Cicero, Tusculanae, Florence, Giunta, 1508, contemporary tooled black morocco

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Ciceronis Tusculanae. (Florence: Filippo Giunta, September 1508)

8vo (160 x 100 mm). Italic type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: *² a-l⁸ m¹⁰: 100 leaves. (Slight damp-staining at lower corner, title-page slightly soiled, other occasional light soiling, a few page corners creased.)

binding: Contemporary Roman gilt-tooled black morocco (165 x 103 mm), outer panel made from a repeated round arabesque tool within blind fillets, small leaf and flower tools in central panel ringed by straight and wavy lines, lettered at head of upper cover TUSCULANAE CICE, spine with decoration of blind fillets, edges gilt and gauffered to a knotwork design, stubs from four pairs of ties. (Gilding mostly worn away, binding slightly rubbed, small tear to foot of spine.)

provenance: Ottavio Silva, inscription on flyleaf (possibly not an ownership inscription) — Edmé Hermitte (1904-1983), bookplate, sale, Châtillon-sur-Seine, 12 November 1983. acquisition: Purchased from Librairie Sourget, Chartres, 2002. references: Edit16 12175; Pettas, Giunti of Florence, 25; Renouard xxxv/24