Demosthenes, Cinque orationi, Venice, [Paolo Manuzio], 1557, late eighteenth-century long-grain red morocco

Demosthenes. Cinque orationi di Demosthene et vna di Eschine tradotte di lingua greca in italiana secondo la uerità de' sentimenti. Venice: [Paolo Manuzio], 1557

Translated by Girolamo Ferro, apparently the first printing in Italian of these five orations by Demosthenes, and one of the earliest editions of any Italian text of Demosthenes.

8vo (151 x 92 mm). Roman and italic type, 29 lines plus headline. collation: A-Z⁸ AA-II⁸: 256 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device on title-page and verso of II7. (Three small repairs to title-page, small hole at lower corner of A2, scattered foxing and light browning, a few early annotations in ink.)

binding: Late eighteenth-century English long-grain red morocco (160 x 102 mm), covers doubly ruled in gilt, spine with raised raised bands in six compartments flanked by gilt fillets, second and fourth gilt-lettered, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers.

provenance: Fulvio Bidernuccio, inscription on title-page — Daniele Andrea Dolfin (1748-1797), Venetian ambassador to France (1779-1785), armorial booklabel to verso of title-page — Wilmot Vaughan, 1st Earl of Lisburne (1728-1800), armorial bookplate to pastedown. acquisition: Purchased from Phillp J. Pirages, McMinnville, OR, 1999. references: UCLA 518; Renouard 171/8; Edit16 16748; USTC 826514