Horatius Flaccus, Horatius, Venice, Aldo, 1501, Bolognese brown goatskin (between 1501 and 1503), arms of Mino Rossi and illuminated initials throughout

Horatius Flaccus, Quintus. Horatius. (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, May 1501)

First Aldine edition, a second copy, "bound in contemporary Italian brown goatskin for Mino Rossi (1451-1503), a Bolognese senator who served his city at one time or another as its ambassador to the Holy See, Milan, and the King of France. The book is illuminated throughout. The opening of the text of Horace's Odes is richly gilt and illuminated, with the arms of the Rossi family at the foot. The illumination and binding will have been accomplished in the relatively brief period between the book's publication and Rossi's death" (Grolier/Aldus 30).

An exquisite copy.

8vo (166 x 101 mm). Italic types, 30 lines plus headline. collation: a-s⁸: 143 (of 144) leaves (lacking terminal blank s8). 3-, 4-, and 6-line initial spaces with guide-letters, all initials illuminated in liquid gold, the 6-line initials with extensive further strapwork decoration. (Title-page lightly dust-soiled, with tiny repaired marginal tear, and circular stain [from effacement of stamp?], some scattered minor marginal staining.)

binding: Bolognese brown goatskin (171 x 112 mm), between 1501 and 1503, paneled in blind, border of repeated ropework tool flanked by fillets, frame formed by three fillets, with miters to outer corners, containing checkerboard pattern, traces of four green silk ties, spine in four compartments with three bands, compartments diapered in blind, plain endpapers, edges gilt and gauffered. (Minor restoration to head and foot of spine.) Russet-morocco–backed decorative paper folding-case, velvet-lined.

provenance: Mino Rossi (1455-1503), armorial insignia illuminated on first page of text, illuminated and gold initials throughout — William S. Kundig & Libreria antiquaria Hoepli, Vente 98, Geneva, 5-6 November 1948, lot 13 and Pl. 2; purchased by — unidentified owner (CHF4500) — René (1893-1956) and Madeleine Alice Junod (d. 1986), La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, joint bookplate. acquisition: Purchased from Libreria antiquaria Pregliasco, Turin, 1998. references: UCLA 41; Adams H854; Aldo Manuzio tipografo 45; Grolier/Aldus 27, 30 (this copy); Edit16 22672; Renouard 27/4; USTC 835851