Baïf, Lazare de. Lazari Bayfii Annotationes in legem II De captiuis & postliminio reuersis, in quibus tractatur De re nauali, per autorem recognitae. Eivsdem Annotationes in tractatum De auro & argento legato, quibus Vestimentorum et Vasculorum genera explicantur. His omnibus imagines ab antiquissimis monumentis desumptas ad argumenti declarationem subiunximus. Item Antonii Thylesii De coloribus libellus, à coloribus uestium non alienus. Basel: Hieronymus I Froben & Nicolaus I Episcopius, 1537 [bound with]
Leonardo Bruni, Leonardi Aretini Rerum suo tempore in Italia gestarum commentarius. Eiusdem De rebus Graecis Liber. Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1539
A collection of commentaries by the humanist Lazare de Baïf (ca. 1496–1547) on vases, clothing, and boats in antiquity, with woodcut illustrations derived from sketches of the pillar of Trajan sent to the author by the French ambassador in Rome, and from other sources. Antonio Telesio’s lexicon of some 150 color-related terms used by classical authors is appended. The book is bound together with the De temporibus suis of Leonardo Bruni (1370–1444), edited by Luigi Annibale della Croce (1499–1577).
Thirteen bindings executed in Rome in the 1540s and all bearing the initials F.T. are now recorded. Anthony Hobson first drew attention to the collector “F.T.” in 1982, suggesting that he might be the erudite Jesuit theologian Francisco Torres (1509–1584), and listing nine volumes. In this initial study, “Who was F.T.?,” published in Philobiblon 36 (June 1982), pp. 166–176, Hobson argued that the bindings were Venetian; he subsequently returned them to Rome in “Some Sixteenth-century Buyers of Books in Rome and Elsewhere,” which appeared in Humanistica Lovaniensia: Journal of Neo-Latin Studies 34a (1985), pp. 65–75.
Two more volumes were added to that census by T. Kimball Brooker in his doctoral dissertation, 1996, when Fernando de Torres (1521–1590) was proposed as their owner (no relation of Francisco). Another two bindings have subsequently come to light (see list below). One of them, a copy of Herodian’s Roman history, strengthens the arguments made in 1996 in favor of Fernando de Torres: it is inscribed on an endleaf “Lodovicus de Torres,” no doubt Luis II (Lodovico) de Torres (1533–1584), the younger brother of Fernando. The same inscription “Lodovicus de Torres” is found in a copy of the 1503 Aldine Euripides, which had been bound for Luis I de Torres (1495–1553). Evidently, Luis II Torres had the use, if not also possession, of the family library.
Fernando de Torres was born in Málaga, one of five sons of Juan de Torres, Comendador de Santiago and Regidor of Málaga (1521–1561), and Catalina de la Vega, granddaughter of the prosperous local merchant Juancho de Haya. Apart from the eldest, Diego (ca. 1520–1582), who followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming Regidor perpetuo de Málaga, the boys sought advancement through the church: Luis (1533–1584), becoming archbishop of Monreale (1573–1584); Francisco (d. 1568), becoming archdeacon of Vélez-Málaga; Alonso (d. 1596), successively canon, treasurer, and dean of the Cathedral of Málaga.
At an unknown date, Fernando de Torres was sent to Rome, where his uncle, Luis de Torres, held lucrative sinecures in the apostolic chancery. On 23 March 1538, Luis de Torres resigned to Fernando his office of Scriptor brevium. Fernando is recorded in January 1551, assisting his uncle, now Archbishop of Salerno, in his diocese. On 26 April 1551, Fernando married Pentesilea Sanguigni (1536–1572), and they welcomed their first (of eleven) children, Luis III de Torres, on 28 October 1551. The building of the Palazzo Torres, initiated by Luis de Torres, was completed around 1560, and Fernando became the first of the family to occupy it. He acquired honors, becoming a Cavaliere di S. Giacomo della Spada, and a Cavaliere dell’Ordine di Malta, and assumed prestigious offices in the municipal administration. From about 1559, Fernando was the curial agent for Philip II of Spain in the Kingdom of Naples (Regiae Catholicae Majestatis famulo et Agenti in Curia Romana). Shortly after his election, Pius V named Fernando secretarius and a papal familiare. When he died in 1590, Fernando was interred in the Cappella de Torres, Santa Caterina dei Funari, Rome, beneath a ledger stone laid by his son, Luis III.
