Alciati, Emblemataum libellus, Venice, Aldus, 1546, later blue calf, Fortescue-Schäfer copy

Alciati, Andrea. Andreae Alciati Emblematum libellus, nuper in lucem editis. Venice: (sons of Aldo Manuzio, June) 1546

According to Landwehr, "this is the first emblem book printed in Italy" (p.29); at the time Lyon was the heart of the production and trade in emblem books. This is the only Aldine since the Hypnerotomachia to contain numerous illustrations, which were copied by the Lyonese printers for subsequent editions of Alciati.

8vo (150 x 98 mm). Italic type, 24 lines plus headline. collation: A-F⁸: 48 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device on title-page and final verso (otherwise blank), woodcut illustrations. (Plausibly washed.)

binding: Nineteenth-century English blue calf with double gilt fillet border (154 x 104 mm), flat spine with gilt lettering, gilt edges. (Binding a little rubbed.)

provenance: Fortescue family library (presumably George Fortescue, 1791-1877), sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 24 March 1971, lot 141, £340, to Breslauer [sold to] — Otto Schäfer of Schweinfurt (1912-2000), OS stamp at end, sale, Replica Shoes 's, New York, 4 December 1994, lot 8, $7500. acquisition: Purchased at preceding sale via E.K. Schreiber, New York, 1994. references: UCLA 343; Edit16 12274; Landwehr, Romanic emblem books 33; Mortimer, Harvard Italian 14; Renouard 138/20; Sander 224