The libraries of Gómez Dávila y Toledo (ca 1535-1616) and Sancho Dávila y Toledo (1546-1625) View larger

The libraries of Gómez Dávila y Toledo (ca 1535-1616) and Sancho Dávila y Toledo (1546-1625)

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

Volumes with painted insignia of Gómez Dávila y Toledo (ca 1535-1616)
Poliziano (I, lot 726) — Stifel (III, lot 1466) — Statius (III, lot 857)

Volumes with painted insignia of 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

Volume with painted insignia of 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)

provenance
● Sancho Dávila y Toledo
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 24-29 January 1870, lot 63
● 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)

provenance
● Sancho Dávila y Toledo
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga” on fol. *4 of Vol. 1 (opac)
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 24-29 January 1870, lot 64 (“Magnifique exemplaire de cette Bible polyglotte estimée, ornée d’admirables frontispices gravés, exécutés par ordre de Philippe II. Ce livre est un véritable monument typographique. Cet exemplaire parait avoir été donné en présent par le roi Philippe II à don Sancho Davila. La reliure est d’une conservation remarquable et a gardé ses anciens fermoirs en cordons de soie, tors avec boutons en ivoire.”)
● 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 (“8 vol. in-fol. à 2 col. front, et pi. v. noir ant. fil. fleurons et milieu dorés, tr. dor. … Exemplaire de don Sancho Davila y Toledo, évoque de Carthagène, dont on voit les armes peintes sur la tranche des volumes. Il provient de la bibliothèque du marquis d'Astorga et est couvert d'une curieuse reliure avec fermoirs et cordons de soie et boutons en ivoire.” [link])
apparently Bernard Quaritch, London - bought in sale
● Manchester, John Rylands Library, R4425 (opac Arms of Sancho Dávila Toledo on fore-edge of each volume: top - round shield, six circular devices, coronet crest, mounted by clerical hat; bottom - shield with chequerboard pattern, coronet crest, mounted by clerical hat (galero). See library invoice 52/1 June 1891 Bernard Quaritch. … Printed label on fol. *4 of Vol. 1: Biblioteca del excmo Senor Marques de Astorga. Sixteenth-century dark calf with gilt fillets; centrepiece and cornerpieces (probably Spanish) [link])

literature
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 (petit in-8, 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)

provenance
● Gómez Dávila y Toledo
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 24-29 January 1870, lot 73
● 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; offered by Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, Part V, London, 10 December 2024, lot 1238]

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])

provenance
● Gómez Dávila y Toledo
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 24-29 January 1870, lot 126
● Bauffremont, inkstamp
● Thomas Kendrick, exlibris
● Eric Speeckaert, Brussels
● Culturafonds, NV, Dilbeek, Belgium

literature
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 (“The two shields painted on the edge seem very similar to the arms of the Spanish family de Toledo, Dukes of Alva, and to the famed family de Médicis in Italy.”)

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)

provenance
● Sancho Dávila y Toledo
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 24-29 January 1870, lot 157
● Jean-Baptiste de Proyart, Paris
● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 2013) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana #2427]
● Sotheby’s Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, Part V, London, 10 December 2024, lot 1104 (£2540) [link]
● New York, Morgan Library & Museum

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)

provenance
● Gómez Dávila y Toledo
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 24-29 January 1870, lot 165
● 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 (“5 works in 3 vols, folio, richly decorated blindstamped calf over wood … richly decorated fore-edge titles on all vol., yellow edges”) [RBH 37-1151]
● unidentified pwner - bought in sale (€2706)
● Jean-Baptiste de Proyart, Paris
● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 2009) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana #2354; offered by Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, Part V, London, 10 December 2024, lot 1188]

