Bookbinders’ panel stamps or plaques are large tools, incorporating a complete design, which are applied to a binding in a screw press, usually in a single operation (both covers simultaneously). In two previous posts, details of panel stamps assumed to have been made and used at Bologna before about 1560 were presented (1 - Rectangular plaques, [link]; 2 - Lobed elliptical plaques, [link]). Some panels used by bookbinders at Rome are mentioned below.

Binder’s panels were not engraved, but cast, and therefore were not unique objects, but multiples, identical except in the event of casting flaws (see previous discussion, [link]). No one knows who undertook their manufacture or how they were marketed. As anonymous merchandise, the panels are difficult to localise, let alone link to a specific binder. In the previous post, we saw that Anthony Hobson unhesitatingly associated certain panels with specific Bolognese shops, for the reason that a distinctive tool - a bust portrait, or an emblematic figure - also was employed, which Hobson recognised as the property of a particular binder.¹ But these small engraved tools are likely to have been made and sold in the same channels as the panel stamps, and, likewise, could have belonged to various binders, concurrently.

Panel stamps III-A/1 - III-A/2 - III-A/3 ; III-A/4 - III-A/5 - III-A/6

The evidence allowing Hobson to distinguish between Bolognese and Roman panel stamped bindings was not always adduced. Hobson identified as Roman five luxurious bindings produced ca 1509-1525 which feature panels of interlaced arabesque ornament and a bust portrait of Julius Caesar stamped in relief (III-A/1-5). Nothing comparable was ever made in the Bolognese workshops, where panels were used to produce economical, trade bindings, and ordinary finishing tools imitated the relief impression made by an intaglio stamp.

Panel stamps on bindings for G.A.C. III-B/1 - III-B/2 - III-B/3

Panel stamps on bindings for a member of the Tuti family. III-B/6 - III-B/7

The custom of tooling the author’s name on the spine was at this time characteristically Roman, and bindings decorated by panel stamps which have also gilt lettering up or down the spine are assuredly Roman and not Bolognese. According to the researches of T. Kimball Brooker, by the early 1530s perhaps ten Roman binders were producing bindings with longitudinal spine titles.² These anonymous binders catered for a small group of humanist readers affiliated with the Roman curia, several of Spanish origin, who were inspired (directly or indirectly) by Fernán Colón’s library in Seville, where books were displayed with their spines outwards.

One collector, known only by his initials G.A.C., commissioned five bindings stamped in gilt with a panel of a design used also in Bologna, but with a title in gilt on the spines.³ The bindings are slightly later than the books which they cover, Aldine editions printed 1519-1522 (III-B/1-4). On the evidence of a trefoil tool, Brooker linked the Plautus (III-B/1) to an anonymous shop which was working also for the Roman collector Luis de Torres.⁴

The same panel design used with an armorial appears on two bindings covering Aldine editions of 1502 and 1522 commissioned by a member of the Sienese Tuti family (III-B/6-7).⁵ Neither binding retains a spine title, however from their subsequent Roman provenance Hobson surmised that all books belonging to this family were bound at Rome.⁶

Six more bindings for anonymous collectors decorated by panels of similar arabesque designs are more probably Roman than Bolognese (III-B/8-13). Hobson judged one (III-B/9) to be “possibly Roman”⁷ and associated another (III-B/10) with the Roman binder Marcantonio Guillery.⁸ Tammaro De Marinis classified one (II-B/8) as Roman and considered another (III-B/12) as probably bound there for a member of the Farnese family (Farnese lilies are stamped at the corners of the panel); Howard Nixon conjectured that the latter binding was made for presentation to Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese).⁹ On a set of the Stamperia del Popolo Romano’s 1566 edition of Saint Jerome’s letters (III-B/11) the arabesque panel is contained by a border used on other Roman bindings of the 1560s.¹⁰ According to inscriptions at the end of each volume, they were acquired in Rome in 1603 from the library of the late Alfonso Gesualdo di Conza (created Cardinal by Pius IV, 26 February 1561).

Panel stamps for anonymous collectors. III-B/8 - III-B/9

A gilt plaque featuring an angel’s head at top and bottom has been noted on five bindings, covering books published at Paris, Rome, and Venice, 1520-1576. According to Hobson, this plaque was exclusively Roman.¹¹ On two bindings (III-C/1-2) the panel is enclosed by a broad, lacework border associated with workshops binding for the Vatican Library.¹²

Panel stamps III-C/1 (Carafa armorial) - III-C/2 - III-C/3 (Palombara armorial)

Panel stamps for anonymous collectors. III-C/4 - III-C/5

panels incorporating medaillons

(III-A/1) Battista Brunelleschi, Manuscript “Epitaphia urbis Romae … Questo libro è scripto e dipinto in Firenze et in Roma de Brunelleschis fiorentino della ciptà di Fiorente. Fatto e cominciato oggi questo di xx di Maggio 1509”

provenance
● Firenze, Biblioteca Marucelliana, MS. A.78.I

literature
Tammaro De Marinis, La Legatura artistica in Italia nei secoli XV e XVI (Florence 1960), no. 3046 bis & Pl. H9 [placed among Florentine bindings]
Anthony Hobson, Humanists and bookbinders: the origins and diffusion of the Humanistic bookbinding 1459-1559 (Cambridge 1989), p.218 (“Census of Plaquette and Medallion bindings” no. 8c, as “Rome, c. 1509”)
Anthony Hobson & Paul Culot, Italian and French 16th century bookbindings ([Belgium] 1991), p.55 no. 4


(III-A/2) Philostratus, Phylostratus [!] de vita Apollonii Tyanei scriptor luculentus a Philippo Beroaldo castigatus ([Lyon 1504]?)

