Beschreibung:

FRACCO, AMBROGIO NOVIDIO. Ambrosii Novidii Fracci Ferentinatis Sacrorum fastorum libri XII cum romanis consuetudinibus per totum annum, suisque causis, ac stellis, et numinum nostrum introductionibus. Adhibitis XII mensibus XII apost. tutelis, rebus gestis, necnon figuris, ac fabulis ad rem facientibus, a suis tenebris ad lucem, idest Christum, reductis, opus sane sic post natalem Domini a nullo antea scriptum aut editum. Rome: Antonio Blado, 18 May 1547
First edition of Fracco’s verse description of Roman Catholic festivals, imitating Ovid’s Fasti; his nickname Novidio referred to him as a new Ovid. The content of the book is linked closely to the papacy of Paul III, the dedicatee, and the illustrations include the presentation of the book to Paul III by Fracco (4*4v).
Some of the same binding stamps can be seen on Apollo and Pegasus bindings made by both Niccolò Franzese and Marcantonio Guillery (see Hobson, Apollo & Pegasus, plates VI(a) and XIX(b)) as well as by Maestro Luigi (Davis Gift 316). The binding is similar to the Harvard copy as described by Mortimer, which has the arms of a cardinal; these may well have been presentation copies. This copy may have been for a member of the Guise family, perhaps Charles Cardinal de Lorraine (1524-1574), though there is no further provenance to prove this (and there is no cardinal’s hat around the armorial).
There is a manuscript note added to the register to state that quires F and H also have six leaves; this is also recorded in several other copies and was presumably done in the printshop.