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) [volume III only]

provenance
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 24-29 January 1870, lot 217
● Lyon, Bibliothèque municipale, Chomarat 5432 (“Reliure veau marbré 17e siècle filet doré de torsades sur les plats, dos à 5 nerfs, pièce de titre maroquin rouge : "Diez Concione. V" ; tranches peintes avec titre : "Sermones ff. Philippe Diez ..." et deux blasons 16e siècle. Ex-libris imprimé au verso de la page de titre : "Bibliotheca Del Excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga"” [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)

provenance
● Gómez Dávila y Toledo
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 24-29 January 1870, lot 355
● Otto Schäfer (1912-2000)
● 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])

literature
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)

provenance
● Sancho Dávila y Toledo
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 24-29 January 1870, lot 600
● Otto Vollbehr (1869-1946), exlibris, “Vollbehr Inkunabel Sammlung”
● John Francis Neylan (1885-1960). exlibris
● 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”) [RBH MAINZ-173]
● Davis & Orioli, London - bought in sale
● Zeitlin & Ver Brugge Booksellers, Los Angeles
● 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)

provenance
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 24-29 January 1870, lot 602
● 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”)

604 (in-fol., v. Armoiries peintes sur les tranches [link])

Publius Vergilius Maro, P. Virgilii Maronis poetarum principis Opera accuratissime castigata. Cum XI acerrimi iudicii virorum commentariis, Seruio presertim atque Donato nunc primum ad suam integritatem restitutis excusa (Venice: Lucantonio Giunta, 1537)

provenance
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 24-29 January 1870, lot 604
● Édouard Didron (1836-1902)
● Léon Tual & Em. Paul et Fils et Guillemin, Bibliothèque iconographique et archéologique de feu M. Edouard Didron, Paris, 11-14 February 1903, lot 498 (“Sur la tranche extérieure, se trouvent peintes au lavis, les armoiries de Don Sancho Davila y Toledo, évêque de Carthagène. Exemplaire provenant de la bibliothèque du Marquis de Astorga” [link])

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

Angelo Poliziano, Opera: quae quidem extitere hactenus, omnia (Basel: Nikolaus II Episcopius, 1553)

provenance
● Gómez Dávila y Toledo
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 24-29 January 1870, lot 726
● George Ticknor (1791-1871), portion of his “Library of Spanish and Portuguese Literature” bequeathed to
● Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, Houghton Library, *IC.P7595.C553o (opac, [link]; image, [link])

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)

provenance
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 24-29 January 1870, lot 727
● 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)

provenance
● Gómez Dávila y Toledo
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 24-29 January 1870, lot 758
● Jérôme de Sandonat, inscription on title-pages (Bergé)
● Pierre Bergé, Livres, autographes & manuscrits, Paris, 18 June 2013, 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)

provenance
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 24-29 January 1870, lot 855
● Major Francis Bennett-Goldney (1865-1918), Abbotts Barton, Canterbury
● Puttick & Simpson, The Library of Major F. Bennett-Goldney, 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)

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)

provenance
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 24-29 January 1870, lot 998
● 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)

provenance
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 24-29 January 1870, lot 1057
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)

provenance
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 31 May-4 June 1870, lot 37
● 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?])



provenance
● Gómez Dávila y Toledo
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 31 May-4 June 1870, lot 204
● Thomas Arthur (bookseller), London
● William Euing (1788-1874), his bequest 1874
● 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: Sébastien Nivelle, Henri Thierry, 1578-1579)

provenance
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 31 May-4 June 1870, lot 206
● Ralph Gordon Stanton (1923-2010), gifted in 2007 to
● University of Toronto Libraries, F-11 00145 (opac 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)

provenance
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 31 May-4 June 1870, lot 241
● 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)

provenance
● Sancho Dávila y Toledo
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 31 May-4 June 1870, lot 382
● 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])

literature
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)

provenance
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 31 May-4 June 1870, lot 435
● 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)

provenance
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 31 May-4 June 1870
● 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
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, 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])
● Brooks - bought in sale (£2 10s)

461 (tranche armoriée [link])

