Beschreibung:

Bembo, Pietro. Epistolarum Leonis decimi pontificis maximi nomine scriptarum libri XVI. Placuit praeterea ejusdem autoris epistolas aliquot sanequam doctas adnectere, videlicet ad Longolium III; ad Budaeum II; ad Erasmum I. Lyon: Thibaud Payen, 1540
Since they came to the attention of collectors in the mid-nineteenth century, the distinctive plaquette bindings made in the 1540s for Apollonio Filareto (ca. 1505–1569) have been eagerly sought. Guglielmo Libri obtained three: one, offered in his sale in Paris in 1847, the first identifiable Filareto binding in an auction catalogue, allegedly stolen by Libri from a library in Montpellier, has since returned there; the other two, offered in London in 1859, where they were purchased respectively by the duc d’Aumale and Felix Slade, have passed by bequest into the Musée Condé, Chantilly, and the British Library. Nearly every collector devoted to bookbindings has at some time possessed a Filareto binding: Yemeniz, and Guyot de Villeneuve, before the turn of the century; Fairfax Murray, Dunn, Goldschmidt, Barbet, Wilmerding, Moss, Burrus, Abbey, Hely-Hutchinson, Bishop, and Davis, in the first half of the last century; De Marinis, Esmerian, Langlois, Schäfer, and Wittock, thereafter.
The appetite for Filareto’s bindings has been regularly stimulated by lists of the extant volumes, which show them to be much rarer than the “Apollo and Pegasus” bindings with which they are often compared. In 1926, G. D. Hobson published a list of nine; that number has been increased by Nicolas Rauch, Tammaro De Marinis, Anthony Hobson, Federico Macchi, and, now, by the present catalogue, so that sixteen Filareto bindings are known at present. Five of these are in private hands: three—including the present volume of some 581 letters written by Bembo in his role as secretary to Pope X—are in the Bibliotheca Brookeriana; the other two are the 1535 Aldine Lactantius (last seen in the Esmerian sale, in 1972), and an empty binding (once housing the second part of the 1497 Aldine Iamblichus, last sighted in the Wittock sale, in 2004).
Ten bindings cover Venetian books; five, Lyonese imprints; and one is on a manuscript (in an altered binding). The earliest book was published in 1497 and the latest in 1542. The bindings have the owner’s name lettered in gold in an oval compartment on the lower cover: APOLLONII PHILARETI, and on the upper cover, beneath the gold-tooled name of the author or title, is his proud device: a medallion of an eagle soaring above a perilous seashore, and motto: Procul Este (Virgil, Aeneid, VI, 258). Although all the bindings feature the same medallion, it is generally accepted now that they were produced in three different shops: nine in Rome by Niccolò Franzese; three in Rome by Marcantonio Guillery; and four in Northern Italy, perhaps in Bologna, by an anonymous shop. All three bindings in the Bibliotheca Brookeriana are from Niccolò Franzese’s shop. Each is decorated by a lily tool and (on lower covers) by a clasped hands tool, these symbolizing their owner’s allegiance to the Farnese family.
The intaglio stamp for applying the impresa evidently belonged to Filareto and was lent to the bookseller who sold him the book and made the binding. Filareto possibly designed the device himself, or it may have been conceived by his friend and colleague in Farnese service, Claudio Tolomei, who is the probable inventor of the “Apollo and Pegasus” device employed by Giovanni Battista Grimaldi. The maker of the plaquette is unknown. G. D. Hobson thought he might be one of the gem-engravers then working for Pope Paul III; Anthony Hobson was uncommitted.
The books seem to have been bound in batches at different times, in 1542–1544 in Rome, then in 1545–1547 in Northern Italy, where Filareto had travelled with his master, Pier Luigi Farnese. Filareto was arrested in Piacenza on 10 September 1547 by the assassins of Pier Luigi and sent to Milan for imprisonment. His library evidently was left behind, as some volumes entered the Dominican monastery of S. Giovanni in Canale, in Piacenza. After three years’ incarceration, Filareto was released, and returned to Rome. In 1552, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, Pier Luigi’s son, bestowed on Filareto the Arcipretura of S. Sisto in Viterbo, and he died there in 1569.