The thirteen bindings contain altogether twenty-one works printed between 1524 and 1545, mostly in Latin (one work is in Greek, two in Greek and Latin, and three are in Italian). They were executed in two different shops. Five bindings, including this one covering De Baïf and Bruni, were produced in an anonymous shop which worked also for Luis I de Torres (Hobson, op. cit., 1982, nos. 1-4; and no. 11 below). A title is lettered within a roundel on the upper cover, and the owner’s initials are similarly situated on the lower cover. All the other bindings were executed in the Roman shop of Niccolò Franzese. They are variously decorated, and some have the initials F.T. on both covers. All the F.T. bindings which retain the original back have a longitudinal gold-tooled spine title.
Additions to Hobson's Census of F.T. Bindings
(10) Pietro Bembo, Prose (Venice: [Comin da Trino], 1540), bound with: Bembo, Gli Asolani (Venice: Comin da Trino, 1540), and with: Bembo, Rime (Venice: [Comin da Trino], 1540). Fernando de Torres (supralibros) — Thomas Coke, 1 st Earl of Leicester (1697-1759) — Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Réserve P.Z. 1949 (1-3).Brooker, op. cit., 1996, p.818 (as Niccolò Franzese); Brooker, op. cit., 1999, pp.32-53 (p.47)
(11) Marcus Tullius Cicero, M. Tullii Ciceronis De Philosophia volumen secundum (Venice: Paolo Manuzio, 1541). Fernando de Torres (supralibros). Bibliotheca Brookeriana (to be offered 12 October 2023, lot 330).
(12) Herodianus, De imperatorum Romanorum praeclarè gestis lib. VIII (Basel: Heinrich Petri, 1543). Fernando de Torres (supralibros ) — Luis I de Torres (1494-1553), or Luis II de Torres (1533-1584), signature on endpaper — Marcantonio Borghese (1814-1886), oval exlibris (Bragaglia 2014) — Vincenzo Menozzi, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de s. e. d. Paolo Borghese, prince de Sulmona, Première partie, Rome, 16 May-7 June 1892, lot 4515 — Arthur Jeffrey Parsons (1856-1915); by descent to Agnes Stockton Royall Parsons (1861-1934); American Art Association, Illustrated catalogue of selections from the private library of the late Arthur Jeffrey Parsons of Washington, D.C., New York, 24 January 1923, lot 130 — Estelle C. Getz (née Cohn) (1880-1943); American Art Association (Anderson Galleries), The notable library formed by Mrs Milton E. Getz, Beverly Hills, California, New York, 17-18 November 1936, lot 157 (“The signature Lodovicus de Torres is written at the beginning of the notes, and the initials F. T. on the back cover are probably by a member of the same family, for whom the book was originally bound”) — unidentified owner - bought in sale ($11).
(13) Florentius Volusenus, De animi tranquillitate dialogus (Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1543). Fernando de Torres (supralibros) — Rome, Biblioteca Angelica, YY.9.22.Margherita Cavalli & Fiammetta Terlizzi, Legature di pregio in Angelica: Secoli XV-XVIII (Rome 1991), no. 6; Brooker, op. cit., 1996, p.820 (as Niccolò Franzese); Brooker, op. cit., 1999, pp.32-53 (p.47)
4to (208 x 157 mm). Roman types, with some Greek, 32 lines plus headline. collation: (I) a–r4 s6 t–z4 A–E4 F6 G–M4 N6 O4 P6 Q4: 164 leaves. 32 woodcut illustrations, including 27 full-page, historiated woodcut initials, woodcut Froben devices on title-page and Q4v. (II) Roman types, 28 lines plus headline. a–b4 A–O⁴ P⁶: 140 leaves. Decorative woodcut initials, woodcut Gryphe devices on title-page and P6v. (Scattered browning and spotting, chiefly marginal.)
