussels, 27 September 2014, part lot 456 (“étiquette de la Biblioteca del excmo. Senor Marques de Astorga dont les armes ont été dessinées à l’encre sur la tranche”)

709 (tr. dor. peinte, ciselée et armoriée)
726 (bas. [only] [link])

Angelo Poliziano, Opera: quae quidem extitere hactenus, omnia (Basel: Nikolaus II Episcopius, 1553) ● Gómez Dávila y Toledo ● Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, Houghton Library, *IC.P7595.C553o (image of fore-edge)

727 (3 vol. in-fol., anc. rel., v. gaufré [link])

Marcus Antonius Sabellicus, Opera omnia, ab infinitis quibus scatebant mendis, repurgata & castigata (Basel: Johannes II Herwagen, 1560) ● Bernard Galateau & Pierre Poulain, Montignac, 24-26 August 2006, lot 821 (“Tranches peintes de motifs représentant des fleurs, ainsi que le titre, la tomaison et les armes du premier possesseur. Ex-libris du marquis de Astorga au titre, et cachet “BB” couronné et armorié au titre” [link])

758 (3 vol. pet. in fol., rel. peau de daim [link])

St Antoninus, Historiarum tribus tomis discretarum solertiorique studio recognitarum pars prima (Lyon: Jean Clein, 1517) ● Gómez Dávila y Toledo ● Pierre Berge, Livres, autographes & manuscrits, Paris, 18 June 203, lot 63 (2 volumes only, lacking volume 1 [link])

855 (cuir gaufré [link])

presumably Procopius of Caesarea, De rebus Gothorum, Persarum ac Vandalorum libri VII (Basel: Johannes I Herwagen, 1531) ● Puttick & Simpson, The Library of Major F. Bennett-Golney, 14-15 April 1920, lot 422 (“fore-edge painted with arms and title, the Marques de Astorga copy, with ticket” [link])

885 (aux armes d’un marquis de Davila [link])

Philippe de Commynes, d’Argenton, Les memoires de messire Philippe de Comines … sur les principaux faicts, & gestes de Louis onziéme & de Charles huictiéme … reueues & corrigez par Denis Sauuage de Fontenailles en Brie (Paris: Jean de Roigny, 1552)

938 (tranche peinte, aux armes de Don Sanche Davila, évêque de Carthagène [link])

Statuta et privilegia almae Universitatis iuristarum Gymnasii Bononiensis (Bologna: Alessandro Benacci, 1561), bound with: Statuta Collegii Hispanorum Bononiae (Bologna: Antonio Giaccarelli & Pellegrino Bonardo, 1558), bound with: Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, Historia de bello administrato in Italia per annos XV & confecto ab illustrissimo ac reverendissimo car.le Aegidio Albornotio, pontificis max. Inno. VI. qui Avenione tunc residebat legato, sacris & insignis Hispanorum Collegii quod Bonon. est fundatore (Bologna: Antonio Giaccarelli & Pellegrino Bonardo, 1559), bound with a third work

998 (tranche peinte, aux armes de Don Sanche Davila, évêque de Carthagène [link])

Pietro Bizari, Rerum persicarum historia, initia gentis, mores, instituta: resque gestas ad haec tempora complectens (Frankfurt: Heirs of Andreas Wechel, 1601) ● Marie-Françoise Robert, Bibliothèque de M. Dubourg: libraire à Avignon dans les années 20, Paris, 2 February 2007, lot 530 (“relié veau époque estampé à froid… Tranche peinte aux armes du Marquis de Astorga” [link])

1057 (described only as ‘v.’ (i.e., veau) [link])

possibly Johannes Magnus, Historiae (qua uix alia lectu iucundior) de Gothorum Sueonomque rebus gestis, lib. XXIIII (Cologne: Johann Birckmann, 1567) ● Maurice Escoffier, Paris; their Le Miroir des livres antiques et nouveaux. Bulletin périodique de la Maison du bibliophile (Paris 1922), p.49 no. 342 (“v. br. … Aux armes sur la tranche du Marquis D’Astorga dont l’ex-libris figure sur le titre. Reliure en mauvais état” [link])

seconde partie – may 1870

The second sale, comprised of manuscripts offered in 93 lots, does not seem to have contained any binding with fore-edge decoration.

troisième partie – june 1870

Lot 6 (tranche armoriée)
14 (tranche armoriée)
27 (tranches dorée, ciselée et damasquinée)
30 (tranche armoriée)
32 (tranche armoriée)
33 (tranche armoriée)
37 (rel. en bois, recouvert de cuir gaufré)