provenance
● unidentified owner, inscription “Munificentia Celsi Jubilei…” on title-page [Foot]
● Alfred Maria Fortunatus, Count von Oberndorff (1870-1963)
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of the collection of valuable printed books, manuscripts and fine bindings, the property of Count A. Oberndorff, London, 6 July 1955, lot 135 (“name cut from title, contemporary Italian cameo-binding, brown morocco stamped in blind with a plaque, in the centre of each cover is a round cameo-portrait of Augustus, with traces of gilding, edges gilt and gauffered”) [RBH Narwhale-135]
● Bernard Quaritch, London - bought in sale (£22)
● Henry Davis (1897-1977)
● London, British Library, Henry Davis Gift, 723

literature
Hobson, op. cit. 1989, p.221 (“Census of Plaquette and Medallion bindings,” no. 15k, as “Rome, c. 1510-25”; “stamped with the same panel of interlaced ornament” as 8c)
Foot, op. cit. 2010, no. 252 (“A binding made in Rome, c. 1510-25”; “blocked in blind with a block showing an arabesque design; in the centres of both covers a plaquette, showing a cameo portrait of Julius Caesar”)


(III-A/3) Philostratus, Phylostratus [!] de vita Apollonii Tyanei scriptor luculentus a Philippo Beroaldo castigates ([Lyon: sine nomine, 1504?])

provenance
● Pier Francesco de Rossi (1591-1673) [Avvocato concistoriale e patrizio romano, commissario generale of the Camera Apostolica]
● Collegio di San Pantaleo, Rome, inscription, “Domus S. Pantal[eonis] Schol[arum] Piar[um] [ex haeredibus] Fran[cis]ci de Rubeis”
● Roma, Biblioteca nazionale centrale “Vittorio Emanuele”, segnatura 71.9.A.25 (opac Leg. in pelle sec.20. con riutilizzo della precedente sec.19., con impressioni a secco sui piatti [link])

literature
William Kemp, “Counterfeit Aldines and italic-letter editions printed in Lyons 1502-1510: early diffusion in Italy and France” in Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada 35 (1997), pp.75-100 (p.83 no. 3 & Fig. 5)
Hobson, op. cit. 1989, p.221 (“Census of Plaquette and Medallion bindings,” no. 15l, as “Rome, c. 1510-25”; “stamped with the same panel of interlaced ornament” as 8c)


(III-A/4) Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Senecae Tragoediae (Florence: Filippo Giunta, 3 April 1506)

provenance
● unidentified owner, inscription “Roma caput mundi” at end of text
● Livio Macchi, Milan [Hobson]

literature
Anthony Hobson, “Plaquette and medallion bindings: a second supplement” in ‘For the love of the binding’: Studies in bookbinding history presented to Mirjam Foot (London 2000), pp.67-79 (p.75 no. 15lx, as “Rome, c. 1510-15”, “stamped in gilt with the same panel of interlaced ornament as 8c, 15k and 15l”)
Federico Macchi, [commentary to III-C/1 in this file: Biblioteca dell’Archiginnasio, 16.c.V.82 - image, link]


(III-A/5) Francesco Cei, Sonecti, capituli, canzone, sextine, stanze et strambocti composti per lo excellentissimo Francescho Cei ciptadino fiorentino in laude di Clitia (Florence: Filippo Giunta, 1503)

provenance
● Giovanni Francesco Lancellotti (1721-1788), inscription “Ex libris Joannii Francisci Lancellotti de Staphylo [Staffolo, province of Ancona] qui libras venetas septem” at end
● Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919)
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of a further portion of the valuable library collected by the late Charles Fairfax Murray, Esq., of London and Florence, London, 17-20 July 1922, lot 243 (“original brown sheepskin, sides decorated with an interlacing arabesque design in blind relief on a gold ground, in the centre a medallion portrait of Julius Caesar, in slip case”) [RBH Jul171922-243]
● Leo S. Olschki, Florence - bought in sale (£7)
● Libreria Durini, Milan [De Marinis]
● Bredford libri rari (Francesco Radaeli), Lugano
● T. Kimball Brooker, purchased from the above, 1992 [Bibliotheca Brookeriana #1303]
● Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, The Aldine Collection A-C, New York, 12 October 2023, lot 286 [$20,320; RBH N11294-286]
● New York, The Morgan Library & Museum, 199049 (opac, [link])

literature
Charles Fairfax Murray, Catalogo dei libri posseduti da Charles Fairfax Murray. Parte Prima (London [i.e. Rome] 1899), no. 444 (“legat. orig. mar. bruno, con impressioni a freddo”)
Charles Fairfax Murray, A list of printed books in the library of Charles Fairfax Murray ([London?] 1907), p.50 (“orig. stamped calf, in a case”)
Bibliothèque nationale et Musée des arts décoratif, Exposition du livre italien, mai-juin 1926: catalogue des manuscrits, livres imprimés, reliures (Paris 1926), no. 933 (“A M. Leo S. Olschki”) [link]
De Marinis, op. cit. 1960, no. 1681 ([classified among Venetian bindings] “Marr. castano; la dec. risulta a rilievo su fondo interamente dorato. Nel mezzo vedesi impressa a secco la testa di un Cesare col nome Julius.”; “Milano, Libreria Durini (gennaio 1941)”)
Hobson, op. cit. 1989, p.221 (“Census of Plaquette and Medallion bindings,” no. 15m, as Rome ca. 1520-1525; “Ownership unknown”)
Anthony Hobson, “Plaquette and medallion bindings. A supplement” in Bulletin du Bibliophile (1994), p.25 [the attribution of the three bindings 8c, 15k, 15l, to a Roman shop is sustained, however Hobson now has doubts about 15m: “But Francesco Cei, L’opera… in laude di Clitia, Florence 1503 (15m), which I have since been able to examine, contains an early note of purchase for 7 Venetian pounds (libras venetas septem) and so is likely to have been in the Veneto not long after publication.” This purchase inscription, however, proves to be later, entered by Giovanni Francesco Lancellotti (1721-1788)]
John Cunnally, Jonathan H. Kagan & Stephen K. Scher, Numismatics in the age of Grolier (catalogue of an exhibition held at the Grolier Club, New York, 11 September-24 November 2001) (New York 2001), p.12 (“The binding of this volume is decorated with plaquettes of Julius Caesar made from the same tool as the bronze plaquette described above. It was bound in Rome, 1510-1525.”)


