Boccaccio, Genealogiae deorum, Basel, 1532, Parisian armorial calf by the Pecking Crow Binder

Boccaccio, Giovanni. Ioannis Bocatii Peri Genealogias Deorvm [Greek], Libri Qvindecim, cum annotationibus Iacobi Micylli. Eivsdem De Montivm, Sylvarvm, Fontivm, lacuum, fluuiorum, stagnorum, & marium nominibus. Liber I. Huc accessit rerum, & fabularum scitu dignarum copiosus index. Basel: Johannes I Herwagen, September 1532

First printing of Jakob Moltzer (Molsheim; Micyllus)’s edition of the Genealogia deorum gentilium, Boccaccio’s encyclopaedia of over 700 pagan gods. It is based on the Paris edition of 1511, with new editorial material and indices. Eight of the thirteen woodcut genealogical trees are printed from the actual blocks used in Paris (III, IV, VI, and IX–XIII); the remaining five are simplified copies.

This is one of six bindings which display in the center of each cover a circular wreath enclosing a shield bearing the arms of an unidentified owner: Écartelé de gueules et d’or, la ligne du coupé denchée. It is one of the earliest armorial stamps of the modern type, impressed in gold, and positioned at the center of the design. The first collector to order a series of armorial bindings was Benoît Le Court of Lyon (see lot 55), who adopted the custom about 1540. The fashion carried to Paris, where it was taken up by Jean Brinon (see lot 69), Cardinal Charles de Lorraine, and several unidentified collectors. Anthony Hobson surveyed the introduction of the style, identifying thirteen stamps in use by 1550, and recording their usage. One example of the present stamp was known to Hobson from the J. R. Abbey library (Aristophanes; see list below).

On two bindings, the device “Elle ma faict Beavliev” is lettered around the wreath on upper cover, and the initials “P De B” appear in the same place on the lower cover (Callimachus, Nigri). Unfortunately, these initials have not yet enabled identification of the owner. Mirjam Foot proposed Pierre de Beaulieu (d. 1595), who was Conseiller au Parlement de Bordeaux (1577–1595), or his son (1578–1608); however, no record can be found of a grant of arms to this family. Another Pierre de Beaulieu (d. 1572), Conseiller, notaire et secretaire du Roy, bore different arms. Three of the books were printed at Basel in 1532, another at Basel in 1537, and the remaining two were printed at Florence in 1525 and 1534. The Arsenius and the Callimachus are also credited to the Pecking Crow atelier, a shop probably established in Paris about 1535, but most active from about 1545 to 1550.

List of These Unidentified Parisian Armorial Bindings

(1) Aristophanes, Comoediae novem cum commentariis antiquis (Florence: Heirs of Filippo I Giunta, 1525). Unidentified armorial supralibros. — Denis Salvaing de Boissieu (1600- 1683) — Martin & Félix Perrin with Pilot de Thorey, Catalogue d’une importante bibliothèque composée d’ouvrages anciens, rares et précieux, Grenoble, 13-18 December 1897, lot 605 and Pl. 7 — unidentified owner - bought in sale (FF48) — Sir Charles James Stuart, 2nd Bt (1824-1901), exlibris; Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of a portion of the valuable library of the late Sir Charles Stuart, Bart, now the property of his brother, London, 29-30 June 1903, lot 194 — J. & J. Leighton, London - bought in sale (18s) — Joannes Gennadius (1844-1932) — Athens, Gennadius Library, Rare Book, B/GC 1941.

Hobson, op. cit., p.180 (“Appendix A. French armorial stamps used before 1550” no. 7: location “unknown”, “no suitable French claimant is recorded”).

(2) Arsenius Apostolios, Scholia in septem Euripidis tragoedias ex antiquis exemplaribus ab Arsenio archiepiscopo Mombasiae collecta (Venice: Lucantonio Giunta, 24 December 1534). Unidentified armorial supralibros. — unidentified owner(s), inscriptions “Monsieur de bressiens”, “madame de bressiens”, two Bs interlaced, “Monsieur de (?) Lareche”, “Monsieur le bar” — Denis Salvaing de Boissieu (1600-1683) — Martin & Félix Perrin with Pilot de Thorey, Catalogue d’une importante bibliothèque composée d’ouvrages anciens, rares et précieux, Grenoble, 13-18 December 1897, lot 604 — Alfred Maria Fortunatus 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 18 — Bernard Quaritch, London - bought in sale (£48) — Henry Davis (1897-1977) — London, British Library, Henry Davis Gift 335.

Mirjam Foot, The Henry Davis Gift: A Collection of bookbindings, Volume 3: A Catalogue of South-European bindings (London 2010), no. 18.

(3) Giovanni Boccaccio, Ioannis Bocatii Peri Genealogias [Greek] Deorvm, Libri Qvindecim, cum annotationibus Iacobi Micylli (Basel: Johannes I Herwagen, September 1532). The volume offered here.

