Beschreibung:

Cicero, Marcus Tullius. M. Tullii Ciceronis Epistolae ad Atticum, ad M. Brutum, ad Quintum fratrem summa diligentia castigate, ut in iis menda quae plurima erant paucissima iam supersint. Pauli Manutii in easdem epistolas scholia… Venice: Paolo Manuzio, August 1540
Large-paper copy of the first printing of the Epistolae ad Atticum with the scholia of Paolo Manuzio. "The practice of creating large-paper copies, in all three folio, quarto, and octavo formats, began with Aldus and was continued by the Torresani. Conor Fahy has identified two series of styles, the first extending to 1534 and the second to 1550 and beyond" (G. Scott Clemons & H. George Fletcher, Aldus Manutius A legacy more lasting than bronze, note to 88).
The edition is dedicated by Paolo to one of the most important politicians in Venice, Guillaume Pellicier, bishop of Montpellier, resident ambassador of François I (1539-1542). Pellicier’s favor proved useful to the Manuzios, when the following year Paolo’s brother, Antonio, was banished from Venice, and Pellicier managed to obtain him a safe conduct for five years. Reprints of the edition (retaining the dedication to Pellicier) were issued in November 1544, 1548, and 1551.
The first owner of this copy was Benedetto Ramberti (ca. 1503-1547), a secretary of the Venetian Senate, who in 1533 had been sent on a mission from Venice to Dubrovnik by sea and thence overland to Constantinople, publishing afterwards an account of his embassy at the Aldine Press (1539). Ramberti was subsequently librarian of the Biblioteca Marciana (1543-1547). The Brooker copy is inscribed “Bened. Rhamberti et amicorum” at the head of the title-page, and is annotated in the same hand.
Two other books from Ramberti’s library are known: a copy of the 1533 Aldine Epistolae familiares, also on large paper, inscribed at the head of the title "Benedecti Rhamberti fidorumq(ue) amicorum" and likewise annotated (London, British Library, 1454.d.6); and a copy of the 1540 Aldine edition of Machiavelli’s Il prencipe, inscribed "Bened. Rhamberti et Amicorum" (Bibliotheca Brookeriana, to be offered in a future sale).
8vo (219 x 123 mm), large paper copy. Italic type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: A-Z8 AA-VV8 AAA-CCC8: 368 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device on title-pages and final versos. Numerous manuscript annotations by Ramberti. (Intermittent light marginal dampstaining, some occasional spotting.)
binding: Seventeenth-century vellum (215 x 125 mm), fore-edge flaps, manuscript title on spine. (Repairs at ends of spine, early labels removed from head and tail.)
provenance: Benedetto Ramberti (d. ca. 1547, inscription "Bened. Rhamberti et Amicorum" on title-page, heavily annotated, front flyleaf headed "Antonius Hircio et Caesari. Cognita morte C. Treboni non plus gavisus sum quam dolui…"). acquisition: Purchased from Libreria antiquaria Pregliasco, Turin, 2012. references: UCLA 287; Edit16 12246; Renouard 120/7; T. Kimball Brooker, "Paolo Manutio's use of fore-edge titles for presentation copies (1540-1541)" in The Book Collector 46 (1997), pp.27-68 (pp.45-46, 65), on Ramberti’s receipt of presentation copies of the Cicero series.