Strozzii Poetae Pater et Filius.

Vespasiano, Tito and Ercole Strozzi.

Strozzii Poetae Pater et Filius.

Venice: Aldus Manutius and Andrea Torresani,

January 1513.

The first Aldine edition of the Latin poetry of Tito Vespasiano Strozzi (1422–1505) and his son Ercole Strozzi (1471–1508), dedicated by Aldus to the notorious Lucrezia Borgia. Bound in contemporary black goatskin, with the authors’ name “Strozii”, the initials “N. G. H.” and the Aldine dolphin and anchor device stamped on the upper cover. This is perhaps the earliest example of a collector distinguishing his Aldines through a binding. The incorporation of the Aldine device into a binding would recur repeatedly throughout subsequent centuries, most visibly in the Syston Park bindings shown elsewhere in this case.

From the collection of T. Kimball Brooker.