With Wonderfully Detailed Woodcuts Replete with Charm and Drama

OPERA VIRGILIANA CUM DECEM COMMENTIS.

(ILLUSTRATED BOOKS - 16TH CENTURY). VERGILIUS MARO, PUBLIUS.

(Lugduni [Lyon]: Jean Crespin, 1529). 326 x 215 mm. (13 x 8 1/2"). [6] leaves, 12-268 pp.; 1-95 [1] pp.; [1]-600 pp., [8] leaves. Three sections in one. Edited by Josse Badius Ascensius.

Restrained 17th century mottled calf, covers triple ruled in blind with oblique gilt fleurons in each corner, raised bands, neatly rebacked and recornered with modern deep brown morocco, marbled endpapers, edges sprinkled. WITH 203 TOTAL ILLUSTRATIONS, comprised of 190 different woodcuts, 11 of which repeat once, and one repeating twice. The first title printed in black and red with an elaborate woodcut border; the second title with a fleur-de-lys device. With criblé initials throughout in three sizes, many historiated. Handwritten book label of Tobias Gutberleth on title (see below), title additionally with ink ownership inscription of G. van Olden, J[unio]r dated 1860. Front flyleaf with pasted-in manuscript inscriptions of "Fr[ancis](?)" and "R. E. Hattiule"(?). Line numbers in ink in a contemporary hand through much of the volume. Mortimer 538; Renouard "Badius Ascensius" III, 377; Adams V, 474; Brunet V, 1282; Graesse VI, 336. Binding yawning a bit, edges somewhat rubbed, but a solidly restored and perfectly acceptable binding. Light smudges of no consequence here and there, other trivial defects, but internally very clean, fresh, and bright.

This is a well-preserved copy of a 16th century printing of Virgil's "Opera," profusely illustrated with wonderfully detailed woodcuts replete with charm and drama. Initially produced in Strassburg for Johann Grüninger’s 1502 Vergil, our striking set of illustrations was reused in the 1515 German translation of the Aeneid and then in Sacon’s 1517 Lyon printing, which bears many similarities to the present edition. While the plates do show some of the wear expected with this level of reuse—Mortimer notes that several had split by the time of the 1517 printing—the impressions here are nevertheless quite good, and the illustrations are no less compelling than befoe. The anonymous artist, whom Mortimer describes as having "a skilled hand and lively imagination," has provided animated scenes that perfectly match the content of the text. They range from the charming pastoral images that accompany the Eclogues and Georgics, full of cheerful farmers and leaping stags, to the dramatic battle scenes of the Aeneid, with their fierce heroes (in full 15th century armor), grotesque monsters, and elaborately rendered cities engulfed by leaping flames, all overlooked by the pantheon of unconcerned gods. The text here is framed by the commentary of French scholar and printer Josse Badius Ascensius, as well as by the commentaries of Filippo Beroaldo, Giovanni Pierio Valeriano Bolzani, and others. The present copy was owned early in its history by Tobias Guberleth (1609-62), poet and head of the Leeuwarden Latin school. (ST20181)

Price: $11,000.00