Desiderius Erasmus, Tomus primus [-secundus] Paraphraseon Des. Erasmi in Nouum Testamentum (Basel: Hieronymus Froben & Nikolaus Episcopius 1541) ● Alfred André, exlibris ● Paris, Bibliothèque du protestantisme français, André 47 (“Exemplaire expurgé… Tranches peintes avec le titre et les armoiries d′un propriétaire précédent, traces de fermoirs, reliure estampée à froid, dos restauré. Ex-libris gravé de la Biblioteca del excmo. señor Marques de Astorga” [link])

47 (tranche armoriée)
48 (tranche armoriée)
63 (tranche armoriée)
82 (armes, tranche dor. et ciselée)
145 (tranche armoriée)
149 (tranche armoriée)
150 (tranche armoriée)
153 (tranche armoriée)
158 (tranches peintes aux armes de Don Sancho Davila, évêque de Carthagène [link])

Gabriel Biel, Super canone missae cum additionibus. sacri canonis misse et omnium mysteriorum que de ritu ecclesie catholice in missa sunt tum mystica tum literalis expositio iterum revisa et castigata (Lyon: Antoine Blanchard for Simon Vincent, 1527)

160 (tranche armoriée)
161 (tranche armoriée)
170 (tranche armoriée)
182 (tranche armoriée)
185 (tranche armoriée)
188 (tranche armoriée)
192 (tranche armoriée)
199 (tranche armoriée)
202 (tranche armoriée)
204 (tranche armoriée [link])

Guillermus Altissiodorensis, Summa aurea in quattuor libros Sententiarum Petri Lombardi(Paris: François Regnault, [1514?]) ● Gómez Dávila y Toledo ● University of Glasgow Library, Sp Coll BD7-d.19 (opac pen-work decoration on fore-edge: two coats of arms, foliage and title [link, image])

206 (9 tom. en 4 vol. … tranche armoriée [link])

St Jerome, Divi Hieronymi stridoniensis Opera omnia quae reperiri potuerunt (Paris 1578-1579) ● University of Toronto Libraries, F-11 00145 (“9 v. in 4… with the book label ‘Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga’. Finely executed titles and shelfmarks inscribed on edge of each volume with two unidentified coats of arms” [link])

215 (tranche armoriée)
241 (tranche armoriée)

presumably Richardus de Sancto Victore, Omnia opera in unum volumen congesta solerti cura ac diligentia emendata (Paris: Jean Petit, 1518) ● George Dunn (1865-1912) ● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of the valuable and extensive library formed by George Dunn, esq. (deceased), Woolley Hall, near Maidenhead; sold under the will of the deceased. The third and final portion, London, 26-29 November 1917, lot 3663 (“contemporary Spanish binding of oak boards and leather, with stamped panellings of arabesques, fore-edges painted in flowers and armorial bearings; from the library of the Marques de Astorga”) [RBH Nov221917-3663]

247 (tranche armoriée [link])
250 (aux armes de don Sanche Davila, évêque de Carthagène [link]

St Teresa of Avila, Las obras de la S. Madre Teresa de Jesus de N. Señora del Carmen: primera parte (Antwerp: Balthasar I Moretus, 1630)

253 (tranche armoriée)
258 (tranche armoriée)
266 (tranche armoriée)
288 (tranche armoriée)
337 (tranche armoriée aux armes de Don Sancho Davila, évêque de Carthagène [link])

presumably Hector Pinto, In Isaiam Prophetam Commentaria (Antwerp: Joannes Steelsius, 1572)

345 (tranche peinte aux armes de Don Sancho Davila [link])

Johann Herolt, Sermones discipuli de tempore et sanctis et quadragesimale, cum promptuario, ac diversis tabulis perqua necessariis (Lyon: Jacques Myt for Scipion Gabiano, 1534)

355 (tranche armoriée)
358 (tranche armoriée)
382 (tranche armoriée [link])

Barnabé Brisson, De Verborum Quae ad jvs Pertinent Significatione Libri XIX (Paris 1596) ● Sancho Dávila y Toledo ● Alde, Livres anciens du XVe au XIXe siècle, 4 March 2016, lot 3 (“Tranche de gouttière ornée à l’encre brune d’un cartel central contenant le titre de l’ouvrage et le double écu d’armes de Sancho Davila Toledo” [link]). Matthieu Desachy, L'héraldique et le livre (Toulouse & Paris 2002), pp.96-97 & Fig. 78 (incorrectly as “Tranche armoriée peinte aux armes de Benjamin de Brichanteau, évêque de Laon (1585-1619). Sur Brisson, De verborum, Paris, 1596. Coll. privée”; “… les armes désignent un évêque qui pourrait s’apparenter étrangement â la famille de Brichanteau, évêque de Laon”)

