Giovio, Paolo. Pauli Iovii Novocomensis Vitae duodecim vicecomitum Mediolani principum. Ex bibliotheca regia. Paris: Robert I Estienne, 1549
First edition of Giovio’s biographies of the Milanese Visconti, featuring ten superb, large woodcut portraits of members of that dynasty, from Ottone (1207–1295) through Filippo Maria (1392–1447), each signed by the cutter with the mark of a Cross of Lorraine. The identities of both the designer and the cutter are unknown.
The book is dedicated to Henri II as Dauphin, 29 March 1547, and the portraits are copied from watercolors in a presentation manuscript which was delivered to Henri II, in an Italian binding, in April 1547 (now Paris, BnF, Latin 5887). Those images may in turn be dependent on painted replicas commissioned by Giovio for display in his museum in Como. The ultimate iconographic sources are located in captions placed beneath the woodcuts: San Gottardo, Milan; the Bishop’s Palace, Milan; the Castello and Certosa of Pavia; San Giovanni Battista, Monza; the fortress of Angera; San Giovanni in Conca; San Pietro in Viboldone; and Pisanello’s portrait of Filippo Maria, made in 1441.
Thomas Mahieu was the son of Jean Mahieu (d. 1527), Receveur de Beauvais in the office of Jean Grolier, Trésorier général de Milan, during the six years of the second French occupation (Veyrin-Forrer, “Notes sur Thomas Mahieu,” pp. 321–349). It is supposed that he was educated in Milan, and that Italian was his native language. In 1547, he was appointed Conseiller secrétaire du Roi, probably through the influence of Grolier, and from 1549–1560 was secretary of Catherine de’ Medici. Mahieu preferred to read in Italian or Latin and very rarely placed a book written in French in an elaborate binding. Over the years he patronized at least four, clearly identifiable binders. The binder of this book, Gomar Estienne, held the office of royal bookbinder from about November 1547 until about May 1555, working initially at Fontainebleau for the royal library, thereafter from an atelier in Paris for non-royal collectors. He bound at least twenty-six volumes for Jean Grolier and ten for Marx Fugger (see lot 33).
Thomas Mahieu was the son of Jean Mahieu (d. 1527), Receveur de Beauvais in the office of Jean Grolier, Trésorier général de Milan, during the six years of the second French occupation (Veyrin-Forrer, “Notes sur Thomas Mahieu,” pp. 321–349). It is supposed that he was educated in Milan, and that Italian was his native language. In 1547, he was appointed Conseiller secrétaire du Roi, probably through the influence of Grolier, and from 1549–1560 was secretary of Catherine de’ Medici. Mahieu preferred to read in Italian or Latin and very rarely placed a book written in French in an elaborate binding. Over the years he patronized at least four, clearly identifiable binders. The binder of this book, Gomar Estienne, held the office of royal bookbinder from about November 1547 until about May 1555, working initially at Fontainebleau for the royal library, thereafter from an atelier in Paris for non-royal collectors. He bound at least twenty-six volumes for Jean Grolier and ten for Marx Fugger (see lot 33).
4to (247 x 172 mm). Roman type, 31 line plus headline. collation: A-M8 N4: 100 leaves. Estienne's woodcut basilisk device on title (Renouard 471), 10 woodcut portraits of the Visconti of Milan, each signed with the Croix Lorraine, floriated woodcut initials, including a fine 9-line criblé V. (Light dampstaining at inner margins at front and rear, closed tear at upper fore-edge margin of Cii, iii.)
binding: Parisian citron morocco (253 x 176 mm), ca. 1550, by Gomar Estienne for Thomas Mahieu, large inlaid corner-pieces and central cartouche in black morocco, large corner-pieces with gilt arabesque design of freehand gougework, central cartouche on covers, outlined by strapwork formed by two gilt fillets, lettered in gilt on upper cover DVODECIM VICECOMITVM | MED. PRINCIPVM | VITAE. and on lower cover Mahieu’s complex monogram in gilt, flat spine decorated at center only with elegant motif of azured foliage, gilt edges. (A few small stains, corners and spine restored.) Brown morocco Solander case.
