Giovio, De vita Leonis decimi pont. max. libri IIII, Florence, 1548, unique copy printed on vellum for Cosimo I de' Medici

Giovio, Paolo. Pauli Iouii Nouocomensis episcopi Nucerini, De uita Leonis decimi pont. max. libri IIII. His ordine temporum accesserunt Hadriani sexti pont. max. et Pompeii Columnae cardinalis vitae, ab eodem Paulo Iouio conscriptae. Florence: Lorenzo Torrentino, May 1548

The presumed dedication copy of Giovio’s life of Giovanni de’ Medici, Pope Leo X, printed on vellum, and apparently unique. Written (although not published) in the early 1530s, when the author (1483–1552) was a member of Leo’s court in Rome, it contains many intimate details concerning the Pope, together with a rambling account of contemporary politics. This special copy presumably was made for Cosimo, to whom both author and printer habitually presented their books (Assonitis, “Cosimo I de’ Medici and his Library,” p. 37).

Lorenzo Torrentino (born Laurens van den Bleeck, in Gemert) had been appointed ducal printer by Cosimo in April 1547. Van Praet listed just two works printed by him on vellum: Francesco Robortello, In librum Aristotelis De arte poetica explicationes, in two parts, folio, dedicated by its author to Cosimo de’ Medici (June–October 1548); and Ellis Heywood, Il Moro d' Heliseo Heiuodo inglese, an octavo, dedicated to Cardinal Reginald Pole (1556). A single copy of each work taken off on vellum is recorded in Catalogue des livres imprimes sur vélin de la Bibliothèque du Roi (Paris, 1822).

An inventory of the possessions of Cosimo I arranged in a set of rooms on the second floor of the western wing of the Palazzo Vecchio, made on 20 November 1553, records in sequential entries “*y Francisci Robortelli in poetica Aristotelis” and “*y P. Iouij Leonis Adriani et pompei Columne uite in fo.” The siglum “*y” seldom appears in the inventory, and its meaning is unclear: it may indicate that these copies are printed on vellum, or more likely, the presence of a second copy. Two copies of the Giovio are recorded in an inventory taken in 1588. The inscription “No. 1218” on the front endleaf of the present vellum Giovio refers to a subsequent inventory of 1610, taken after the death of Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Granduca di Toscana (1549–1609), when again two copies are noted. Another inventory number or shelfmark, “Pj.N.3685-A”, and an ownership stamp scraped from title-page (illegible offset on opposite endleaf), could be marks of the Bibliotheca Caesarea Medicea Palatina.

This copy is next recorded in England in the collection of the lawyer Philip Augustus Hanrott (1776–1856), who probably ordered the new binding by John Mackenzie (1788–ca. 1850). The vellum copy of Robortello’s work also appeared on the English market, offered in a catalogue of the London bookseller James Edwards in 1794 (later Mac-Carthy Reagh, his sale 1817, lot 2349; now Paris, BnF, Vélins 539-540). The vellum copy of Heywood passed after 1756 from the library of the English merchant at Livorno, George Jackson, directly to the duc de la Vallière (latter’s sale 1783, lot 1303; now Paris, BnF, Vélins 1965).

Folio (351 x 233mm). Printed on vellum. Roman & italic types, 42 lines. collation: [vine leaf ornament]⁴ A–I⁶ K–L⁴ M–N⁶ O⁴ P–T⁶: 112 leaves (T6 blank). Woodcut Medici-Toledo arms on title-page, 7-line initial spaces with printed guide-letters. (Title and a few other leaves finger-soiled, some light staining or natural discoloration, mainly marginal, a few small marginal holes from natural flaws in the vellum.)

binding: Early nineteenth-century green crushed goatskin (362 x 247 mm) by John Mackenzie (signed at foot of front cover), covers richly gilt with interlaced strapwork involving 3 fillets, interstices of 4 corner compartments filled with dentelles, flat spine with gilt strapwork and titling, vellum pastedowns, edges gilt and gauffered.

provenance: Likely Cosimo I de’ Medici, Granduca di Toscana (1519–1574, the dedicatee) — Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Granduca di Toscana (1549–1609, inventory number on endleaf “No. 1218”) — unidentified owner(s) (early inventory number or shelfmark, Pj.N.3685, ownership stamp scraped from title-page) — Philip Augustus Hanrott (1776–1856; R. H. Evans, London, 5–17 August 1833, lot 1743), purchased by — Thomas Thorpe, London (£8 8s) — Payne & Foss, London, sold to — Beriah Botfield (1807–1863), by bequest to — Marquesses of Bath, descended in the family library at Longleat (Christie’s London, 13 June 2002, lot 33), purchased by — H. P. Kraus, New York (£14,340). acquisition: Purchased from H. P. Kraus, 2002.

references: Edit16 21163; USTC 833163; Moreni, Torrentino, pp. 12-13 no. 6; see also: Alessio Assonitis, “Cosimo I de’ Medici and his Library” in The Grand Ducal Medici and their Archive (1537–1743) (London, 2016), p. 37; Van Praet, Catalogue des livres imprimes sur vélin de la Bibliothèque du Roi (Paris, 1822), 4: no. 64, & 3: no. 54.