(4) Callimachus, Hymni graecae (Basel: Johann Froben, 1532). Unidentified armorial supralibros. — Henry Joseph Thomas Drury (1778-1841) — R.H. Evans, Catalogue of the extensive and valuable library of the Rev. Henry Drury, London, 19 February-23 March 1827, lot 768 — Sowerby - bought in sale (19s) — Thomas Shadford Walker (1834-1885); Catalogue of a loan collection of ancient & modern bookbindings, exhibited at the Liverpool Art Club (Liverpool 1882), no. 67; Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of the very choice collection of printed books and exquisitely illuminated manuscripts of the late T. Shadford Walker, Esq., London, 23-24 June 1886, lot 95 — Bernard Quaritch, London - bought in sale (£1 5s) — Joannes Gennadius (1844-1932); Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of the extensive and valuable library of manuscripts & printed books of His Excellency Monsieur John Gennadius, D.C.L., F.R.S.I., late Greek Minister at the court of St. James’s, London, 28 March-7 April 1895, lot 697 — J. & J. Leighton, London - bought in sale (£4 17s 6d) — New York, Morgan Library & Museum, 048492.

Pierpont Morgan Library, Eighth annual report to the Fellows (New York 1958), pp.35-36; Howard Nixon, Sixteenth-century gold-tooled bindings in the Pierpont Morgan Library (New York 1971), pp.66-67; Paul Needham, Twelve centuries of bookbindings, 400-1600 (New York 1979), p.216.

(5) Euripides, Euripidu tragodiai oktokaideka, hekabe herakles mainomenos. Evripidis tragoediae octodecim, hecuba hercules furens (Basel: Johannes Herwagen, 1537). Unidentified armorial supralibros. — Joannes Gennadius (1844-1932); Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of the extensive and valuable library of manuscripts & printed books of His Excellency Monsieur John Gennadius, D.C.L., F.R.S.I., late Greek Minister at the court of St. James’s, London, 28 March-7 April 1895, lot 1150 — Bernard Quaritch, London - bought in sale (£2 17s 6d) — Athens, Gennadius Library, B/GC 1823.

(6) Stefano Negri, Stephani nigri quae quidem praestare svi nominis ac studiosis utilia noverimus monimenta, nempe translationes: iconum philostrati: aureorum carminum pythagorae: athenaei collectaneorum: orationis de optimo principe musonii philosophi: de regiis muneribus Isocratis orationis. Adhaec opusculorum quae ipse aedidit (Basel: Heinrich Petri, August 1532). Unidentified armorial supralibros, the arms (effaced), lettered (upper cover) “Elle m’a faict Beaulieu” and (lower cover) “P De B.” — Saint-Étienne, Bibliothèque Municipale de Saint-Étienne, ANC E5827.

Claude Longeon, Catalogue des incunables et des ouvrages imprimés au XVIe siècle conservés à la Bibliothèque municipale de Saint-Etienne (1973), no. 94; Jean-Guy Girardet, “Livres, chers livres: les marques d’appropriation sur les livres des séries quarto et folio de la Bibliothèque Municipale de Saint-Étienne” in Des livres et des hommes: 1989-1999, edited by Alain Collet (Saint Étienne 1999), p.145.

Folio (300 x 205 mm). Roman type, 50 lines plus headline. collation: aa–ee⁶ ff⁴ a–z⁶, A–S⁶ T⁸: 288 leaves. 13 full-page woodcut genealogical trees, numerous historiated and floriated woodcut initials, woodcut Froben devices on title-page and T8v. (Title-page lightly soiled, occasional light marginal dampstaining.)

binding: Very near contemporary Parisian tan calf (309 x 220 mm), ca 1540, by Pecking Crow/Wotton Binder A, border formed by repeated gilt arabesque flanked by single gilt and 3 blind fillets, with gold bud tool at corners, central lozenge formed by repeated gilt trefoil between single gilt and 3 blind fillets with gilt bud tool at corners, central unidentified gilt arms-block placed within a circular wreath, spine with 7 full and 2 half bands, outlined by blind lines, later morocco lettering-piece placed in second compartment, gilt edges. (Front joint cracked, rear joint repaired, spine chipped at several bands, corners and other extremities restored, with lower fore-edge fleuron on both covers regilt.)

provenance: Armorial supralibros (unidentified) — Claude Pellot (1619–1683; ink inscription “De la Bibliothèque de Mgr. Pellot premier president du parlement de Normandie”) — Sydney Richardson Christie-Miller (1874–1931; Sotheby’s, London, 31 July–3 August 1917, lot 218. Purchased by) — J. & J. Leighton, London (£6 10s) (Sotheby’s, London, 14–19 November 1918, lot 134. Purchased by) — Davis & Orioli, London (£2 2s) — Christie’s, London, 25 November 1992, lot 130. Purchased by — Maggs Bros., London (£1,000) (Catalogue 1157 [1993], item 10). acquisition: Purchased from Maggs Bros., 1992. 

references: VD16 B 5846; USTC 667713; cf. for this and related armorial bindings: A. Hobson, French and Italian Collectors and their Bindings Illustrated from Examples in the Library of J.R. Abbey (Oxford, 1953), pp. xv–xvi, 26, 180-181; Mirjam Foot, The Henry Davis Gift: A Collection of Bookbindings, Volume 1: Studies in the History of Bookbinding (London, 1978), pp. 130, 136.