Creator
Bembo, Pietro.
Title
Gli Asolani di Messer Pietro Bembo.
Publisher
Venice: Aldus Manutius,
Date
March 1505.
Description
The Lovers of Asolo is a dialogue on the nature of platonic love, and offers a model of elegant Italian composition as well as a window into the mores of Italian Renaissance high society. This copy retains the dedication from the author Pietro Bembo (1470–1547) to his lover Lucrezia Borgia (1480–1519), the daughter of Pope Alexander VI and wife of Alfonso d’Este. When Alfonso fell out of favor with Pope Julius II, Aldus suppressed this dedication, which is therefore lacking in most copies. Bound in early 19th-century straight-grained green goatskin with the monogram and arms of Sir Mark Masterman Sykes (1771–1823). Later owned by Sir John Hayford Thorold of Syston Park (1773–1831) and Archibald, Earl of Roseberry (1847–1929).
Source
From the collection of G. Scott Clemons.