Author: Dan Williford

PLINIUS SECUNDUS, Gaius (23-79). Historia naturalis, in Italian. Translated by Cristoforo Landino (1424-1492). Venice: Nicolaus Jenson, 1476.

PLINIUS SECUNDUS, Gaius (23-79). Historia naturalis, in Italian. Translated by Cristoforo Landino (1424-1492). Venice: Nicolaus Jenson, 1476.

Royal 2° (413 x 265mm). Collation: [1-21¹⁰ 22-26⁸ 27-35¹⁰ 36¹⁰(10+1) 37⁸ 38¹⁰ 39⁸ 40-41¹⁰ 42⁸ 43¹⁰] (1/1 blank, 1/2r translator’s prologue, 1/5v blank, 1/6r book I, 3/1v blank, 3/2r book II, 43/9v colophon, 43/10 blank). 413 (of 415, without first and final blank leaves); sheet 15/5.6 misbound at centre of quire 26. 50 lines. Type: 1:115R, scattered Greek. ILLUMINATED BY A VENETIAN ARTIST IN THE CIRCLE OF GIROLAMO DA CREMONA, BENEDETTO BORDON AND THE THE MASTER OF THE SEVEN VIRTUES in camaieu gris, full-page architectural border opening Book II incorporating the arms of the Bollani family of Venice, 8 scholars in lower border with mythical beasts, the text page a fictive banner, initial miniature of a warrior holding his shield, 11-line historiated initials in classical style opening each book, also in camaieu gris on a red, green or blue ground, minor initials alternating in red, blue or green, foliation in two early hands (showing that the misbinding of 15/5.6 must be original), book numbers added to headline in a 17th-century Italian hand. (First leaf lightly soiled, section of blue-painted border of frontispiece restored, a few other extreme foremargins at beginning and end expertly strengthened, occasional light stains, a few small wormholes at front, marginal tear in 3 leaves, last leaf torn and repaired.) 18th-century sprinkled calf, gilt spine, red leather spine label, red sprinkled edges (sides scuffed, hinges and spine worn); modern blue cloth box. Provenance: Candiano Bollani, Venice (c.1413-1478; illuminated armorial; see below) — Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke (1656-1733, First Lord of the Admirality, Lord Privy Seal, Lord High Admiral; in the 1776 list of his early books prepared by Thomas Dampier and published in Dibdin’s Bibliographical Decameron, III, p.290; by descent, Pembroke sale Sotheby’s, 25 June 1914, lot 159,£225 to:) — Tammaro de Marinis (sale Hoepli, Milan, part 2, 30 November 1925, lot 317) — Otto Vollbehr (bookplate, duplicate stamp) — Robert Williams (bookplate).

FIRST EDITION IN ITALIAN, ILLUMINATED BY A CONTEMPORARY VENETIAN ARTIST FOR CANDIANO BOLLANI. The decoration of the Bollani Pliny is characteristic of Veneto-Paduan Renaissance illumination popular with wealthy humanist book-collectors in the 1470s and 1480s. The illusionism and imagery of its architectural frontispiece’s triumphal Roman arch with all’antica motifs, including fictive cameos, cornucopiae, masks and satyrs, from which is suspended a ragged piece of parchment, and historiated initials drawn and painted in grisaille, skillfully evoke the Classical era. The illuminator was a Venetian artist in the circle of Girolamo da Cremona, Benedetto Bordon and the Master of the Seven Virtues, three of the most accomplished miniaturists of incunables active in Venice in the 1470s and 1480s. His style incorporates elements of their work: Girolamo’s distinctive reclining deer and lions in a stony landscape strewn with bound books, and Bordon’s trompe l’oeil rock crystal initials on monochromatic floral grounds, and the anonymous master’s aged male figures with expressive and bearded faces, dressed in deeply-folding drapery. This combination of influences reflects the fact that the trio worked in collaboration with each other, as well as individually, such as for the illumination from 1477-1481 of a magnificent series of legal texts printed by Jenson, for Jenson’s business associate Peter Ugelheimer of Frankfurt (Gotha, Landesbibliothek, Mon. Typ. 1477, 2.4, 2.10, 2.12, 2.13; see The Painted Page, ed. by J. J. G. Alexander, 1994, nos. 96-98, and Andrea De Marchi, in Parole dipinte: la miniatura a Padova dal Medievo al Settecento, ed. by G. Canova Mariani, 1999, nos. 145-148).

Three other books from the library of the Bollani, a patrician family of Venice, are known. One, a manuscript, contains Candiano’s coat-of-arms together with that of his wife, Lucrezia Marcello. Two others (a manuscript Petrarch, Poiano: 1476, and a Bible printed on vellum, Venice: Jenson, 1479) were illuminated by artists associated with Jenson: the Pico Master, and the Pico Master with another artist in the circle of Bordon (Armstrong, Studies of Renaissance Miniaturists in Venice, 2003, pp. 53, 320, 322). Since the Bible was printed the year after Candiano’s death, it was presumably owned by one of his sons, Domenico, Francesco or Girolamo. Dispersals from the Bollani library commenced already in the 15th century, as witnessed by the later ownership of the manuscript by Nicoletto Vernia (d. 1499), and continued into the 18th century.