List of Plaquette Bindings made in the 1540s for Apollonio Filareto
(1) Judah Abravanel (Leone Ebreo), Dialogi di amore, composti per Leone medico, di natione hebreo, et dipoi fatto christiano (Venice: Sons of Aldo Manuzio, 1541). Apollonio Filareto (supralibros). Bibliotheca Brookeriana (to be offered 12 October 2023, lot 92). Unrecorded.
(2) Pietro Bembo, Epistolarum Leonis decimi pontificis maximi nomine scriptarum libri XVI (Lyon: Thibaud Payen, 1540). Apollonio Filareto (supralibros). The volume offered here.
(3) Baldassarre Castiglione, Il libro del corteggiano del conte Baldesar Castigilione, nuouamente stampato, et con somma diligenza reuisto (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio, 1541). Apollonio Filareto (supralibros). — Graf Bernard Ignaz von Martiniz (1603-1685), donation inscription “Ex dono Illmi et Excellmi Dni Dni Bernardj Ignatij Comitis à Martinitz supremj Burggravy in Regno Böema” — Theatine monastery St. Kajetán, Prague, inscription “Bibliothecae Sta Ma Cler. Reg. Aetinganae” on title-page, exlibris “Domus S. Mariae de Divina Providentia Cler. Reg. Pragae” pasted to verso — Strahov Monastery, Prague, deleted inscription “Monasterij Strahoviensis Pragae” on paste-down — circular ink stamp on titlepage, lettered “REGIAE BIBLIOTH. ACAD. PRAGEN.” with double-headed crowned eagle — Prague, University Library, 13.J.1145.Ernst Kyriss, “Bookbindings in the libraries of Prague” in PBSA 3 (1950-1951), pp.105-130 (p.129); De Marinis, op. cit., no. 815; A. Hobson, op. cit., p.92 no. 2.
(4) Gaius Valerius Catullus, Catullus. Tibullus. Propertius (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, March 1515). Apollonio Filareto (supralibros). — Convento di S. Giovanni in Canale, Piacenza (Dominicans), lettered inkstamp “Bibliothecae S Io in canalibus Placentiae” on title-page — allegedly De Bure, Catalogue des livres faisant partie du fonds de Librairie ancienne et moderne de J.J. et M. J. De Bure Frères … Septième et dernière partie (Paris 1840), p.71 item 22 (FF 40; cited by Libri, Lettre de M. Libri à M. Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire, administrateur du Collège, London 1850, pp.xiii-xiv) — allegedly Payne & Foss, A Catalogue of Greek and Latin Books (London 1845), item 16 (cited by Libri, op. cit., 1850, p.xiii) — Guglielmo Bruto Icilio Timoleone, Count Libri (Libri-Carrucci) (1803-1869); Commendeur & Jannet, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de M. L****, Paris, 28 June-4 August 1847, lot 316 — A. Franck, Paris - bought in sale (FF 55); A. Franck, Catalogue d’une belle collection de livres rares et curieux principalement en langue Italienne, Espagnole, Provençale, Française, Grecque, Latine, etc. (Paris [1848]), p.12 item 199 (FF100; cf. Libri, op. cit., p.xi) — Montpellier, Bibliothèque de la Faculté de Médecine, J 217.G.D. Hobson, op. cit., p.117 no. 2; Jean Malo-Renault, “Notes sur quatre reliures du XVIe siècle. Un Apollonio Filareto retrouvé à Montpellier” in Les Trésors des bibliothèques de France 5 (1933), fasc. XX, pp.195-200 & Pl. 67; Hellmuth Helwig, Handbuch der Einbandkunde (Hamburg 1953-1955), I, p.175 Fig. 56; De Marinis, op. cit., no. 816; A. Hobson, op. cit., p.92 no. 3.
