Aeschines, Due orationi, Venice, Aldus, 1554, later red morocco gilt

Aeschines, Demosthenes and Cicero. Due orationi, l'una di Eschine contra di Tesifonte, l'altra di Demosthene à sua difesa. Di greco in volgare nuovamente tradotte per un gentilhuomo Firentino. Venice: (in the house of the sons of Aldo Manuzio), 1554 [bound with:]

Oratione di Cicerone in difesa di Milone, tradotta di latino in volgare da Giacomo Bonfadio. Venice: (in the house of the sons of Aldo Manuzio), 1554

The speeches in the first work were translated by Girolamo Ferro (1509-1561), a Venetian statesman, who translated not just Demosthenes and Aeschines but also Cicero into Italian; although the translations were anonymous, and his Cicero is no longer known, Ferro's contribution was recorded by Francesco Sansovino.

2 works in one volume, 8vo (160 x 93 mm). Italic type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: A-N⁸ O⁴: 108 leaves; A-E⁸: 40 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device on title-pages and final versos. (Without two blank leaves at end of Aeschines, a few small wormholes, occasional light soiling, more towards end of volume.)

binding: Later red morocco gilt (165 x 106 mm), spine gilt in compartments, gilt edges. (Extremities slightly rubbed.)

provenance: Lord Robert Spencer (1747-1831, son of the Duke of Marlborough), bookplate — [inherited by] Edward Charles Ponsonby Lascelles (1884-1956), of Woolbeding, Sussex, sale, Replica Shoes 's (Hodgson's Rooms), 19-20 November 1970, lot 225, £18. acquisition: Purchased at the preceding sale. references: UCLA 466 & 469; Edit16 327 & 12321; Renouard 160/11 & 161/14