The 1476 Pliny is a masterpiece of typographic design, printed with Jenson’s influential Roman types and in proportions that continue to be emulated today. The Bollani copy joins a handful of other deluxe copies illuminated for grand patrons such as the Ridolfi of Florence and others associated with its production. The translation and printing of the edition was commissioned by the Strozzi, the powerful Florentine banking family, in conjunction with Giovambattista Ridolfi. Ridolfi and Girolamo Strozzi remained in Venice during the printing of the edition, and Ridolfi took delivery of copies by September of that year. (Cf. F. de Roover, “Per la storia dell’arte della stampa in Italia”, La Bibliofilia, 55, 1953, 107-117.)

A large copy with pinholes frequently visible at lower corner. Sheet 42/3.6 variant with heading of chapter XX on 42/3r reading ‘Ematite et schisto’. H *13105; BMC V, 176 (IC. 19693-4); CIBN P-469; IGI 7893; BSB-Ink. P-611; Bod.Inc. P-372; Klebs 787.1; Goff P-801.

BRUNUS ARETINUS, Leonardus (1369-1444). Historiae Florentini populi in Italian, translated by Donatus Acciaiolus (1429-1478). Venice: Jacobus Rubeus, 12 February 1476.

First edition. Bruni, one of the most celebrated humanists between Petrarch and Erasmus, presents Florence as heir of the free city-states of ancient Etruria and of the Roman Republic. It contains the earliest printed account of the life of Dante and other biographies and anecdotes interspersed throughout the chronicle. This copy was formely owned by John Francis Neylan. In a high-profile career, Neylan was notably William Randolph Hearst’s general counsel and advisor. His bookplate was designed by W.H. Wilke and printed by John Henry Nash. HC *1562; BMC V, 215; GW 5612; IGI 2202; CIBN B-883 ; BSB-Ink B-945; Bod-inc B-575; ISTC ib01247000; Goff B-1247.

Median folio (315 x 223mm). 217 leaves (of 218, without blank a1). Initial spaces, some with guide-letter (modest holes repaired in first 3 leaves touching a few letters, one possibly a removed stamp, occasional light stain or spotting). 20th-century vellum. Provenance: early marginal annotations – ‘J.B. Bonensis’ (17th-century inscription in first initial space) – John Francis Neylan (1885-1960; American lawyer, newspaper publisher, educationalist; 20th-century bookplate) – [sold Christie’s, Paris, 29 Nov. 2011, lot 34].

Nicolas Jenson and the success of his roman type, Riccardo Olocco, April 4, 2017.

During the 1470s Nicholas Jenson’s technical skill and business acumen helped establish Venice as Italy’s publishing capital and in centuries since he has been celebrated for perfecting roman type, the rebirth of Latin inscription.

Jenson’s fame as one of history’s greatest typeface designers and punch cutters rests on the types first used in his edition of Eusebius’s Praeparatio Evangelica, which presents the full flowering of the roman type design.[8][9]

In 1471, a Greek typeface followed, which was used for quotations, and then in 1473 a Black Letter typeface, which he used in books on medicine and history.

Caesar, Julius. Works, 1471. Printed in Venice by Nicolas Jenson, 1471
Nicolas Jenson printed one of the earliest and most beautiful editions of Caesar. We note here, especially the remarkable clarity and simplicity of the printer’s Roman typeface, which drew its inspiration from etchings on Roman monuments. On this opening page, we are also treated to a wonderful illuminated initial and border.[14]

VK 405, Bible in Latin, Nicolas Jenson, Venice, 1479
The Bible was written by forty different human authors over a 1500-year period. While the original Autographs were “perfect”, the process of hand-copying resulted in derivations from the original texts. Of the French printers of the era from Nicolas Jenson came nearly a hundred of the finest books produced in the fifteenth century. This is the first Bible to be issued from Jenson’s press, of this Latin Bible, issued in 1479, Pope Sixtus IV conferred upon him the honorary title of Count Palatine.[15]

Pliny, Natural History, 1476. Printed in Venice by Nicolas Jenson. 1,025 copies (1,000 paper, 25 vellum).
The Pliny the Elder text was printed as a partnership venture between Jenson and the Strozzi family, who backed the venture financially. It is a vernacular text, with translation by Cristoforo Landino. “The Pliny text was printed (in a font closely simulating the modern humanist handwriting in which the manuscript of the work might have been written) with wide margins, without initial capital letters at the beginning of chapters, and with its titles isolated in a sea of blank paper on the frontispiece, crying out for illustration and decoration.”[16]

Roman type of Nicholas Jenson, 1472.

A specimen of Nicolas Jenson’s archetypal roman typeface, from the “Laertis”, published in Venice c. 1475.

Capitals of Nicolas Jenson’s roman typeface, from a translation ‘in Fiorentina’ (in Italian) of Pliny the Elder, published in Venice in 1476.

Julius Caesar’s Works, printer Nicolas Jenson, 1471

VK 405, Bible in Latin, Nicolas Jenson, Venice, 1479

Pliny the Elder’s Natural History, printer Nicolas Jenson, 1476

The Mentelin Bible. Mentelin, Johann, approximately 1410-1478 Printer. Strasbourg : Johann Mentelin, 1466.

MAINZ : JOHANN FUST & PETER SCHOEFFER

The Mainz Psalter 14 August 1457

Printed on vellum in black and red, with woodblock two-colour initials, manuscript music and large coloured capitals in blue and red; folio. | 43.8 x 32.3 x 7.5 cm (book measurement (conservation)) | RCIN 1071478