binding: Contemporary Roman dark brown goatskin (213 x 163 mm), for Fernando de Torres, covers with two concentric frames formed by double gilt fillets flanked by blind fillets, corners mitred with gilt flame tool at outer angles of inner frame, central roundel formed by a single gilt fillet and repetitions of small tools, containing on upper cover “LA | ZARVS | BAYFI |VS ·” and on lower cover initials “· F · T ,·” traces of 4 pairs of fabric ties, spine with 3 full bands and 4 half bands, title lettered in compartments running up spine in center two compartments “LAZA | RVS | BAYF | IVS”, edges gilt. (Rebacked with central portion of original spine laid down, extremities rubbed.)
provenance: Fernando de Torres (supralibros) — Ligated initials “APD“ on title-page (unidentified) — Capt. Charles Maxwell Richard Schwerdt (1889–1968; Sotheby’s, London, 23–24 March 1953, lot 12. Purchased by) — McLeish & Sons, London (£10 10s) — Albert Ehrman (1890–1969; exlibris) — Bernard Quaritch, London (their Catalogue 897, item 35, £80) — Arthur Vershbow (1922–2012) and Charlotte Vershbow (1924–2000) (joint exlibris; Christie’s, New York, 9–10 April 2013, lot 98. acquisition: Purchased at the Vershbow sale through Robin Halwas.
references: (1) VD16 B 157; USTC 671791 (2) FB 59295; USTC 147695; Baudrier, VIII, p. 128; Gültlingen, V, p. 88: 488; cf. for the binding: Tammaro de Marinis, La Legatura artistica in Italia nei secoli XV e XVI, no. 2979; Hobson, “Who was F.T.?,” in Philobiblon 36 (Heft 2, June 1982), pp. 166–176 (p. 166 no. 2); Brooker, Upright Works: the Emergence of the Vertical Library in the Sixteenth Century, Thesis (Ph.D.), University of Chicago, 1996, pp. 815–821 (“Exhibit 7: Roman bindings with spine titles [late 1530s–1545]. Owner’s initials F.T.”); Brooker, “Who was L.T.? Part II” in The Book Collector 48 (1999), pp. 32–53.
Baïf, Lazare de. Lazari Bayfii Annotationes in legem II De captiuis & postliminio reuersis, in quibus tractatur De re nauali, per autorem recognitae. Eivsdem Annotationes in tractatum De auro & argento legato, quibus Vestimentorum et Vasculorum genera explicantur. His omnibus imagines ab antiquissimis monumentis desumptas ad argumenti declarationem subiunximus. Item Antonii Thylesii De coloribus libellus, à coloribus uestium non alienus. Basel: Hieronymus I Froben & Nicolaus I Episcopius, 1537 [bound with]
Leonardo Bruni, Leonardi Aretini Rerum suo tempore in Italia gestarum commentarius. Eiusdem De rebus Graecis Liber. Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1539
A collection of commentaries by the humanist Lazare de Baïf (ca. 1496–1547) on vases, clothing, and boats in antiquity, with woodcut illustrations derived from sketches of the pillar of Trajan sent to the author by the French ambassador in Rome, and from other sources. Antonio Telesio’s lexicon of some 150 color-related terms used by classical authors is appended. The book is bound together with the De temporibus suis of Leonardo Bruni (1370–1444), edited by Luigi Annibale della Croce (1499–1577).
Thirteen bindings executed in Rome in the 1540s and all bearing the initials F.T. are now recorded. Anthony Hobson first drew attention to the collector “F.T.” in 1982, suggesting that he might be the erudite Jesuit theologian Francisco Torres (1509–1584), and listing nine volumes. In this initial study, “Who was F.T.?,” published in Philobiblon 36 (June 1982), pp. 166–176, Hobson argued that the bindings were Venetian; he subsequently returned them to Rome in “Some Sixteenth-century Buyers of Books in Rome and Elsewhere,” which appeared in Humanistica Lovaniensia: Journal of Neo-Latin Studies 34a (1985), pp. 65–75.