Ricardus de Mediavilla, In secundum Sententiarum questiones solidissime (Venice: Lazzaro Soardi, 28 March [1509])

provenance
● Gómez Dávila y Toledo
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 31 May-4 June 1870, lot 461
● “stamps of the Augustinian Convents of Louvain and Lormoy” (McKittrick)
● 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:

Seneca, Opera et ad dicendi facultatem, et ad bene vivendum utilissima (Basel: [Johann Herwagen, ca 1541])

provenance
● Sancho Dávila y Toledo
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 31 May-4 June 1870, lot 479 or 480
● 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; offered by Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, Part V, London, 10 December 2024, lot 1194]

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)

provenance
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 31 May-4 June 1870, lot 494
● Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, Houghton Library, Typ 560.62.766 (opac [link])

literature
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)

provenance
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 31 May-4 June 1870, lot 570
● Cambridge, MA, Harvard University, Houghton Library, Typ 515.21.224 (opac, [link])

literature
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 (pet. in-fol., bas. Tranche armoriée [link])

Guillaume Budé, Commentarii linguae Graecae, Gulielmo bvdaeo, consiliario regio, supplicumque libellorum in regia magistro, auctore (Cologne: Johann Soter, 1530)

provenance
● Gómez Dávila y Toledo
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 31 May-4 June 1870, lot 781
● H.P. Kraus, New York
● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 2001) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana #2061]
● Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, Part V, London, 10 December 2024, lot 1044 [link]
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (£2540)

785 (tranche armoriée)
797 (in-fol., ais de bois rec. de cuir gauf., 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)

provenance
● Sancho Dávila y Toledo
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 31 May-4 June 1870, lot 797
● Henry Duhamel (1853-1917), exlibris
● Audiberty & Mme Blot, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de M. Henry Duhamel de Gières (Isère), 2e partie, Lyon, 15-20 May 1922, lot
● H.P. Kraus, New York
● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 1994) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana #2264]
● Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, Part V, London, 10 December 2024, lot 1105 (£6985) [link]
● New York, Morgan Library & Museum

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)

provenance
● Gómez Dávila y Toledo
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 31 May-4 June 1870, lot 857
● Aristide Marre (1823-1918)
● Bernard Quaritch, Boston International Antiquarian Bookfair - 2022, item 68 (“18th-century Spanish mottled sheep, gilt border to covers, spine in compartments with gilt red morocco lettering-piece (chipped), fore-edge decorated with arms of Davila and Toledo and with title inked at centre” [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)

provenance
● Gómez Dávila y Toledo
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 31 May-4 June 1870, lot 1071
● 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]) [RBH 10266-187]
● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased at the above sale) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana #2075]
● Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, Part V, London, 10 December 2024, lot 1208 [link]
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (£2540)

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)

provenance
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 31 May-4 June 1870, lot 1359
● 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)

provenance
● Gómez Dávila y Toledo
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Vicente Pío, XVIII marqués de Astorga, XIV conde de Altamira, XV duque de Sessa (1801-1864)
● Victorien Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence le Marquis d’Astorga, Paris, 31 May-4 June 1870, lot 1466
● 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)

provenance
● Gómez Dávila y Toledo
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● 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” [link])


Desiderius Erasmus, Epistolae familiares (Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1542)

provenance
● Dávila y Toledo insignia (indistinct)
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● 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])
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (€1896)


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)

provenance
● by family descent to Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso (1744-1816), XVI marqués de Astorga, printed label “Biblioteca del excmo. Señor Marques de Astorga”
● Gustave David, Cambridge, inscription “Bought of G. David on 28 June 1905” (mei, [link])

● 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)

provenance
● Gómez Dávila y Toledo
● Patrick King Rare Books, Stony Stratford; their Catalogue 14: Sixteenth century books (Stony Stratford 1988), item 25 (illustrated p.23)
● Kenneth John Hewett (1919-1994)
● Patrick King Rare Books, Stony Stratford; their 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]
● Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, Part V, London, 10 December 2024, lot 1127 [link]
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (£1905)