(III-A/6) Aurelius Prudentius Clemens, Prudentius. Prosper. Ioannes Damascenus. Cosmus Hierosolymitanus Marcus episcopus Taluontis Theophanes ([Lyon: sine nomine, ca 1502-1504])

provenance
● Libreria G.T. Vincenzi e nipoti di Dante Cavallotti, Modena
● Bologna, Biblioteca dell’Archiginnasio, 16.c.V. 82

literature
De Marinis, op. cit. 1960, no. 1681bis ([among Venetian bindings] “Legato come sopra [i.e. De Marinis no. 1681, our III-A/5], ma sui due piatti il cammeo fu asportato. Taglio inciso”)
Kemp, op. cit., p.83 no. 6 (“A heavily worn, medallion binding with interlaced vine-work, which de Marinis has classed as Venetian”)
Legature storiche dell’Archiginnasio (Cuoio marrone su cartone decorato in oro. Cornice caratterizzata da motivi stilizzati a delimitare la placca su sfondo criblé di gusto orientaleggiante. In testa al piatto anteriore la scritta in caratteri capitali “prvdentvs”. Tracce di due coppie di lacci. Capitelli muniti di anima circolare avvolta da fili in canapa e in lino blu. Cucitura su tre nervi. Indorsatura realizzata tramite alette orizzontali cartacee. Rimbocchi rifilati con discreta cura. Carte di guardia bianche. Tagli dorati e incisi. [link, link])
Federico Macchi, A fior di pelle: Legature italiane del XV-XVI secolo in Archiginnasio (Bologna 2022), p.44 (“Secolo XVI, primo quarto. Cuoio su quadranti in cartone decorato in oro. Legatura romana, considerato il genere di cornice. Rara placca italiana di cui si segnalano altre cinque tipologie dorate.” [link])

bindings for g.a.c.

(III-B/1) Titus Maccius Plautus, Ex Plauti comoediis XX quarum carmina magna ex parte in mensum suum restituta sunt MDXXII (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, 1522)

provenance
● unidentified owner, supralibros, initials G.A.C. on cover
● Benedetto Egio (fl. 1550-1567), inscription “B. Aegii. * viiii”
● Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Aldine.II.23 (opac Legatura cinquecentesca in piena pelle; nello specchio cornici a secco, in oro, fregi in oro e iniziali non identificate “G.A.C.” in oro … [2] carte di guardia anteriori e [3] posteriori. Carticini membranacei, con testo manoscritto, di rinforzo al dorso. Taglio tinto di nero [link])

literature
De Marinis, op. cit. 1960, no. 2331
Brooker, Upright works, op. cit., p.826 & Fig. 87a
Brooker, “Who was L.T.? Part II”, op. cit., p.511


(III-B/2) Giovanni Gioviano Pontano, De aspiratione libri duo (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, April 1519)

provenance
● unidentified owner, supralibros, initials G.A.C. on upper cover
● possibly Giovanni Gancia, Brighton & Paris (identified as consignor to sale below by A.W. Pollard, List of catalogues of English book sales 1676-1900, London 1915, p.282 [link])
● S. Leigh Sotheby & John Wilkinson, Catalogue of a choice collection of rare & valuable books and some manuscripts, London, 23-24 June 1858, lot 499 (“fine copy in old morocco, gilt edges … Very beautiful Specimen of Venetian binding of the XVIth Century. Amongst the gilding on the sides are the ciphers G.A.C. The piece of Charon is wanted in this volume as usual”)
● George Bumstead, London - bought in sale (£2 2s)
● Charles Isaac Elton (1839-1900)
● Mary Augusta Elton (née Strachey) (1838-1914)
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of the valuable library of books & manuscripts of the late Mrs. Charles Elton, London, 1-2 May 1916, lot 422 (“painted and illuminated initials, contemporary Venetian black morocco, lettering on back, panel sides … with initials G.A.C. in centre of each cover, black edges … in an embroidered bag”)
● J. & J. Leighton, London - bought in sale (£33)
● Charles Ludovic Lindsay (1862-1925)
● John Henry Montagu Manners, 9th Duke of Rutland (1886-1940)
● Manners, family library (Belvoir Castle)
● Marlborough Rare Books, London; their Catalogue 146: Fine bindings and distinguished provenances (London [1992]), item 1 (£7500; illustrated)
● T. Kimball Brooker, purchased from the above,1992 [Bibliotheca Brookeriana #0238; to be sold by Sotheby's New York in 2025]

literature
Charles Elton, A catalogue of a portion of the library of Charles Isaac Elton and Mary Augusta Elton (London 1891), p.153 (illustrated) (“Bound in contemporary black Venetian morocco, with Grolieresque decoration in gold ornaments, and the letters ‘G.A.C.’ in gold on both covers” [link]
Burlington Fine Arts Club, Exhibition of bookbindings (London 1891), Case E, p.26 no. 30 (“Italian binding of the 16th century; black morocco; the covers decorated with a handsome floriated design. C.I. Elton, Esq., Q.C., M.P.”)
Catalogue of the special exhibition of art bookbindings opened on the occasion of the Annual Meeting of the Library Association of the United Kingdom, Nottingham Meeting, 1891 (Nottingham 1891), p.42 no. 194 (“Italian, sixteenth century, blue morocco, floriated. Pontanus; 1519. Lent by Mr. C.I. Elton, Q.C., M.P.”)
Brooker, Upright works, op. cit., p.825 & Fig. 87b
Brooker, “Who was L.T.? Part II”, op. cit., p.511