Two more volumes were added to that census by T. Kimball Brooker in his doctoral dissertation, 1996, when Fernando de Torres (1521–1590) was proposed as their owner (no relation of Francisco). Another two bindings have subsequently come to light (see list below). One of them, a copy of Herodian’s Roman history, strengthens the arguments made in 1996 in favor of Fernando de Torres: it is inscribed on an endleaf “Lodovicus de Torres,” no doubt Luis II (Lodovico) de Torres (1533–1584), the younger brother of Fernando. The same inscription “Lodovicus de Torres” is found in a copy of the 1503 Aldine Euripides, which had been bound for Luis I de Torres (1495–1553). Evidently, Luis II Torres had the use, if not also possession, of the family library.
Fernando de Torres was born in Málaga, one of five sons of Juan de Torres, Comendador de Santiago and Regidor of Málaga (1521–1561), and Catalina de la Vega, granddaughter of the prosperous local merchant Juancho de Haya. Apart from the eldest, Diego (ca. 1520–1582), who followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming Regidor perpetuo de Málaga, the boys sought advancement through the church: Luis (1533–1584), becoming archbishop of Monreale (1573–1584); Francisco (d. 1568), becoming archdeacon of Vélez-Málaga; Alonso (d. 1596), successively canon, treasurer, and dean of the Cathedral of Málaga.
At an unknown date, Fernando de Torres was sent to Rome, where his uncle, Luis de Torres, held lucrative sinecures in the apostolic chancery. On 23 March 1538, Luis de Torres resigned to Fernando his office of Scriptor brevium. Fernando is recorded in January 1551, assisting his uncle, now Archbishop of Salerno, in his diocese. On 26 April 1551, Fernando married Pentesilea Sanguigni (1536–1572), and they welcomed their first (of eleven) children, Luis III de Torres, on 28 October 1551. The building of the Palazzo Torres, initiated by Luis de Torres, was completed around 1560, and Fernando became the first of the family to occupy it. He acquired honors, becoming a Cavaliere di S. Giacomo della Spada, and a Cavaliere dell’Ordine di Malta, and assumed prestigious offices in the municipal administration. From about 1559, Fernando was the curial agent for Philip II of Spain in the Kingdom of Naples (Regiae Catholicae Majestatis famulo et Agenti in Curia Romana). Shortly after his election, Pius V named Fernando secretarius and a papal familiare. When he died in 1590, Fernando was interred in the Cappella de Torres, Santa Caterina dei Funari, Rome, beneath a ledger stone laid by his son, Luis III.
The thirteen bindings contain altogether twenty-one works printed between 1524 and 1545, mostly in Latin (one work is in Greek, two in Greek and Latin, and three are in Italian). They were executed in two different shops. Five bindings, including this one covering De Baïf and Bruni, were produced in an anonymous shop which worked also for Luis I de Torres (Hobson, op. cit., 1982, nos. 1-4; and no. 11 below). A title is lettered within a roundel on the upper cover, and the owner’s initials are similarly situated on the lower cover. All the other bindings were executed in the Roman shop of Niccolò Franzese. They are variously decorated, and some have the initials F.T. on both covers. All the F.T. bindings which retain the original back have a longitudinal gold-tooled spine title.
Additions to Hobson's Census of F.T. Bindings
(10) Pietro Bembo, Prose (Venice: [Comin da Trino], 1540), bound with: Bembo, Gli Asolani (Venice: Comin da Trino, 1540), and with: Bembo, Rime (Venice: [Comin da Trino], 1540). Fernando de Torres (supralibros) — Thomas Coke, 1 st Earl of Leicester (1697-1759) — Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Réserve P.Z. 1949 (1-3).Brooker, op. cit., 1996, p.818 (as Niccolò Franzese); Brooker, op. cit., 1999, pp.32-53 (p.47)
(11) Marcus Tullius Cicero, M. Tullii Ciceronis De Philosophia volumen secundum (Venice: Paolo Manuzio, 1541). Fernando de Torres (supralibros). Bibliotheca Brookeriana (to be offered 12 October 2023, lot 330).