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)

provenance
● Gómez Dávila y Toledo
● Jean-Baptiste de Proyart, Paris, 2007
● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 2007) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana #2071; offered by Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, Part V, London, 10 December 2024, lot 1229]

1. Delbergue-Cormont & Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de son excellence de le Marquis d’Astorga, Comte d’Altamira, Duc de Sesa, Première partie, Paris, 24-29 January 1870, lots 1-1085 [link]; … Deuxième partie: Manuscrits importants du XIIe, XIIIe siècle, avec et sans miniatures, Paris, 7 May 1870, lots 1-93 [link]; … Troisième partie, Paris, 31 May-4 June 1870, lots 1-1512 [link].

2. See Santiago Martínez Hernández, El Marqués de Velada y la Corte en los Reinados de Felipe II y Felipe III: Nobleza Cortesana y Cultura Política en la España del Siglo de Oro (Salamanca 2004), developed from the author’s doctoral dissertation: Don Gómez Dávila y Toledo, II Marqués de Velada, y la corte en los reinados de Felipe II y Felipe III (1553-1616), Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2002 [link].

3. The death in 1816 of the XV marqués de Astorga had required sale of properties in Spain, and of books and paintings in the London and Paris markets. For sales of books conducted in England, see Nigel Glendinning, “Spanish books in England 1800-1850” in Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society 3 (1959), pp.70-92; Geoffrey West, “Where are They Now? The Dispersal of Spanish Printed Book Collections, 1810-1850” in Migrations in Society, Culture and the Library, edited by Tom Kilton and Cires Birkhead (Chicago 2005), pp.208-215; Pedro M. Cátedra, Nobleza y lectura en tiempos de Felipe II. La biblioteca de don Alonso Osorio marqués de Astorga ([Valladolid] 2002), pp.50-51. Books from the Astorga library were entered in an auction conducted by Sotheby on 9 June 1825 (as “Altamira Library”, 1354 lots) and quietly introduced into other sales (see West, op. cit., p.210). A determined buyer in the Sotheby sale was the London bookseller Thomas Thorpe, who had recently purchased - apparently in Paris - several thousands of books from the Astorga library. Thorpe offered some of these volumes in an undated catalogue, entitled “Bibliotheca Hispana: catalogue of the extensive and very valuable library of the marques of Astorga, many years celebrated as being one of the richest in all Spain” (copy in British Library, SC 108/4). In 1826, facing bankruptcy, Thorpe consigned books to Evans, sold as “Mss, autographs, charters with seals… from the Astorga, Yriarte, and other celebrated collections” (London, 2-4 March 1826) and “Spanish & Portuguese books… collection of Thomas Thorpe” (London, 28 November 1826, 1320 lots). In 1827, Thorpe sold to the Library of the Faculty of Advocates, Edinburgh, some 3600 volumes of Astorga provenance; see James Hamilton Loudon, “The Astorga Collection of Spanish Books now in the National Library of Scotland” in Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos 70 (1962), pp.179-185; reprinted in Asociación de Bibliófilos de Barcelona, 25 años de la Asociación de Bibliófilos de Barcelona, IIIème Congrès International de Bibliophilie. Actes et communications (Barcelona 1971), pp.89-93; Paul Joseph Lennon, “Caveat emptor: the curious case of Scotland’s Astorga Collection” in The Library 25 (2024), pp.53-71.