provenance: Thomas Mahieu (ca. 1515/1527–after 1588; supralibros, monogram on lower cover) — Euverte Jollivet (1601–1662; inscription “Euurtius Jollyvet, advocatus Parsiensis … optimo possidet … 1627” on title-page) — Charles de Rohan, prince de Soubise (1715–1787; shelfmark on pastedown (partly obscured by Burrus exlibris [not traced in Catalogus bibliothecae Thuanae, 1679; not traced in Soubise sale, 1789]) — Antoine-Augustin Renouard (1765–1853; Antoine-Augustin Renouard, Catalogue de la bibliothèque d’un amateur [Paris, 1819], IV, p. 117; R. H. Evans, Catalogue of … the Choice and Valuable library of M. Renouard, London, 26–30 April 1830, lot 790), purchased by — William Clarke, London (£1 13s) — William Beckford (1760–1844; inscriptions “Renouard. A. P. [Payne?] 1830,” “1 l. 13 s.”) — Alexander Douglas, 10th Duke of Hamilton (1767–1852) Sotheby’s, Catalogue of the Second Portion of the Beckford Library, London, 11–22 December 1882, lot 1215), purchased by — J. Pearson & Co., London (£189) — François-Gustave-Adolphe Guyot de Villeneuve (1825–1898; Maurice Delestre & Édouard Rahir, Paris, 26–31 March 1900, lot 293), purchased by — Mortimer Leo Schiff (1877–1931; FF 5400) — John Mortimer Schiff (1904–1987; Sotheby’s, Catalogue of the Second Portion of the Famous Library … formed by the late Mortimer L. Schiff, London, 5–7 July 1938, lot 1092 Pl. 78), purchased by — Maggs Bros., London (£280), evidently sold to — Maurice Burrus (1882–1959; Christie’s, Paris, 15 December 2015, lot 84). acquisition: Purchased at the Burrus auction through Robin Halwas.
references: BP16 113581; FB 72131; USTC 150389; Mortimer, French, no. 248; Schreiber, Estiennes, no. 104; for the binding, see: G. D. Hobson, Maioli, Canevari and Others (London, 1926), pp. 86–87 no. 44; A. Hobson, “Les livres reliés pour Thomas Mahieu,” in Bulletin du bibliophile (2004), pp. 239–270 (p. 256. no. 60); see also: Veyrin-Forrer, “Notes sur Thomas Mahieu,” in Bookbindings & other Bibliophily: Essays in Honour of Anthony Hobson (Verona, 1994), pp. 321–349; A. Hobson, Renaissance Book Collecting: Jean Grolier and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, Their Books and Bindings (Cambridge, 1999), p. 228.
Giovio, Paolo. Pauli Iovii Novocomensis Vitae duodecim vicecomitum Mediolani principum. Ex bibliotheca regia. Paris: Robert I Estienne, 1549
First edition of Giovio’s biographies of the Milanese Visconti, featuring ten superb, large woodcut portraits of members of that dynasty, from Ottone (1207–1295) through Filippo Maria (1392–1447), each signed by the cutter with the mark of a Cross of Lorraine. The identities of both the designer and the cutter are unknown.
The book is dedicated to Henri II as Dauphin, 29 March 1547, and the portraits are copied from watercolors in a presentation manuscript which was delivered to Henri II, in an Italian binding, in April 1547 (now Paris, BnF, Latin 5887). Those images may in turn be dependent on painted replicas commissioned by Giovio for display in his museum in Como. The ultimate iconographic sources are located in captions placed beneath the woodcuts: San Gottardo, Milan; the Bishop’s Palace, Milan; the Castello and Certosa of Pavia; San Giovanni Battista, Monza; the fortress of Angera; San Giovanni in Conca; San Pietro in Viboldone; and Pisanello’s portrait of Filippo Maria, made in 1441.
