Della Casa, Rime, et prose, Venice, Bevilacqua, 1558, contemporary Venetian russet morocco by the Fugger binder

Della Casa, Giovanni. Rime, et prose. Venice: Niccolò Bevilacqua for Erasmo Gimini, October 1558

First edition, printed on fine paper.

4to (220 x 165 mm). Roman type, 30 lines. collation: a⁴ b² A-X⁴ Y²: 92 leaves. Woodcut historiated initials, early ink annotations to verso of front free-endpaper and C1. (Foxing and toning, some dampstaining at inner margin, minor marginal worming, F2 signed E2.)

binding: Venetian russet morocco (226 x 172 mm), ca. 1558, by Fugger Binder, covers with frame of two gilt fillets flanked by multiple blind fillets, gilt fleuron at outer angles, two large gilt leaf tools at outer central points, leafy arabesque at inner corners, in center an undulating lozenge containing four open leaf tools arranged as two stirrups tête-bêche, traces of four pairs of fabric ties, spine with three full and four semi-raised bands, compartments with leafy roll, edges gilt with gauffered border of two rows of dots. (Wear to the spine with some minor loss at joints, a bit rubbed, stray spots to edges, old auction catalogue note tipped onto pastedown.)

provenance: Unidentified owner, bookplate obliterated (only last two letters are legible: "...ON") — Alfred Hopkins (1870- 1941) — presumably Peter Theodore Hopkins (1918-2004) by descent — Christie’s New York, 15 December 2005, lot 335. acquisition: Purchased at Christie's via Ursus Books. references: Not in UCLA; Renouard 175/15; Edit16 16461; USTC 826234; the binding is not listed by Anthony Hobson in Renaissance Book Collecting (Cambridge 1999), "Appendix 8: Bindings by the Fugger Binder"