Catherine of Siena, Epistole devotissime, Venice, Aldus, 1500, later morocco-backed boards

Catherine of Siena, Saint. Epistole devotissime de Sancta Catharina da Siena. Venice: Aldo Manuzio, 15 (i.e. not before 19) September 1500

The first appearance of italic type. A tall crisp copy with some deckle edges.

The frontispiece woodcut has been attributed to Benedetto Bordone (H.D. Saffrey, "Les images populaires de saints dominicains à Venise au XVe siècle et l'édition par Alde Manuce des 'Epistole' de sainte Catherine de Sienne" in Italia medioevale e umanistica 25 (1982), pp.241-312).

Super-Chancery folio (320 x 204 mm), some deckle edges. Roman type, 40 lines. collation: *¹⁰ a-y⁸ A-G⁸ H¹⁰ I-N⁸ O¹⁰ P-Z⁸ AA-FF⁸: 422 leaves. Woodcut initials, full-page woodcut of St Catherine on *10v. (Title-page and last few leaves slightly browned, small wormhole at foot, a couple of small stains in quires p-q, a few other small marginal stains, penultimate leaf repaired at head, final leaf with lower blank section restored.)

binding: Early nineteenth-century morocco-backed speckled paper boards (331 x 216 mm), spine with gilt lettering at head. (Binding slightly rubbed, corners bumped.)

provenance: Extract from a sale catalogue in French pasted to inside front cover, and note at end "coll. complet 1946". acquisition: Purchased from Gilhofer & Ranschburg, Luzern, catalogue 69 (1976), item 136. references: UCLA 36; Aldo Manuzio tipografo 37; BMC v 562; Goff C-281; GW 6222; ISTC ic00281000; Renouard 23/2; Sander 1821; G. Scott Clemons & H. George Fletcher, Aldus Manutius: A legacy more lasting than Bronze (New York 2015), no. 25 ("from the collection of T. Kimball Brooker")