Beschreibung:

SCAINO da Salo, Antonio (1524-1612). Trattato del giuoco della palla . Venice: Gabriel Giolito de' Ferrari and brothers, 1555. 8° (150 x 101mm). 6 folding woodcuts depicting game equipment and the court bound at end, woodcut historiated initials, including 2 depicting games, printer's device on title, a larger version on verso of colophon page, with final blank V8. (Light browning in 2 quires, tiny hole in title.) Contemporary limp vellum, manuscript spine liner, red sprinkled edges, title written along spine (missing ties). Provenance : Princes of Liechtenstein (bookplate) -- purchased from Raphael King, London, 7 July 1953, £35. A FINE COPY OF THE FIRST PRINTED BOOK ON TENNIS. The double-page woodcuts were intended to be inserted in quires K and L, and on their versos the text is continued. One of the woodcuts depicts the tennis court at the Louvre. Adams S-547; Mortimer, Harvard Italian 465.