(III-B/3) Giovanni Gioviano Pontano, Centum Ptolemaei sententiae ad Syrum fratrem à Pontano è graeco in latinum tralatae, atque expositae (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, September 1519)

provenance
● unidentified owner, supralibros, initials G.A.C. on upper cover
● Baron Horace de Landau (1824-1903)
● Eugénie (Jenny, née Ellenberger) Finaly (1850-1938)
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of very important illuminated manuscripts and printed books selected from the renowned library formed by Baron Horace de Landau (1824-1903), maintained and augmented by his niece Madame Finaly, of Florence (d. 1938), London, 13 July 1948, lot 100 (“contemporary Venetian black morocco with centre panel heavily gilt surrounding the initials G.A.C., traces of four ties, blue edges, back defective but unrestored”) [RBH PALM-100]
● Bernard Quaritch, London - bought in sale (£68) [RBH]
● Henry Davis (1897-1977)
● British Library, Henry Davis Gift 776

literature
Foot, op. cit. 2010, no. 291 (as “A binding probably made in Rome or possibly in Bologna, c. 1530-40”, as “tooled in gold” rather than blocked, with spine lettering “later”)


(III-B/4) Marcus Fabius Quintilianus, Institutionum oratoriarum libri XII diligentius recogniti MDXXII (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, 1522)

provenance
● unidentified owner, supralibros, initials G.A.C. on upper cover
● Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Rari 22.A.4.13 (opac [link])

literature
Mostra storica della legatura artistica in Palazzo Pitti (Florence 1922), no. 465 (“Pelle scura; piatti coperti di rabeschi dorati pieni: al centro le lettere: G.A.C. Nel dorso il nome: Quinti | lianus impresso in oro” [link])
Brooker, “Who was L.T.? Part II”, op. cit., p.511


(III-B/5) Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Naturalium quaestionum libri VII (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, February 1522)

provenance
● unidentified owner, supralibros, initials G.A.C. on upper cover
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of the selected portion of the celebrated Auchinleck Library, formed by the late Lord Auchinleck, the property of Mrs. Mounsey, London, 23-25 June 1893, lot 18 (“old Venetian morocco, gilt sides, initials G.A.C.” [link])
● Bernard Quaritch, London - bought in sale (£6); their Catalogue 166: Examples of the art of book-binding (London 1897), item 340 (£9; “smooth black morocco, gilt on the sides with the same pattern as filled the inner compartment of the Plautus, but without the border compartment. In the central space, instead of an escutcheon, are the initials G.A.C. The back is flat with three bands and four panels, bearing the original lettering ‘Sen. Nat. Quaest.’” [link]) [the Plautus mentioned in Quaritch entry is III-B/6 in our List]
● Henry Walters (1848-1931)
● Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery

literature
Brooker, “Who was L.T.? Part II”, op. cit., p.511

bindings for a member of the tuti family

(III-B/6) Plautus, Ex Plauti comoediis XX quarum carmina magna ex parte in mensum suum restituta sunt (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, July 1522)

provenance
● bound for a member of the Tuti family of Siena, armorial supralibros
● Thomas Fontaine (opac “‘Ex libris Thomae Fo[n]tanae A.is M[…]’, parzialmente depennata e ‘[…]lii forlani’.”)
● Thomas Crofts (1722-1781)
● Samuel Paterson, Bibliotheca Croftsiana: a catalogue of the curious and distinguished library of the late Reverend and learned Thomas Crofts, London 7 April-27 May 1783, lot 2194 (“Plautus Fr Asulani, 4to. cor. turc. Venet. ap. Ald. & socer. 1522”)
● Stephen Weston (1747-1830) (opac A carta *1r stemma di S. Weston: scudo abitato da croce su tre scalini, al di sotto iniziali WS.)
● Sotheby & Son, Catalogue of the remaining portion of the library of the late Rev. Stephen Weston, B.D., F.R.S., F.S.A., London, 7-11 May 1830, lot 936 (“Plauti Comoediae, early Italian binding, with gilt leaves, Venet. apud Aldum, 1522”)
● Bernard Quaritch, Catalogue 166: Examples of the Art of Book-binding (London 1897), item 339 (“Dark smooth-grained morocco, full-gilt on the sides with arabesque ornamentation of metal-work pattern. The border compartment is stamped with finer and smaller tooling; the inner design is large and bold with an escutcheon in the centre. There are gilt leaves at the corners; and the edges are gilt and gauffered. The back is modern, lettered and overlaid on the old bands (three large and four small ones). The escutcheon is the ragged staff (or tree trunk) with two fleurs-de-lis above, and two below, all three pieces arranged as bends” [link])
● J. & J. Leighton, Early printed books arranged by presses (London [1916?]), item 1097 & Pl. 122 (£22; “fine orig. Venetian olive mor., richly and elaborately gold tooled with arabesques on sides, in centres being the arms of the original owner, viz., a ragged staff per bend between four vine leaves: gilt and tooled edges, neatly rebacked … Belonged successively to Thomas Fontana, Dr. Crofts, and Stephen Weston 1794” [link])
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of the third portion of the famous stock of the late Mr. W. J. Leighton (who traded as Messrs. J. & J. Leighton), of 40 Brewer Street, Golden Square, W. (sold by order of the Executor), London, 27-30 October 1919, lot 1999 (“original Venetian olive morocco, richly and elaborately gilt tooled with arabesques on sides, in centre the arms of the original owner (a ragged staff per bend between four vine leaves), gilt and tooled edges, neatly rebacked” [link])
● Maggs Bros, London - bought in sale (£9 5s)
● Tammaro De Marinis (1878-1969)
● Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, Stamp.De Marinis.70 (opac “Sul recto della II carta di guardia anteriore ad inchiostro bruno: “1794 Weston […].4 Vendit. Crofts. 10.6”. - Numerose annotazioni marginali in latino ad inchiostro bruno.”; “A carta *1r ad inchiostro bruno: “Ex libris Thomae Fo[n]tanae A.is M[…]”, parzialmente depennata e “[…]lii forlani”.”; “Sui piatti stemma non identificato: scudo accartocciato, d’oro al bastone e ai quattro trifogli.”; “legatura in piena pelle su piatti di cartone, recante sui piatti cornici a secco e in oro; al centro dei piatti stemma citato in oro. - Dorso diviso in quattro compartimenti, recanti autore, titolo e note tipografiche in oro. - Tagli goffrati in oro. - [2] carte di guardia anteriori e posteriori, coeve alla legatura.”) [image source, link]