(5) Giovanni Della Casa, Ms “De potentium et tenuium inter se officiis.” Apollonio Filareto (supralibros). Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Urb lat. 931.De Marinis, op. cit., no. 817 & Pl. 134; Nixon, op. cit., p.30; A. Hobson, op. cit., p.94 no. 12.
(6) Dio Cassius, Dione. Delle guerre de Romani. Tradotto da m. Nicolo Leoniceno, & nuouamente stampato (Venice: Giovanni Farri & Bros, 1542). Apollonio Filareto (supralibros). — probably Convento di S. Giovanni in Canale, Piacenza (Dominicans): “Strip cut from foot of title page, where other Filareto bindings have this ownership stamp” (Nixon, op. cit., p.29) — Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of printed books, and illuminated and other manuscripts, London, 20-23 July 1921, lot 663 — Maggs Bros, London - bought in sale (£5) — William E. Moss (1875-1953); Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of the very well-known and valuable library the property of Lt.-Col. W.E. Moss, London, 2-9 March 1937, lot 619 — Maggs Bros, London - bought in sale (£82) — John Roland Abbey (1894-1969); Anthony Hobson, French and Italian collectors and their bindings illustrated from examples in the library of J.R. Abbey (Oxford 1953), no. 59; Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of the celebrated library; the property of Major J.R. Abbey. Part III, 19-21 June 1967, lot 1817 — Martin Breslauer, London - bought in sale (£2000) — New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, 57631.G.D. Hobson, op. cit., p.117 no. 3 & Pl. 54; De Marinis, op. cit., no. 818; Maria Lanckorońska, “Der große Canevari-Mythos” in Gutenberg-Jahrbuch 1969, pp.300-307 Fig. 3; Pierpont Morgan Library, Fifteenth Report to the Fellows (1969), pp.42-44; Howard Nixon, Sixteenth-century gold-tooled bookbindings in the Pierpont Morgan Library (New York 1971), pp.28-31 no. 8; A. Hobson, op. cit., p.92 no. 4; Paul Needham, Twelve centuries of bookbindings 400-1600 (New York & London 1979), no. 48; Federico & Livio Macchi, Atlante della legatura italiana: Il Rinascimento (XV-XVI secolo) (Milan 2007), pp.148-149 Tav. 54.
(7) Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius, L. Coelii Lactantii Firmiani Diuinarum institutionum libri septem proxime castigati, et aucti (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, March 1535). Apollonio Filareto (supralibros). — Carlo Lochis (1843-1899); Achille Bertarelli & David-Henry Prior, Gli exlibris italiani (Milan 1902) p.19 (illustrated) — Nicolas Rauch, Catalogue 1: Catalogue de très beaux livres (Mies, Vaud [Switzerland] 1948), item 43 (CHF 5500) — Raphaël Esmerian (1903-1976); Dorothy Miner, The History of bookbinding 525-1950 A.D. (Baltimore 1957), no. 228; E. & A. Ader, J.-L. Picard, J. Tajan & Claude Guérin with Georges Blaizot, Bibliothèque Raphaël Esmerian, première partie: Manuscrits à peintures, livres des XVe et XVIe siècles, Paris, 6 June 1972, lot 83 — unidentified owner - bought in sale (FF 43,000).G.D. Hobson, op. cit., p.117 no. 4; De Marinis, op. cit., no. 819 & Pl. 133; A. Hobson, op. cit., p.93 no. 9.
