Cicero, Epistolae ad Atticum, Venice, Aldus, 1513, old calf by Williamson of Eton, Wodhull copy

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. M. T. Ciceronis epistolarum ad Atticum, ad Brutum, ad Quintum fratrem, libri XX. Latina interpretatio eorum, quae in iis ipsis epistolis graece scripta sunt ubi multa & mutata, & addita sunt. Admonemus igitur lectorem, ut inde sibi librum corrigat suum. (Venice: in the house of Aldo Manuzio and Andrea Torresano, June 1513)

An attractive, clean and unpressed copy. Williamson's device on the binding was previously misattributed to Anne Boleyn.

8vo (165 x 95 mm). Italic type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: AA-BB⁸ a-z⁸ aa-ss⁸ tt⁴: 348 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device on title-page and final verso (otherwise blank). (Front flyleaf slightly worn, small stain at head of last few leaves.)

binding: Early seventeenth-century calf by Vincent Williamson of Eton (170 x 103 mm), central gilt stamp of a crowned falcon within a single gilt fillet border, spine gilt in compartments with morocco lettering-piece, red edges. (Spine repaired, edges rubbed.)

provenance: Elizabeth Hervey (1676-1741), countess of Bristol, "her book," inscription on inside front cover dated 1738 — Michael Wodhull (1740-1816), his note of purchase on flyleaf, "Collins's sale. M. Wodhull. Nov. 23d 1778" (though with the price paid cut away), sale, Replica Shoes , Wilkinson & Hodge, 11-21 January 1886, lot 703 ("Queen Anne Boleyn's copy"), £20-10s, to Bernard Quaritch — "£60 1899," ink note on flyleaf. acquisition: Purchased from Patrick King Rare Books, Stony Stratford, 1987. references: UCLA 113; Aldo Manuzio tipografo 115; Edit16 12190; Renouard 61/3