Sixteenth Century
Suetonius. Lives of the Twelve Caesars (Latin). Lyon: Balthasar de Gabiano, 1509.
The first book to carry the name of Jean Grolier, dedicated to him and edited by his Italian tutor, Gaspare Mazzoli da Argile. The binding of brown goatskin, tooled in blind and gilt, is Roman, ca. 1510, attributed by Anthony R. A. Hobson to the Binder of the Cambridge Miscellany. The book’s format copies the Portable Library of Aldus Manutius — Italic type, plain text, handy size — and was meant to deceive purchasers as a genuine Aldine publication from Venice.
Gift of Samuel Putnam Avery, 1890.
Cat. no. 2.2.
Bronze binding medallion in relief. Italy, first quarter, 16th century.
The medallion portrays the deified Julius Caesar, crowned with laurel, in right profile, paired with the augur’s crooked staff (lituus). An asterisk represents the comet seen after Caesar’s assassination. This image, derived from Medici intaglio gems, is found impressed on numerous Italian leather bindings dating from the late-1490s to the mid-1520s. The concave reverse is pressed into dampened leather to create the raised image on a binding’s cover.
Gift of Jonathan Kagan, 1995.
Cat. no. 2.3.
John Bale. Bibliography of the Famous Writers of Great Britain (Latin). Ipswich: John Overton, 1548 [but Wesel: Dierk van der Straten, 1548].
This important early bibliography of British authors is a hybrid production. The book was printed in the Rhineland, bound there in brown calf, and impressed with panel stamps on both covers; the lettering of the royal inscriptions was added in England. It is tooled in blind and gilt. This is the presentation copy for Edward VI, the short-lived son and successor of Henry VIII.
Gift of Lucius Wilmerding, 1932.
Cat. no. 2.7.
Julius Caesar Scaliger. On the Latin Language (Latin). Geneva: Petrus Sanctandreanus, 1584.
An English binding, ca. 1584, tooled in blind in very dark brown calf, with the arms block of Queen Elizabeth I stamped on both covers. This is a presentation copy to Elizabeth, probably from the London bookseller authorized to import scholarly works from the Continent. While the queen favored exclusively fabric bindings for her private library, she will have received many leather-bound gifts during her long reign.
Gift of Leonard L. Mackell, 1935.
Cat. no. 2.15.
Pope Nicholas I. Letters (Latin). Rome: Francesco Priscianese, 1542.
This binding for Jean Grolier was created by the Cupid’s Bow Binder, an otherwise anonymous binder or atelier working in Paris from 1547 to 1555. The eponymous tool, from which his sobriquet derives, is stamped in gold repeatedly around the central roundel, which carries the title. It is rarely seen.
Purchased from the Estate of Lucius Wilmerding, 1951.
Cat. no. 2.10.
Paulo Giovio. Lives of Illustrious Men (Latin). Florence: Lorenzo Torrentino, 1549.
This binding for Jean Grolier was created in Paris by a royal binder and the Cupid’s Bow Binder, in the 1550s or 1560s. The bookblock and the panels on the covers are the original elements; the current binding is French, from the mid-19th century. The enamel onlays, also from the Parisian booktrade in about the 1860s, are infelicitous gildings of the lily.
Gift of Meredith Sage Hare, 1929.
Cat. no. 2.11.
Konstantinos Harmenopoulos. Digest of Civil Law (Latin). Cologne: Martin Gymnich, 1547.
This calf binding, featuring a blind-stamped “Spes” (Hope) panel in the Catholic version, is the work of Jacob Bathen, dating to 1547–1548. Bathen worked as a bookbinder in Louvain (Leuven) from 1520 to 1560. He produced “Spes” bindings in both Catholic and Protestant versions, tailored to the wishes of his clients.
Gift of Samuel Putnam Avery, 1901.
Cat. no. 2.6.
Dio Cassius. History of Rome (Greek). Paris: Robert Estienne, 1548.
This binding with grotesque humanoid masks is an excellent example of an uncommon style from the late decades of the century. It was created by the Geneva Kings’ Binder, an atelier of skilled Huguenot craftsmen, exiled in Switzerland for their religious beliefs, whose bindings are among the finest work of the era, many created for Henri III and Henri IV, Kings of France.
Gift of Samuel Putnam Avery, 1891.
Cat. no. 2.13.
Henri II. Edict of Chateaubriand (and four other works). Paris: Dallier – Ruelle – André, 1551.
This collection of royal decrees on publishing is in workaday plain vellum. It was bound for Michael Folkhammer, a German lawyer and administrator, who signed it, dated it 1552, and localized it in Bourges, where this compilation of publishing regulations was possibly bound.
Purchased on the Mary Young Fund, 2017.
Cat. no. 2.8.
Herodotus. Histories (Latin). Lyon: Sebastian Gryphius, 1551.
This elaborately gilt French binding is in a developed Fanfare style and may be from Lyon. It bears the gilt armorials of Girolamo Dandini, who was created cardinal in 1551 and died in 1559, which would limit the year of its creation to within the period 1552–1559.
Gift of Samuel Putnam Avery, 1889.
Cat. no. 2.12.
Ludovico Ariosto. Orlando furioso (Italian). Lyon: Guillaume Rouille, 1569.
The décor on both panels of this binding is formed by a single plaquette stamp in gilt, heightened with gold and black enamel. Each spine compartment is gilded with a stamp incorporating four dolphins in the shape of a closed S: S-fermé (= fermesse, steadfastness or loyalty). The edges of the bookblock are gilt and goffered, including a central crescent on each edge.
Gift of Samuel Putnam Avery, 1901.
Cat. no. 2.14.
Bible (Latin). Basel or Geneva? 1560s–1570s?
The bookblock edges are all gilt and decorated for the imperial count Joachim of Ortenburg, Bavaria, in 1585. The fore-edge (displayed) depicts the Sacrifice of Isaac, an angel staying Abraham’s knife hand. The contemporary German binding of wooden boards is covered in 19th-century black velvet, and the frontmatter of the Bible was removed before binding to conceal its Protestant origins.
Gift of William F. Havemeyer, before 1913.
Cat. no. 2.16.
Plato. Works (Greek & Latin). Geneva: Henri Estienne, 1578.
Three volumes bound as two in pigskin over wooden boards, probably from the Rhineland, in the 1580s–1590s. The blind-tooled décor features panel stamps in blind with the Old Testament themes of Judith with the head of Holofernes and of Jael and Sisera.
Gift of Leonard L. Mackall, 1928.
Cat. no. 2.18.