literature
De Marinis, op. cit., no. 2328 (“Marr. oliva; ricca dec. come sopra, ma dorata, non mosaicata. Nel mezzo il medesimo stemma del Seneca. Taglio inciso”)


(III-B/7) Sophocles, Sophocleous Tragodiai hepta metexegeseon. Sophoclis Tragaediae septem cum commentariis (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, August 1502), bound with Aeschylus, Aeschyli tragoediae sex (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, 1518)

provenance
● bound for a member of the Tuti family of Siena, armorial supralibros
● Altemps, family library, inscription “Ex Bibl.ca Altempsiana” (Foot)
● Arthur Kay (1862-1939), exlibris
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of a selected portion of the extensive and valuable library the property of Arthur Kay, Esq., H.R.S.A., 11, Regent Terrace, Edinburgh, London, 26-29 May 1930, lot 646B (“contemporary Italian binding, arabesque gold tooling on sides with arms in centre, gilt gauffred edges”)
● E.P. Goldschmidt, London - bought in sale (£37); their Catalogue 24: Woodcut books, classics, bibliography (London [1930]), item 167 & Pl. 8 (“red morocco binding, probably Roman, made about 1540-50 … Some of the tools used are strikingly similar to those on the Farnese (so-called ‘Canevari’) bindings and the volume probably comes from the same Roman bindery. We have unfortunately not been able to identify the owner’s arms”)
● Lucius Wilmerding (1880-1949)
● Parke Bernet Galleries, Rare XV-XIX century continental literature … Part III of the important library belonging to the estate of the late Lucius Wilmerding, New York, 29-31 October 1951, lot 861 (“full old red Italian sixteenth century morocco, with an interesting pattern on covers of scrolls and conventional fleurons with gilt and blind fillet borders, corner ornaments. In the centers of covers is a gilt coat of arms featuring a knotted branch and four trefoil ornaments, plain back with high and low raised bands, gilt gauffered edges; lacks ties”) [RBH 1278-861]
● Henry Davis (1897-1977)
● London, British Library, Henry Davis Gift 739

literature
Hobson, op. cit., p.71 no. 3
Mirjam Foot, The Henry Davis Gift: A Collection of bookbindings, Volume 3: A Catalogue of South-European bindings (London 2010), no. 292 (as “A binding probably made in Rome or possibly in Bologna, c. 1540”, as “tooled in gold” rather than blocked, manuscript spine lettering)
British Library, Database of Bookbindings (“Macchi states; Bologna, 1540-1550. See A. Hobson, Legature bolognesi, 1998, n. 40, p.92; n. 45-47, p. 97-99”) [image, link]
Anthony Hobson, [review of “The Henry Davis Gift: A Collection of Bookbindings, vol. III: A Catalogue of South European Bindings. By Mirjam Foot”] in The Library 12 (2011), pp.60-64 (“one of seven known bindings with the unidentified arms, ‘a ragged staff bendwise between four oakleaves’. The binding is blocked with a panel known in indistinguishable copies in Rome and Bologna. As the other six recorded bindings with these arms are Roman I think we may assume that this one also was made in Rome. It is unfortunate that the arms have defied identification. They look French, and are perhaps another case of a foreign visitor or resident buying books in Rome.”)

bindings for other collectors

(III-B/8) Aristoteles, Rettorica d’Aristotile fatta in lingua toscana dal commendatore Annibal Caro (Venice: Damiano Zenaro (al segno della Salamandra), 1570), bound with Marc Antoine Muret, M. Antonii Mureti i.c. et ciuis Romani Oratio habita in funere Pii. V pont. Maximi (Rome: Heirs of Antonio Blado, 1572)

provenance
● Jean Fürstenberg (1890-1982)
● Ader Picard Tajan & Claude Guérin with Dominique Courvoisier, Incunables et livres anciens provenant de la Fondation Furstenberg-Beaumesnil, Paris, 16 November 1983, lot 163 (“maroquin brun orné d’un encadrement formé de deux doubles filets, contenant des fleurons apposés symétriquement autour du rectangle central, le rectangle occupé par une grande plaque de rinceaux, au centre un petit fleuron composé de 4 fleur de lis. Tranches dorées.”)