(12) Herodianus, De imperatorum Romanorum praeclarè gestis lib. VIII (Basel: Heinrich Petri, 1543). Fernando de Torres (supralibros ) — Luis I de Torres (1494-1553), or Luis II de Torres (1533-1584), signature on endpaper — Marcantonio Borghese (1814-1886), oval exlibris (Bragaglia 2014) — Vincenzo Menozzi, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de s. e. d. Paolo Borghese, prince de Sulmona, Première partie, Rome, 16 May-7 June 1892, lot 4515 — Arthur Jeffrey Parsons (1856-1915); by descent to Agnes Stockton Royall Parsons (1861-1934); American Art Association, Illustrated catalogue of selections from the private library of the late Arthur Jeffrey Parsons of Washington, D.C., New York, 24 January 1923, lot 130 — Estelle C. Getz (née Cohn) (1880-1943); American Art Association (Anderson Galleries), The notable library formed by Mrs Milton E. Getz, Beverly Hills, California, New York, 17-18 November 1936, lot 157 (“The signature Lodovicus de Torres is written at the beginning of the notes, and the initials F. T. on the back cover are probably by a member of the same family, for whom the book was originally bound”) — unidentified owner - bought in sale ($11).
(13) Florentius Volusenus, De animi tranquillitate dialogus (Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1543). Fernando de Torres (supralibros) — Rome, Biblioteca Angelica, YY.9.22.Margherita Cavalli & Fiammetta Terlizzi, Legature di pregio in Angelica: Secoli XV-XVIII (Rome 1991), no. 6; Brooker, op. cit., 1996, p.820 (as Niccolò Franzese); Brooker, op. cit., 1999, pp.32-53 (p.47)
4to (208 x 157 mm). Roman types, with some Greek, 32 lines plus headline. collation: (I) a–r4 s6 t–z4 A–E4 F6 G–M4 N6 O4 P6 Q4: 164 leaves. 32 woodcut illustrations, including 27 full-page, historiated woodcut initials, woodcut Froben devices on title-page and Q4v. (II) Roman types, 28 lines plus headline. a–b4 A–O⁴ P⁶: 140 leaves. Decorative woodcut initials, woodcut Gryphe devices on title-page and P6v. (Scattered browning and spotting, chiefly marginal.)
binding: Contemporary Roman dark brown goatskin (213 x 163 mm), for Fernando de Torres, covers with two concentric frames formed by double gilt fillets flanked by blind fillets, corners mitred with gilt flame tool at outer angles of inner frame, central roundel formed by a single gilt fillet and repetitions of small tools, containing on upper cover “LA | ZARVS | BAYFI |VS ·” and on lower cover initials “· F · T ,·” traces of 4 pairs of fabric ties, spine with 3 full bands and 4 half bands, title lettered in compartments running up spine in center two compartments “LAZA | RVS | BAYF | IVS”, edges gilt. (Rebacked with central portion of original spine laid down, extremities rubbed.)
provenance: Fernando de Torres (supralibros) — Ligated initials “APD“ on title-page (unidentified) — Capt. Charles Maxwell Richard Schwerdt (1889–1968; Sotheby’s, London, 23–24 March 1953, lot 12. Purchased by) — McLeish & Sons, London (£10 10s) — Albert Ehrman (1890–1969; exlibris) — Bernard Quaritch, London (their Catalogue 897, item 35, £80) — Arthur Vershbow (1922–2012) and Charlotte Vershbow (1924–2000) (joint exlibris; Christie’s, New York, 9–10 April 2013, lot 98. acquisition: Purchased at the Vershbow sale through Robin Halwas.
references: (1) VD16 B 157; USTC 671791 (2) FB 59295; USTC 147695; Baudrier, VIII, p. 128; Gültlingen, V, p. 88: 488; cf. for the binding: Tammaro de Marinis, La Legatura artistica in Italia nei secoli XV e XVI, no. 2979; Hobson, “Who was F.T.?,” in Philobiblon 36 (Heft 2, June 1982), pp. 166–176 (p. 166 no. 2); Brooker, Upright Works: the Emergence of the Vertical Library in the Sixteenth Century, Thesis (Ph.D.), University of Chicago, 1996, pp. 815–821 (“Exhibit 7: Roman bindings with spine titles [late 1530s–1545]. Owner’s initials F.T.”); Brooker, “Who was L.T.? Part II” in The Book Collector 48 (1999), pp. 32–53.
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