Beschreibung:

PLUTARCHUS (ca.45-ca.120). Vitae illustrium virorum . Venice: Nicolaus Jenson, 2 January 1478/9. Royal 2° (418 x 261mm). Collation: a 1 0 b 12 c-m 1 0 n 8 o-x 1 0 y-z & 8 A 12 B-E 1 0 F-N 8 . 1 0 oo-pp 8 Q-Y 1 0 Z 8 && 1 0 (a1 blank, a2r Thesei vita , &8r register, &8v blank, A1-2 blank, A3 (signed A1) Cymonis...Vita , &&9v colophon, &&10r register, &&10v blank). 462 leaves, plus 5 blank sheets of Fabriano paper bound at the beginning and between the parts; part II bound before part I. 50 lines. Type: 1:115R. 4- and 9- to 12-line initial spaces, printed guide-letters. MS. headlines. (Occasional light spotting.) Contemporary Italian goatskin over wooden boards blindstamped in an Islamic style with concentric frames enclosing a central 8-pointed star, spine blindstamped to diaper pattern, evidence of 4 clasps catching at rear, red edges (hinges and head and foot of spine neatly repaired), modern morocco-backed box. Provenance : contemporary marginal annotations in at least two humanist hands; Niccolò da Asti, inscription recording it as his gift to an unlocated monastery of St. Catherine in 1527 (transcribed in sale catalogue of:); George Abrams (bookplate, sale Sotheby's 16 Nov. 1989, no.97). Third edition. Along with his Pliny printed in 1472, Plutarch's Vitae illustrium virorum is one of Jenson's finest productions. The Latin translations are largely the work of 15th-century humanists, including Donatus Acciaiolus, Guarinus Veronensis, Leonardus Brunus Aretinus, Antonius Tudertinus, and Lapus Florentinus; they were commissioned by the Florentine stationer Vespasiano da Bisticci in the 1450s and 1460s. The present copy exemplifies humanist culture not only in its text, but in its binding. It is a fine example of contemporary Italian work incorporating Islamic elements. The style typified mid-15th-century bindings made at Florence, and it was closely associated with books by and owned by Florentine humanists. Padua, whose university was the chief seat of humanist learning at the time, adopted the style, and Venice soon followed. Jenson's edition of Plutarch has direct connections with Padua, since it was substantially financed by a Paduan merchant, Lazzaro Beolco, and a rector at the university, Pelegrino Sillano. A further connection exists through Peter Ugelheimer, a Venetian merchant also associated with Jenson, who had several of his books bound at Padua in an Islamic style. Hobson has suggested that Jenson may have pioneered the use of the Islamic style in binding at Venice ( Humanists and Bookbinders p.51). It can be no coincidence then that the present copy of Jenson's Plutarch was bound in a style appropriate to its and its printer's humanist connections. It is possible that the book was bound before sale, as was another copy of the same edition (now in Milan). If this is the case, it may thus reflect a house style practiced by or for the Jenson printing shop. A TALL AND FRESH COPY, retaining many deckle edges. HC *13127; BMC V, 178 (IC. 19711); Goff P-832.