Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius, Aldus, Venice, 1515, contemporary Italian morocco gilt

Catullus, Gaius Valerius, Albius Tibullus and Sextus Propertius. Catullus. Tibullus. Propertius. (Venice: in the house of Aldo Manuzio and Andrea Torresano, March 1515)

A second copy.

Some of the binding tools are also found on Bolognese bindings by the Pflug and Ebeleben Binder, including the central rose stamp and the outer leafy border.

8vo (160 x 98 mm). Italic type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: A-D⁸ E¹⁰ AA-DD⁸ EE⁴ a-i⁸: 150 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device on title-page and final verso (otherwise blank). (Slightly damp-stained at head.)

binding: Contemporary gilt-tooled morocco (plausibly Bolognese) (165 x 103 mm), leafy outer border and lozenge-shaped panel with central roundel containing a flower ringed with small leafy tools, spine with gilt fillets around sewing bands, edges gilt and gauffered, stubs from four pairs of ties, vellum flyleaf at end. (Binding restored along head and spine, later pastedowns.)

provenance: "Vente Laugel no.110", inscription at foot of flyleaf — Louis-Alexandre Barbet (1850-1931), inscription at head of flyleaf, sale, Paris, 12-14 June 1932, lot 64 ("jolie relieure aldine, un peu restaurée"), 500 FF. acquisition: Purchased from Rossignol, Paris, 2004