Claudianus, Opera, Venice, Aldus, 1523, contemporary Venetian russet morocco gilt

Claudianus, Claudius. Cl. Claudiani Opera quam diligentissime castigata, quorum indicem in sequenti pagina reperies. Venice: heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, March 1523

8vo (160 x 90 mm). Italic type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: a-y⁸: 176 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device on title-page and final verso. (Title and a few preliminaries slightly soiled.)

binding: Contemporary Venetian binding (162 x 100 mm), russet morocco with fillets tooled in gilt and blind framing author's name on upper cover, spine with three raised bands and four semi-raised bands, compartments with author's name stamped horizontally in blind, edges with decorative knotwork pattern in black, stubs from four pairs of ties, vellum flyleaf stained red at rear of volume. Housed in folding case. (Overall a trifle rubbed, spine worn with worming to lower compartment, front pastedown renewed.)

provenance: Giuliano Ulivi, priest of Treppio (Pistoia), and Fabiano Ulivi of Treppio, eighteenth-century inscriptions at end of volume —Laurence Witten, Southport, sale, Swann Galleries, 7 October 1985, lot 7, $325 — Robert Wayne Stilwell (bookplate to front pastedown). acquisition: Purchased from E.K. Schreiber, New York, 2000. references: UCLA 218; Edit16 12668; Renouard 96/1