409 (tranche armoriée)
431 (tranche armoriée)
435 (tranche armoriée [link])

John Bassol, In quartum sententiarum opus (Paris: Jean Frellon, 1517) ● Rush Christopher Hawkins (1831-1920) ● George A. Leavitt & Co., The library of General Rush C. Hawkins, New York, 21-25 March 1887, lot 1707 (“This copy came from the library of the ‘Marques de Astorga,’ whose bookplate is on the back of title, and whose coat-armor is drawn on the fore red edges of the volume. There are two shields, both surmounted with coronets - one bearing - ‘six roundles’ and the other is ‘chequey’.” [link])

447 (tranche armoriée)
459 (tranche armoriée [link])

Gregor Reisch, Margarita philosophica, rationalis, moralis philosophiae (Basel: excudebat Henricus Petrus, 1535) ● John Scott (1830-1903) ● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of the valuable and extensive library of the late John Scott, Esq., London, 27 March-6 April 1905, lot 1949; returned (as imperfect), resold ● Catalogue of valuable, rare and interesting books and important illuminated and other manuscripts, London, 6-9 December 1905, lot 370 (“old Spanish calf, with coat of arms (Marques de Astorga?) on fore-edges” [link])

461 (tranche armoriée [link])

Ricardus de Mediavilla, In secundum Sententiarum questiones solidissime (Venice: Lazzaro Soardi, 28 March [1509]) ● Gómez Dávila y Toledo ● Bruce McKittrick Rare Books Inc.; their Catalogue 40: Recent acquisitions (Narberth, PA [2001?]), item 29 (insignia wrongly interpreted as that of Cosimo I de’Medici and his wife Eleanora of Toledo)

469 (tranche armoriée)
470 (tranche armoriée)
479 (tranche armoriée [link])

The sale cataloguer describes three Basel editions of Seneca’s Opera in folio, printed in 1523 (lot 479: rel. en bois, cuir gaufré, tranche armoriée), 1529 (lot 480: rel. en bois, cuir gaufré), 1548 (lot 481: bas.).
One of these may be identical with the copy of an undated folio edition of Seneca, Opera et ad dicendi facultatem, et ad bene vivendum utilissima (Basel: [Johann Herwagen, ca 1541]) ● Sancho Dávila y Toledo ● Hercule Jean-Baptiste de Peyerimhoff de Fontenelle (1809-1890), armorial exlibris ● Lapoyade Deschamps, armorial exlibris ● Alde, Livres anciens et modernes, 13 December 2011, lot 124 (“gouttière peinte… La tranche de gouttière de cet exemplaire a été ornée à l’encre brune: outre le titre de l’ouvrage au centre, deux écus d’armes se répartissent en haut et en bas de la tranche, séparés du titre par de grands motifs végétaux. Le premier écu porte les armes des Davila, marquis de Velada, et le second celles des Alvarez de Toledo, ducs d’Alba de Tormes, et tous deux sont surmontés d’une couronne de marquis et d’un chapeau ecclésiastique. Cette réunion suggère que l’exemplaire aurait appartenu à Sancho Davila Toledo (1546-1625), évêque de Carthagène, de Jaén, de Sigüenza et enfin de Plasencia, qui descendait des deux familles. De la bibliothèque du marquis d’Astorga (1870, III, n° 480), avec ex-libris sur le second feuillet” [link]) ● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased in the above sale) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana #2114; to be sold by Sotheby’s in 2024-2025]

494 (tranche armoriée [link])

Constitutiones tam commodae aptaeque: quam sanctae almae salmanticensis scademiae toto terrarum orbe florentissimae (Salamanca: Juan María de Terranova, 1562), bound with: Estatutos hechos por la muy insigne universidad de Salamanca, año de 1561 (Salamanca: Juan María de Terranova, 1561) ● Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, Houghton Library, Typ 560.62.766 (opac, [link]). Anne Anninger, Spanish and Portuguese 16th century books in the Department of Printing and Graphic Arts: description of an exhibition and a bibliographical catalogue of the collection (Cambridge, MA 1985), p.69 no. 151

530 (tranche armoriée)
531 (Aux armes de la famille Davila [link])