literature
Musée d’art et d’histoire, Collection Jean Furstenberg: 3 mai-5 juin 1966 (Geneva 1966), no. 22
Tammaro De Marinis, Die italienischen Renaissance-Einbände der Bibliothek Fürstenberg (Hamburg 1966), pp.76-77
Anthony Hobson, “Some sixteenth-century buyers of books in Rome and elsewhere” in Humanistica Lovaniensia 34A (1985), pp.65-75 (p.71)
Anthony Hobson & Paul Culot, Italian and French 16th century bookbindings ([Belgium] 1991), p.55 no. 1 (“the commonest Italian Renaissance plaque, used in identical versions (no doubt cast from the same mould) in Rome - where Marcantonio Guillery owned an example - and Bologna”)


(I-B/9) Marcus Tullius Cicero, M.T. Ciceronis epistolarum ad Atticum, ad Brutum, ad Quintum fratrem, libri XX (Venice: Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, June 1513)

provenance
● unidentified owner, “inscription Hoc liber est Lactanti filii...” on lower endpaper [opac]
● Robert T. Aitchison Collection [opac]
● Cambridge, King’s College, M.28.48 (opac “Binding: brown calf; ornate gold-tooled patterns with title at centre; seven raised bands on spine; all edges gilt and goffered.” [link])

literature
Charles Henry Hartshorne, The book rarities in the University of Cambridge (London 1829), p.176 (line drawing [link])
Hobson, op. cit. 1998, p.174 (“A slightly differing version, possibly Roman, was used on Cicero, Epistolae ad Atticum, Venice 1521 (King’s College, Cambridge, M. 28.48; C. H. Hartshorne, The book rarities in the University of Cambridge, London, 1829, 176)”) [Hobson errs: there is no copy of 1521 in King’s; the King’s College opac identifies M.28.48 as 1513 edition]
Hobson & Quaquarelli, op. cit. 1998, p.30


(III-B/10) Dante Alighieri, La Comedia di Dante Aligieri [!] con la noua espositione di Alessandro Vellutello (Venice: Francesco Marcolini, June 1544)

provenance
● Francesco Maria, marchese Riccardi del Vernacci (1794-1845?), exlibris
● Gustavo Camillo Galletti (1805-1868), inkstamp
● Horace, Baron de Landau (1824-1903), exlibris, stamped “47681”
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of very important illuminated manuscripts and printed books selected from the renowned library formed by Baron Horace de Landau (1824-1903), maintained and augmented by his niece Madame Finaly, of Florence (d. 1938) London, 12-13 July 1948, lot 41 & Pl. 15 (“Contemporary Roman binding of brown morocco, elaborately tooled, fully gilt back in compartments, g. e. … Perhaps from the Roman bindery that was working for P. L. Farnese about this time; very similar to the binding of a Dante, Venice, 1536 which was lot 155 in a sale at Milan, April 21, 1923, and to a Petrarch, Venice, 1544 in a sale at Zurich, Oct. 29, 1937”) [RBH Palm-41] [for this 1544 Petrarca, see our “Notabilia post, Panel stamps used at Bologna, 1 - Rectangular plaques” no. I-E/14, link]
● Henry Davis (1897-1977)
● British Library, Henry Davis Gift 837

literature
Anthony Hobson, Apollo and Pegasus: an enquiry into the formation and dispersal of a Renaissance library (Amsterdam 1975), p.89 (“List B: Bindings by Marcantonio Guillery” no. 3)
Foot, op. cit. 2010, no. 314 (“A binding made in Rome by Marcantonio Guillery, c. 1545”)


(III-B/11) Saint Jerome, Epistolae D. Hieronymi Stridonensis, et libri contra haereticos, ex antiquissimis exemplaribus, nunc primum, opera, ac studio Mariani Victorii Reatini emendati, eiusdemque argumentis, & scholiis illustrati (Rome: Paolo Manuzio (Stamperia del Popolo Romano), 1566)

provenance
● Alfonso Gesualdo di Conza (1540-1603) [created Cardinal by Pius IV, 26 February 1561]
● unidentified owner, purchase inscription at Rome in 1603 “P.C. empt. ex libris D[omi]ni Cardinalis Gesualdi die x. Nov. 1603” at end of each volume
● Sir James Philip Lacaita (1813-1895) (?)
● Charles Carmichael Lacaita (1853-1933), exlibris [Selham House, Retworth]
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of valuable printed books, illuminated and other manuscripts … comprising the property of the late Charles Carmichael Lacaita, London, 20-22 July 1936, lot 114 (“4 vol. in 2, black morocco, the sides of the original Italian (Roman?) binding inlaid, border round sides, the centre panel tooled to an elaborate foliate arabesque design, gilt gauffred edges, sold as a binding not subject to return”) [lots 1-235 are Lacaita property]
● E.P. Goldschmidt & Co., London - bought in sale (£2 15s) [E.P. Goldschmidt stockbook, entry, #17708 (Company archive in Grolier Club)]; their Catalogue 46: Rare and valuable books (London 1937), item 61 (“2 vols. 8vo. In a beautiful contemporary Roman binding of dark olive morocco richly gilt to an elaborate decorative pattern of interlacing leafy ornament by the great anonymous Roman binder who had worked for Pierluigi Farnese and several Cardinals. Gilt and gauffred edges, backs renewed” [link]); Catalogue 50: Sources of English literature before 1640 (London 1938), item 96 (£6 6s; “… According to a MS. entry at the end of each volume they were acquired in Rome in 1603 from the library of the late cardinal Gesualdi” [link])
● Arthur Rau, Paris [Goldschmidt stockbook, entry #17708 (op. cit.), sold to Rau 23 January 1939]
● Librairie Thomas-Scheler, Paris
● T. Kimball Brooker, purchased from the above, 2006 [Bibliotheca Brookeriana #0684]
● Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, The Aldine Collection, D-M, New York, 18 October 2024, lot 795 ($22,860; catalogue online, [link]) [RBH N11499-795]
● G. Scott Clemons