(8) Ambrosius Aurelius Theodosius Macrobius, Macrobii Ambrosii Avrelii Theodosii, viri consvlaris, & illustris, in somnium Scipionis, Lib. II. Saturnaliorum, Lib. VII (Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1542). — Apollonio Filareto (supralibros). — probably Convento di S. Giovanni in Canale, Piacenza (Dominicans): “The bottom of the title-page has been removed and later repaired” (Eton College OPAC) — Don Diego Cristiano Antonio Francesco Pignatelli (1855-1938), exlibris; Mostra storica della legatura artistica in Palazzo Pitti (Florence 1922), no. 298; Filippo Rossi, “Le Legature italiane del 500” in Dedalo: Rassegna d’arte, Anno 3 (1922-1923), pp.373-396 (p.386, illustrated) — John Walter Hely-Hutchinson (1882-1955), donation label dated 8 December 1947 — Eton, Eton College Library, Sa1.4.08.G.D. Hobson, op. cit., p.118 no. 5; De Marinis, op. cit., no. 820 & Pl. 134; A. Hobson, op. cit., p.93 no. 10.
(9) Marcus Valerius Martialis, Martialis (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, 1517). Apollonio Filareto (supralibros, his impresa on upper cover, his name lettered on lower cover). Rome, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 55.C.35.De Marinis, op. cit., no. 821; A. Hobson, op. cit., p.92 no. 5.
(10) Publius Ovidius Naso, Quae hoc volumine continentur. Annotationes in omnia Ouidij opera. Index fabularum et caeterorum, quae insunt hoc libro secundum ordinem alphabeti. Ouidii metamorphoseon libri XV [part I only] (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio, 1533). Apollonio Filareto (supralibros). Bergamo, Biblioteca Civica Angelo Mai, Cinq. 1 666.Federico Macchi, Legature storiche nella Biblioteca “A. Mai” (online).
(11) Claudius Ptolemaeus, Geographicae enarrationis, libri octo (Lyon: Gaspar Trechsel for Hugues de La Porte, 1541). Apollonio Filareto (supralibros). — Guglielmo Bruto Icilio Timoleone, Count Libri (Libri-Carrucci) (1803-1869); S. Leigh Sotheby & John Wilkinson, Catalogue of the choicer portion of the magnificent library, formed by M. Guglielmo Libri, London, 1-15 August 1859, lot 2177 — William & Thomas Boone, London - bought in sale (£20 10s) — Felix Joseph Slade (1788-1868) — Catalogue of the library of Felix Slade (manuscript), England, ca 1866, fol. 104 (Grolier Club); A catalogue of the antiquities and works of art exhibited at Ironmongers’ Hall, London, in the month of May, 1861 (London 1869), I, p.302; Felix Slade, bequest to — British Museum; Edward Edwards, Lives of the founders of the British Museum with notices of its chief augmentors and other benefactors, 1570-1870 (London 1870), p.716; Catalogue of the Collection of Glass formed by Felix Slade … And an Appendix containing a description of other works of art presented or bequeathed by Mr Slade to the nation (London 1871), p.174 no. 84; British Museum, A guide to the exhibition in the King’s library illustrating the history of printing, music-printing and bookbinding (London 1939), p.136 no. 5 — London, British Library, C.37.1.4.W.Y. Fletcher, Foreign bookbindings in the British Museum (London 1896), Pl. 21; G.D. Hobson, op. cit., p.118 no. 6 & Pl. 55; Helwig, op. cit., I, p.175 Fig. 55; De Marinis, op. cit., no. 822; A. Hobson, op. cit., p. 94 no. 13.