Guillaume Rondelet, La premiere [-seconde] partie de l’histoire entiere des poissons (Lyon: Macé Bonhomme, 1558)

570 (described only as “n. rel.”, i.e. disbound)

presumably Boethius, Arithmetica, duobus discreta libris (Paris: Simon de Colines, 1521) ● Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, Houghton Library, Typ 515.21.224. Ruth Mortimer, Harvard College Library: Department of Printing and Graphic Arts: Catalogue of books and manuscripts part I: French 16th century books (Cambridge, MA 1964), I, p.139 no. 107 (bound in “half red morocco, modern vellum”; “labelled in ms. on fore-edge (this title and the title of another work on arithmetic which apparently followed this in an earlier binding), coats of arms sketched and painted in brown and yellow on fore-edge, other edges yellow, with Astorga label”)

578 (tranche armoriée)
652 (tranche armoriée, aux armes du marquis d’Astorga [link]

Simeone Maiolo, Dies Caniculares Hoc est Colloquia Tria Et Viginti Physica, Nova Et Penitus admiranda ac summa iucunditate concinnata (Mainz: Johann Albin, 1607)

673 (tranche armoriée)
728 (tranche armoriée)
778 (tranche armoriée)
781 (tranche armoriée [link])

Guillaume Budé, Commentarii linguae Graecae, Gulielmo bvdaeo, consiliario regio, supplicumque libellorum in regia magistro, auctore (Cologne: Johann Soter, 1530) ● Gómez Dávila y Toledo ● H.P. Kraus, New York ● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 2001) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana #2061; to be sold by Sotheby’s in 2024-2025]

785 (tranche armoriée)
797 (tranche armoriée [link])

Conrad Gesner, Lexicon graecolatinum post Conradum Gesnerum Philosophum, Arnoldum Arlenium pari eruditione & diligentia viros & post Adriani Iunij Medici … accessionem, postremo nunc non mediocriter auctum per Ioannem Hartongum graecarum leterarum peritissimum (Basel: Hieronymus Curio for Heinrich Petri, 1552) ● Sancho Dávila y Toledo ● Henry Duhamel (1853-1917), exlibris ● Audiberty & Mme Blot, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de M. Henry Duhamel de Gières (Isère), 2e partie, 15-20 May 1922, lot ● H.P. Kraus, New York ● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 1994) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana #2264; to be sold by Sotheby’s 2024-2025]

845 (tranche armoriée)
846 (tranche armoriée)
857 (in fol., bas. [link])

Publius Papinius Statius, Statii Sylvae cum Domitii commentariis. Et Avancii sui emendationibus. Statii Thebais cum Lactantii commentariis. Statii Achilleis cum Matura[n]tii co[m]mentariis. Domitii alie annotationes (Venice: Petrus de Quarengiis, Bergomensis, 15 January 1498/99 and 1 July 1499) ● Aristide Marre (1823-1918) ● Bernard Quaritch, Boston International Antiquarian Bookfair - 2022, item 68 [link]

859 (tranche armoriée)
914 (tranche ciselée)
930 (tranche peinte)
936 (tranche armoriée)
937 (tranche armoriée)
943 (tranche armoriée)
990 (tranche armoriée)
994 (tranche armoriée)
998 (tranche armoriée)
1004 (tranche armoriée)
1010 (tranche peinte et ciselée aux armes de la famille d’Astorga [link])

Collectio diversarum constitutionum et litterarum Rom. pont. a Gregorio VII usque ad sanctissimum dominum nostrum dominum Gregorium XIII. Cum quadruplici indice (Rome: Heirs of Antonio Blado, 1579)

1022 (tranche armoriée)
1027 (tranche peinte)
1028 (tranche ciselée)
1058 (tranche armoriée)
1060 (tranche armoriée)
1061 (tranche armoriée)
1066 (tranche armoriée)
1071 (v. gaufré, anc. rel. [link])

Publius Cornelius Tacitus, P. Cornelii Taciti equitis romani Annalium ab excessu augusti sicut ipse vocat, sive Historiae Augustae, qui vulgo receptus titulus est, libri sedecim qui supersunt, partim haud oscitanter perlecti, partim nempe posteriores ad exemplar manuscriptum recogniti magna fide nec minore iudicioi per Beatum Rhenanum (Basel: Hieronymus Froben & Nicolaus Episcopus, 1533) ● Gómez Dávila y Toledo ● Maggs Bros, London; their Catalogue 986: Ancient, mediaeval and modern, No. 17: Italy (London 1978), item 111 ● Heribert Boeder (1928-2013) ● Christie’s South Kensington Ltd, The Boeder Library: fine books from the collection of the late Professor Heribert Boeder, London, 17 June 2014, lot 187 (“an Italian noble collection: fore-edge arms, marginalia in an attractive contemporary hand” [link]) ● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased at the above sale) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana #2075; to be sold by Sotheby’s in 2024-2025]