(III-B/12) Girolamo Muzio, Discorso intorno alle controuersie, che hora si trattano nella Chiesa di Dio (Milan: Antonio Borgio, 1548)

provenance
● perhaps Alessandro Farnese (1468-1549; elected Pope Paul III, 13 October 1534) [Nixon]
● Laure Eugénie (née Pillet) Belin, Paris
● Librairie Lardanchet, Paris; their Catalogue 44: Catalogue de beaux livres anciens et modernes (Paris 1950), item 266 (FF 45,000; illustrated p.125; “Reliure a plaque du XVIe siècle”)
● Pierre Berès, Paris; their Catalogue 51: Livres italiens des quinzième et seizième siècles, xylographies (Paris 1952), item 150 (FF160,000; illustrated; “Remarquable reliure blanche d’une extrême élégance. Le grand motif que décore l’entredeux se retrouve sur l’une des plus belles reliures de P.L. Farnese (Canevarius): celle du Tirante el Bianco de l’ancienne collection E. Rahir [Riches reliures, Paris 1919, item 17 & Pl. 3]”)
● Albert Ehrman (1890-1969)
● Oxford, Bodleian Library, Broxb. 31.3 (opac [link]; image, [link])

literature
Bibliothèque nationale et Musée des arts décoratif, Exposition du livre italien, mai-juin 1926: catalogue des manuscrits, livres imprimés, reliures (Paris 1926), no. 954 [link]
Tammaro De Marinis, “Di alcune legature fatte per Paolo III, Alessandro e Ranucio Farnese” in Scritti vari dedicati a Mario Armanni in occasione del suo sessantesimo compleanno (Milan 1938), pp.37-48 (p.45 no. 24 & Fig. 22)
Howard Nixon, Broxbourne Library: styles and designs of bookbindings from the twelfth to the twentieth century (London 1955), no. 31 (“Italian binding, perhaps for Pope Paul III … the main part of the decoration - the arabesque design in the centre panel - is blocked, i.e. not hand-tooled but stamped in a press from an engraved metal plaque. A different block has been used on each cover.”)
De Marinis, op. cit. 1960, no. 903 [classified among Roman bindings]
Bodleian Rare Books (image contributed to Flickr), Broxb. 31.3 (“White calf, gold-tooled in an elaborate arabesque design. Traces of four silk ties (see 'Styles...' no. 31 for full description, also De Marinis no. 903) 213x147x8mm. Italy (Milan).” [link])


(III-B/13) Francesco Petrarca, Il Petrarcha con l’espositione d’Alessandro Vellutello di nouo ristampato con le figure a i Triomphi, et con piu cose vtili in varii luoghi aggiunte (Venice: Gabriel Giolito de Ferrari e fratelli, 1552)

provenance
● Charles Lesingham Smith (1806-1878), gift inscription
● Pleasance Smith (née Reeve; 1773-1877)
● Charles Brinsley Marlay (1831-1912), his bequest
● Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, 308077 (“Binding: Venetian, citron morocco (16th century), with g. lettered title in centre of boards, g.t.; spine g.t., border blind stamped on inside covers, raised bands; a.e.g.” [link])

literature
Foot, op. cit. 2010, p.377 (as “identical binding” to III-B/9 above)

later roman plaques

(III-C/1) Luis de Granada, Rosario della sacratiss. vergine Maria madre di Dio nostra signora (Rome: Giuseppe de Angelis, 1573)

provenance
● Carafa family (?), armorial insignia on lower cover (three bands azure), perhaps a gift to a member of the unidentified family whose arms (three stars above a wavy sea) appear on the upper cover
● “Suor Mara Giacinta” [De Marinis]
● “Sr M. Emanuela Bucca de Aragona” [De Marinis]
● Jean Fürstenberg (1890-1982)
● Martin Breslauer Inc., New York; their Catalogue 104/II: Fine books in fine bindings from the fourteenth to the present century (New York [1981]), item 183 (“Contemporary Roman binding by the Vatican Bindery”)
● Sotheby’s, Valuable printed books, London, 24 June 1988, lot 22 (“contemporary Roman binding, olive brown morocco gilt, decorated with a border of lacework ornament and a large plaque of azured leaves, birds, cherub’s heads and scrollwork around an empty centre which contains a different coat-of arms on each cover: upper cover, three stars above the sea; lower cover, gules, three bars argent, for Carafa (the family of Pope Paul IV, r. 1555-1559), edges gilt and elaborately gauffered, spine repaired, new endleaves, from the collection of Jean Furstenberg”) [RBH Crivelli-22]
● Sotheby’s, Books, maps, manuscripts and ephemera, London, 14-28 April 1989, lot 774 [RBH Hazel-774]
● Polites - bought in sale (£825)

literature
De Marinis, op. cit. 1966, pp.78-79
Hobson & Culot, op. cit., p.55 no. 2 (“this plaque was exclusively Roman”)


