Opera.

Clark 1.jpg

Creator

Maro, Publius Vergilius.

Title

Opera.

Coverage

Venice

Publisher

Aldus Manutius and Andrea Torresani

Date

October 1514.

Description

Aldines printed on blue paper were a phenomenon from the late summer and autumn of 1514, and intermittently thereafter. Blue paper imprints were more likely intended as gifts for important patrons rather than commercial use, and today are generally rarer than copies printed on vellum. Shown here is a previously unrecorded copy of the 1514 Virgil on blue paper, the only other specimen residing in the Ahmanson-Murphy Collection at UCLA. This is Jean Grolier’s copy, likely bound for him by Jean Picard, and bearing his imperfectly erased signature “Grolierij et amicorum” at the end of the text.

Source

From the collections of the Clark Art Institute.