(12) Sententiae et proverbia ex poetis Latinis. His adjecimus sententias prophanas, ex diversis scriptoribus, in communem puerorum usum, collectas (Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1541), bound with: Plato, Gemmae, sive illustriores sententiae, ad excolendos mortalium mores & vitas recte instituendas à nicclao liburnio veneto collectae (Basel: Robert Winter, 1542). Apollonio Filareto (supralibros). — Convento di S. Giovanni in Canale, Piacenza (Dominicans), inkstamp, cancelled inscription — Tammaro De Marinis (1878-1969); Exposition du livre italien, Mai-Juin 1926: Catalogue des manuscrits, livres imprimés, reliures (Bois-Colombes 1926), no. 937 — Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Stamp.De.Marinis.144(int.1).G.D. Hobson, op. cit., p.118 no. 7; De Marinis, op. cit., no. 823; A. Hobson, op. cit., p.92 no. 6 & Pl. B 
(13) Publius Terentius Afer, Terentii Comoediae, multo, quam antea, diligentius emendatae (Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio, May 1541). Apollonio Filareto (supralibros). — Convento di S. Giovanni in Canale, Piacenza (Dominicans), inkstamp — Sir Thomas Rokewood Gage, 8th Bt (1810-1866) (?); Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of an extraordinary selection of rare & valuable books & manuscripts, from the library of … Sir Thomas Gage … and other collectors, London, 25-26 June 1867, lot 345 — William & Thomas Boone, London - bought in sale (£13 10s) — Henri-Eugène-Philippe-Louis d’Orléans, duc d’Aumale (1822-1897); Léopold Delisle, Chantilly. Le Cabinet des livres. Imprimés antérieurs au milieu du XVIe siècle (Paris 1905), no. 1869 — Chantilly, Musée Condé, XXII-BIS-B-003.G.D. Hobson, op. cit., p.118 no. 8 & Pl. 56; De Marinis, op. cit., no. 824; Lanckorońska, op. cit., pp.300-307 Fig. 4; A. Hobson, op. cit., p.92 no. 7 
(14) Thucydides, Thoukydidis. Thucydides [Greek] (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, May 1502). Apollonio Filareto (supralibros). Bibliotheca Brookeriana (to be offered in a subsequent sale).De Marinis, op. cit., no. 825 & Pl. 132; A. Hobson, op. cit., p.92 no. 8 
(15) Pietro Vettori, Explicationes suarum in Catonem, Varronem, Columellam Castigationum (Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1542), bound with: Giorgio Merula, Enarrationes vocum priscarum in libris de re rustica (Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1541). Apollonio Filareto (supralibros). — Convento di S. Giovanni in Canale, Piacenza (Dominicans), inscription “Vendu par le religieux du Couvent de Placence” — Girolamo, marchese d’Adda Salvaterra (1815-1881) — Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919); A list of printed books in the library of Charles Fairfax Murray ([London?] 1907), p.237; Hugh W. Davies, Catalogue of a collection of early French books in the library of C. Fairfax Murray (London 1910), no. 567 — Madame E. Rahir; Exposition du livre italien Mai-Juin 1926: Catalogue des manuscrits, livres imprimes, reliures (Bois-Colombes 1926), no. 938 — Arthur Rau, Paris — Henry Davis (1897-1977), purchased 1949; The Italian book 1465-1900: Catalogue of an exhibition held at the National Book League (London 1953), no. 268 — London, British Library, Henry Davis Gift 797.G.D. Hobson, op. cit., pp.118-119 no. 9; De Marinis, op. cit., no. 826; A. Hobson, op. cit., p.93 no. 11; Mirjam Foot, The Henry Davis Gift: A Collection of bookbindings, Volume 3: A Catalogue of South-European bindings (London 2010), no. 313
(16) Empty binding, possibly once containing the second part of Iamblichus, De mysteriis Aegyptiorum (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, 1497). Apollonio Filareto (supralibros). — “found in an Italian library by Mario Witt of the Libreria Leo Olschki” (Christie’s) — Patrick King, Catalogue 12: Fifty rare books (Stony Stratford 1982), item 22 (illustrated on cover; “Sold”) — Michel Wittock (1936-2020); Cinq siècles d’ornements dans le décor extérieur du livre 1515-1983, catalogue of an exhibition, Bibliotheca Wittockiana (Brussels 1983), no. 4; Anthony Hobson & Paul Culot, Italian and French 16th century bookbindings (Brussels 1991), no. 4; Christie Manson & Woods, The Michel Wittock collection. Part I, Important Renaissance bookbindings, London, 7 July 2004, lot 60 (unsold).Macchi, op. cit., pp.150-151 Tav. 55
8vo (158 x 96 mm). Italic & roman types, 29 lines plus headline. collation: a-z8 A-F8: 232 leaves. Payen’s device on title-page (Silvestre 1286; Baudrier no. 5), historiated woodcut initials. (Like the Morgan Library Dio Cassius and the Eton Macrobius, a strip has been cut from the foot of the title-page, where other Filareto bindings have an inscription or stamp of the Convento di S. Giovanni in Canale, Piacenza; occasional light browning.)