1330 (tranche armoriée)
1356 (tranche arm.)
1359 (tranche armoriée [link])

Jacques de Meyer, Commentarii siue annales rerum Flandricarum libri septendecim (Antwerp: In aedibus Ioannis Steelsii, 1561) ● SVV Jean Emmanuel Prunier, Livres anciens et modernes, Louviers, 14 February 2016, lot 29 (“tranche de gouttière avec titre manuscrit et pièces d’armes peintes au lavis… Ex libris du Marquis de Astorga” [link])

1361 (tranche armoriée)
1365 (tranche armoriée)
1409 (tranche armoriée)
1410 (tranche armoriée)
1448 (tranche armoriée)
1450 (tranche armoriée)
1466 (tranche armoriée [link])

Michael Stifel, Arithmetica integra. Authore Michaele stifelio. Cum praefatione (Nuremberg: Johann Petreius, 1544) ● Gómez Dávila y Toledo ● Pierre Berès, Paris ● Pierre Bergé, Pierre Berès, 80 ans de passion: fonds de la librairie Pierre Berès, des incunables à nos jours. 1ère partie. 28 October 2005, lot 46 (“armes espagnoles et titre du livre calligraphié sur la tranche de gouttière” [link])

1471 (tranche armoriée)
1484 (tranche armoriée)

Some books with decorated fore-edges cannot be identified in the Paris sale catalogues, and it is unclear how these first entered the market:

♦ Johann Boehme, Mores, leges, et ritus omnium gentium ([Lyon]: Franciscus Perrinus, 1570) ● Auction Art Rémy Le Fur & Associés, Livres & manuscrits, Paris, 28 March 2017, lot 74 (“tranche extérieure ornée d’un décor à deux figures héraldiques dessinées à l’encre encadrant le titre… De la bibliothèque Marques de Astorga, avec ex-libris”)

♦ Desiderius Erasmus, Epistolae familiares (Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1542) ● Artcurial, Livres et manuscrits, Paris, 31 May 2016, lot 6 (“Sancho Dávila y Toledo (armes peintes sur la tranche de gouttière). - Marquis d’Astorga (ex-libris au verso du titre)” [link])

♦ Gaietanus de Thienis, Super libros de anima (Venice: Gregorius de Gregoriis, 1505), with: St Thomas Aquinas, Commentarius in librum Aristotelis De anima (Venice: Antonello di Barasconi and Guilelmus Anima Mia, Tridinensis, 1485), with: Johannes de Janduno, Quaestiones de caelo et mundo ([Venice]: Bonetus Locatellus for Octavianus Scotus, 1501) ● Cambridge University Libraries, Inc.3.B.3.81[1624] (“Book label ‘Biblioteca del exc[ellentissimo]. Señor Marques de Astorga’ on leaf A2 recto of item no. 1… Penwork decoration on fore-edge with coats-of-arms (1. six bezants; 2. checky), foliate and titles” [link])

♦ Isocrates, Orationes omnes, quarum nomina in sequenti inuenies pagina: addita variae lectionis annotatione (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Braubach, 1540) ● Gómez Dávila y Toledo ● Patrick King Rare Books, Catalogue 14: Sixteenth century books (Stony Stratford 1988), item 25 (illustrated p.23) ● Kenneth John Hewett (1919-1994) ● Patrick King Rare Books, Catalogue 17: Gothic and Renaissance bookbindings from the collection of K.J. Hewett (Stony Stratford 1998), item 29 ● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 1999 [Bibliotheca Brookeriana #2108; to be sold by Sotheby’s in 2024-2025]

♦ Flavius Vegetius Renatus, Flavii Vegetii Renati viri illustris de re militari. Sexti Iulii Frontini viri consularis de strategematis. Aeliani de instruendis aciebus. Modesti De uocabulis rei militaris, Praeclara opera nunc demum ad multorum uetussimorum codicum fidem recognita & castigate (Cologne: Eucharius Cervicornus, 1532) ● Gómez Dávila y Toledo ● Jean-Baptiste de Proyart, Paris, 2007 ● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 2007) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana #2071; to be sold by Sotheby’s in 2024-2025]