(III-C/2) Missale Romanum ex decreto sacrosancti Concilij Tridentini restitutum (Venice: Giovanni Varisco & Heirs of Bartolomeo Faletti, 1571)

provenance
● unidentified owner, supralibros (in the compartments of the back, a hawk) [Boerner]
● C.G. Boerner, Leipzig; their Katalog 21: Kostbare Bucheinbände des XV. bis XIX. Jahrhunderts (Leipzig 1912), item 41 & Pl. 18 (“In den Feldern des Rücken ein Falke.”)

literature
Geoffrey Hobson, Maioli, Canevari and others (London 1926), p.127 no. 35 [in a list of books from an anonymous Roman workshop, “Rome” erroneously as the place of printing]


(III-C/3) Paolo Regio, Vite dei sette santi protettori di Napoli descritte dal Regio. I nomi de quali nella seguente facciata si leggono (Naples: Giuseppe Cacchi, 1576)

provenance
● possibly Massimiliano Palombara (Palumbara, Palombella) (d. 1607), supralibros, arms painted on upper cover, motto (?) “merita pars parvula magni” on lower cover [appointed Archbishop of Benevento, 17 May 1574, by Gregorio XIII, in succession to his uncle, Cardinal Giacomo Savelli (1523-1587)]
● Maurice Burrus (1882-1959), exlibris
● Alde & Isabelle de Conihout with Pascal Ract-Madoux, Manuscrits et livres remarquables de la Collection Maurice Burrus, Paris, 17 October 2017, lot 62 (catalogue oneline, [link]) [RBH 25865-62]
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (€2800) [auctioneer’s website]
● Sokol Books Ltd, London; their Catalogue 73, item 69 (£11,500)
● T. Kimball Brooker, purchased from the above, 2018 [Bibliotheca Brookeriana #2446; to be sold by Sotheby’s London in 2025]


(III-C/4) Thomas Aquinas, Prima pars secundae partis summae theologicae (Paris & Rouen: Francois Regnault & Pierre Olivier, 19 March 1521)

provenance
● unidentified owner, inscription “del Sig. Camillo Corn: de Passi(?)” on title-page [Sotheby’s 1995]
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of fine bindings and valuable printed books, London, 28 February 1966, lot 77 (“Roman red morocco, circa 1565, stamped with a plaque of interlacing fillets, azured leaf and bud tools, cherubs’ heads, birds, etc., painted arms of a cardinal in the centre of the sides (the paint rubbed away), the spine gilt in compartments, edges gilt and gauffered”) [RBH Tunis-77; offered among other properties]
● Maggs Bros, London - bought in sale (£18)
● Jean Fürstenberg (1890-1982), exlibris
● Sotheby’s, Music and Continental printed books, autograph letters and manuscripts, London, 10 May 1984, lot 419 (“mid sixteenth-century Roman red morocco by the Vatican Bindery, sides very lavishly gilt incorporating tools of a bird near each corner and winged angel’s heads near top and bottom margin, in the centre arms of a bishop (shield entirely defaced), spine with three raised bands very fully gilt, gilt gauffered edges, ties missing, from the Hans Fürstenberg collection”)
● Fletcher, London - bought in sale (£968)
● Sotheby’s, Valuable printed books comprising natural history, atlases, travel, early printed and Continental books, London, 30 November 1995, lot 300 (“a few printed side-notes at the end trimmed by the binder, Roman red morocco of c.1575 stamped in gilt with a plaque of strapwork and azured leaves, a cherub’s head at the head and foot, two birds in the lower corners, an empty shield in the centre surmounted by a cardinal’s galerum, spine in compartments decorated with the lotus-leaf tool, lacks two pairs of ties, edges gilt and richly gauffered, inscription on title “del Sig. Camillo Corn: de Passi(?)”, booklabel of Hans Furstenberg”) [RBH 5692-300]
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (£1600)

literature
Hobson & Culot, op. cit. 1991, p.55 no. 2 (“this plaque was exclusively Roman … another example, with an empty shield surmounted by a cardinal’s or Curial official’s galerum, also from the Fürstenberg collection, was sold at London Sotheby’s 1984 v 10, lot 419”)


(III-C/5) Thomas Aquinas, Tertia pars summe sacre theologie sancti Thome (Paris & Rouen: Francois Regnault & Pierre Olivier, 1520)

provenance
● unidentified owner, inscription “Oct Sig. Camillo Com. de Pall(?)” on title-page [Foot]
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of valuable printed books, fine bindings, Oriental manuscripts and miniatures. London, 8-10 November 1954, lot 84 (illustrated; “in a fine Roman binding of about 1550, red morocco, decorated with entrelacs, azured tools, cherub’s heads and birds, back in compartments, fully gilt, edges gilt and gauffered … An unusual and handsome binding from the workshop that bound for Pier Luigi Farnese. The design, closely imitated from Parisian work, is very ably handled. In the centre of each cover is an empty shield, surmounted by a Cardinal’s hat.”) [offered among “Other properties”]
● Maggs Bros, London - bought in sale (£55)
● John Roland Abbey (1894-1969), exlibris
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of valuable printed books and fine bindings from the celebrated collection; the property of Major J.R. Abbey, London, 21-23 June 1965, lot 40 [as a Roman binding, ca. 1560]
● Bernard Quaritch, London - bought in sale (£65)
● Henry Davis (1897-1977)
● British Library, Henry Davis Gift 815

literature
Foot, op. cit. 2010, no. 337 (“A binding made in Rome, c. 1560-70”, “blocked in gold with a plaque showng interlacing ribbons, azured curls and leaf shapes, birds and angels’ heads around, in the centre: an empty shield”)