4. Gregorio de Andrés, “La dispersión de la valiosa colección bibliográfica y documental de la Casa de Altamira” in Hispania 46 (1986), pp.587-635 (pp.606-614). Andrés speculates that the intermediary was Paul Chapuy, Vicente Pío’s librarian, and cites a statement made much later (1898) by Vicente Poleró, alleging that the purchase price was 20,000 pesetas. The anonymous cataloguer, presumably the sale expert, Antoine Bachelin-Deflorenne, states in the Préface (p.ix) that he has not been able to resist including books from other sources, specifically manuscripts, books on vellum, and Books of Hours. The first lot in the sale, a 12th-century Commentary of Beatus on the Apocalypse, appears to be one such addition; see Montague Rhodes James, A descriptive catalogue of the Latin manuscripts in the John Rylands library at Manchester, edited by Frank Taylor (Manchester 1980), p.9* and pp.17-26 no. 8. Lot 11, a 14th century manuscript of Guido de Columnis, Historia destructionis Troiae (now Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 78), and lot 14, a ca 1280 manuscript of Decretum Gratiani (now Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, W. 133), are others.

5. Jesús Gómez Jara, “Francisco de Mora, arquitecto del convento franciscano de Velada (Toledo)” in Anales Toledanos 31 (1994), pp.319-330 [link]; Santiago Martínez Hernández, “La biblioteca del convento de San Antonio de Padua de Velada (Toledo): origen y fortuna de la Librería Grande de los marqueses de Velada” in Archivo Ibero-americano. Estudios históricos sobre la Orden Franciscana en España y sus misiones 60 (no. 235, 2000), pp.35-68; S. Martínez Hernández, “Obras… que hazer para entretenerse: la arquitectura en la cultura nobiliario-cortesana del Siglo de Oro: a propósito del marqués de Velada y Francisco de Mora” in Anuario del Departamento de Historia y Teoría del Arte 15 (2003), pp.59-77. Graham Pollard, “Changes in the Style of Bookbinding, 1550-1830” in The Library, series 5, 11 (1956), p.73 (wrongly associates the fore-edge decoration with Pedro Álvarez Osorio, VI marqués de Astorga, d. 1589).

6. Madrid, Archivio del Instituto Valencia de Don Juan, Ms. 26-V-13, ff. 1-27: Ynventario de los libros, pinturas, estantes dorados y otras cosas de la librería que el Marqués de Velada mi señor tiene en Velada en su convento de San Antonio de la horden de san francisco descalços. An inventory of the library in the residence follows: ff. 211-240v: Inventario de los libros y pinturas que había en la librería de la Villa de Velada propia de los señores de ella. Velada, 25 de abril de 1624.

7.
Jacobo Sanz Hermida, “Un coleccionista de reliquias: don Sancho Dávila y el Estudio Salmantino” in Via spiritus 8 (2001), pp.59-93 [link].

8. Madrid, Archivio del Instituto Valencia de Don Juan, Ms. 26-V-13-14, ff. 313-314: Donación de los libros y cuadros del Obispo de Sigüenza, Sancho Dávila y Toledo, al Marqués de Velada en 1610. S. Martínez Hernández, “Semblanza”, op. cit., p.69.

9. Madrid, Archivio del Instituto Valencia de Don Juan, Ms. 26-V-12, ff. 139-210: Donación que hizo D. Sancho Dávila y Toledo, obispo de Sigüenza de toda la librería que tenía con sus estantes y pinturas que en ella había a su sobrino Antonio Sancho Dávila, Marqués de Velada y San Román. Sigüenza, 14 de mayo de 1617. S. Martínez Hernández, “La biblioteca del convento”, op. cit., pp.51-62: “Este inventario de 1617 es incluso más valioso que los posteriores, debido a que, en numerosas ocasiones, se mencionaba, completo, el pie de imprenta” (p.53).

10.
S. Martínez Hernández, “La biblioteca del convento”, op. cit., pp.49-51, 62-64; Cátedra, op. cit., pp.47-48, 87-88; Santiago Martínez Hernández, “Gusto, afición y bibliofilia. Prácticas de lectura en la nobleza española: a propósito de los marqueses de Velada y los libros” in La memoria de los libros: estudios sobre la historia del escrito y de la lectura en Europa y América, edited by Pedro Manuel Cátedra García, María Isabel Páiz Hernández, María Luisa López-Vidriero Abello (Salamanca 2004), I, pp.781-801.

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