binding: Contemporary Roman light brown goatskin (163 x 105 mm) by Niccolò Franzese for Apollonio Filareto, covers with multiple frames of blind and curved gilt fillets, the upper enclosing in the center Filareto’s impresa with motto ESTE PROCVL in strong relief and gilt, a title lettered along the top EPIST BEMBI, the lower with the oval center lettered APOL | LONII | PHILA | RETI, with above 2 fleurs-de-lis, and below a tool of clasped hands; spine with 3 full and 4 half bands, compartments with gilt rosette and 2 fleurs-de-lis; gilt edges. (Some minor repair to extremities.)
provenance: Apollonio Filareto (supralibros) — Nicolas Yemeniz (1783–1871, exlibris; Catalogue de mes livres no. 2399; Delbergue-Cormont & Librairie Bachelin-Deflorenne, La bibliothèque de M. N. Yemeniz, Paris, 9–31 May 1867, lot 2399. Purchased by) — unidentified owner (FF 51) — François-Gustave-Adolphe Guyot de Villeneuve (1825–1898; Maurice Delestre & Édouard Rahir, Catalogue des livres manuscrits et imprimés, des dessins et des estampes du cabinet de feu M. Guyot de Villeneuve. Deuxième partie, Paris, 25–30 March 1901, lot 1117. Purchased by) — unidentified owner (FF 425) — George Dunn (1865–1912, exlibris; Sotheby’s, London, 2–6 February 1914, lot 816. Purchased by) — J. & J. Leighton, London, £17. Sold to — E. P. Goldschmidt & Co., London, sold, 1933, to — Lucius Wilmerding (1880–1949; Parke-Bernet, 5–6 March 1951, lot 247. Purchased by) — Arthur Rau, Paris ($900) — André Langlois (1873–1975, exlibris). acquisition: Purchased from Librairie Patrick et Elisabeth Sourget, Chartres, 1997.
references: FB 56742; Baudrier, IV, p.223; Gültlingen, VII, p.16: 62; USTC 126054; cf. for the binding: G. D. Hobson, Maioli, Canevari and others, p. 116 no. 1 & Pl. 6; Bibliothèque nationale et Musée des arts décoratif, Exposition du livre italien, mai-juin 1926: catalogue des manuscrits, livres imprimés, reliures, no. 936; Goldschmidt, Gothic & Renaissance Bookbindings Exemplified and Illustrated from the Author’s Collection, no. 205 & Pl. 78; Wilmerding, A Catalogue of an Exhibition of Renaissance Bookbindings held at the Grolier Club from December 17, 1936 to January 17, 1937, pp. 20, 52, no. 60 & Pl. VII; Schunke, “Die vier Meister der Farnese-Plaketteneinbände,” in La Bibliofilía 54 (1952), pp. 57–91 (p. 64 no. 5); Rau, “André Langlois (Contemporary Collectors XIII,)” in The Book Collector 6 (1957), pp. 129–143 (p. 131); De Marinis, La Legatura artistica in Italia nei secoli XV e XVI, no. 814 & Pl. 133; A. Hobson, Apollo and Pegasus: An Enquiry into the Formation and Disposal of a Renaissance Library, p. 92 (Apollonio Filareto’s bindings, no. 1).