Martialis, Epigrammaton libri XIIII, Lyon, 1553, French tan calf with gilt medallion
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December 10, 04:10 PM GMT
Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 GBP
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Description
MARTIALIS, MARCUS VALERIUS. M. Val. Martialis Epigrammaton libri XIIII. Adiecta Graecarum vocum, quibus autor utitur, interpretatione. Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1553
A medallion binding decorated with a plaquette of Julius Caesar, laureate, in profile to the right. Anthony Hobson knew four examples of this plaquette on bookbindings, two on Lyonese imprints of 1552 and 1560 (Humanists and Bookbinders, 1989, Census, no. 134a-b), one on a Parisian imprint of 1576 (his Second Supplement, 2000, p.78 no. 134ax), and this 1553 Martial ("Three plaquette bindings and a German collector" Bibliophiles et reliures: mélanges offerts à Michel Wittock, ed. Annie De Coster, Claude Sorgeloos, and Marcus de Schepper (Brussels 2006), p.266). An an old inscription states that the marginalia are in the hand of the historian Gilles Ménage (1613-1692), author of Histoire des femmes philosophes. The copy realised F5500 at auction in 1936, one of the higher prices achieved at the sale.
8vo (168 x 106 mm). Roman and italic type, 32 lines plus headline. collation: a-z8 A4 (A4 blank): 188 leaves. Woodcut printer's device on title-page and final verso (otherwise blank), woodcut initials, ruled in red, a few neat contemporary annotations in Latin and Greek, plausibly by Ménage. (Slight browning, some light staining.)
binding: French tan polished calf (174 x 120 mm), single gilt fillet frame, central gilt oval medallion portrait of Julius Caesar, draped bust facing right (Hobson no. 134), spine with gilt rosette in compartments, edges gilt and gauffered to an arabesque design. (Binding slightly rubbed, joints and ends of spine repaired, varnished.)
provenance: "a.d.m.v. / si iniquitates observaveris", early inscription on front endleaf — Gilles Ménage (1613-1692), later inscription on second front endleaf "Ce Martial a été la propriété de Gilles Menage et contient quelques annotations de sa main", [Ménage bequeathed his library to] — Jesuits of Paris, Domus professorum, inscription on title-page — Laure Eugénie Belin (née Pillet), sale, René Boisgirard & Louis Giraud-Badin with Charles Bosse, Bibliothèque de Mme Th. Belin, Paris, 19-20 February 1936, lot 93 — Auguste-Pierre Garnier (1885-1966), bookplate on front pastedown — Libraire Alix, Livres choisis 1476-1957, Verrue 2000, item 31. acquisition: Purchased in 2013 from Michel Bouvier, Paris. references: USTC 151283; von Gültlingen V: Gryphe 1256