Thomas Mahieu was the son of Jean Mahieu (d. 1527), Receveur de Beauvais in the office of Jean Grolier, Trésorier général de Milan, during the six years of the second French occupation (Veyrin-Forrer, “Notes sur Thomas Mahieu,” pp. 321–349). It is supposed that he was educated in Milan, and that Italian was his native language. In 1547, he was appointed Conseiller secrétaire du Roi, probably through the influence of Grolier, and from 1549–1560 was secretary of Catherine de’ Medici. Mahieu preferred to read in Italian or Latin and very rarely placed a book written in French in an elaborate binding. Over the years he patronized at least four, clearly identifiable binders. The binder of this book, Gomar Estienne, held the office of royal bookbinder from about November 1547 until about May 1555, working initially at Fontainebleau for the royal library, thereafter from an atelier in Paris for non-royal collectors. He bound at least twenty-six volumes for Jean Grolier and ten for Marx Fugger (see lot 33).
Thomas Mahieu was the son of Jean Mahieu (d. 1527), Receveur de Beauvais in the office of Jean Grolier, Trésorier général de Milan, during the six years of the second French occupation (Veyrin-Forrer, “Notes sur Thomas Mahieu,” pp. 321–349). It is supposed that he was educated in Milan, and that Italian was his native language. In 1547, he was appointed Conseiller secrétaire du Roi, probably through the influence of Grolier, and from 1549–1560 was secretary of Catherine de’ Medici. Mahieu preferred to read in Italian or Latin and very rarely placed a book written in French in an elaborate binding. Over the years he patronized at least four, clearly identifiable binders. The binder of this book, Gomar Estienne, held the office of royal bookbinder from about November 1547 until about May 1555, working initially at Fontainebleau for the royal library, thereafter from an atelier in Paris for non-royal collectors. He bound at least twenty-six volumes for Jean Grolier and ten for Marx Fugger (see lot 33).
4to (247 x 172 mm). Roman type, 31 line plus headline. collation: A-M8 N4: 100 leaves. Estienne's woodcut basilisk device on title (Renouard 471), 10 woodcut portraits of the Visconti of Milan, each signed with the Croix Lorraine, floriated woodcut initials, including a fine 9-line criblé V. (Light dampstaining at inner margins at front and rear, closed tear at upper fore-edge margin of Cii, iii.)
binding: Parisian citron morocco (253 x 176 mm), ca. 1550, by Gomar Estienne for Thomas Mahieu, large inlaid corner-pieces and central cartouche in black morocco, large corner-pieces with gilt arabesque design of freehand gougework, central cartouche on covers, outlined by strapwork formed by two gilt fillets, lettered in gilt on upper cover DVODECIM VICECOMITVM | MED. PRINCIPVM | VITAE. and on lower cover Mahieu’s complex monogram in gilt, flat spine decorated at center only with elegant motif of azured foliage, gilt edges. (A few small stains, corners and spine restored.) Brown morocco Solander case.
provenance: Thomas Mahieu (ca. 1515/1527–after 1588; supralibros, monogram on lower cover) — Euverte Jollivet (1601–1662; inscription “Euurtius Jollyvet, advocatus Parsiensis … optimo possidet … 1627” on title-page) — Charles de Rohan, prince de Soubise (1715–1787; shelfmark on pastedown (partly obscured by Burrus exlibris [not traced in Catalogus bibliothecae Thuanae, 1679; not traced in Soubise sale, 1789]) — Antoine-Augustin Renouard (1765–1853; Antoine-Augustin Renouard, Catalogue de la bibliothèque d’un amateur [Paris, 1819], IV, p. 117; R. H. Evans, Catalogue of … the Choice and Valuable library of M. Renouard, London, 26–30 April 1830, lot 790), purchased by — William Clarke, London (£1 13s) — William Beckford (1760–1844; inscriptions “Renouard. A. P. [Payne?] 1830,” “1 l. 13 s.”) — Alexander Douglas, 10th Duke of Hamilton (1767–1852) Sotheby’s, Catalogue of the Second Portion of the Beckford Library, London, 11–22 December 1882, lot 1215), purchased by — J. Pearson & Co., London (£189) — François-Gustave-Adolphe Guyot de Villeneuve (1825–1898; Maurice Delestre & Édouard Rahir, Paris, 26–31 March 1900, lot 293), purchased by — Mortimer Leo Schiff (1877–1931; FF 5400) — John Mortimer Schiff (1904–1987; Sotheby’s, Catalogue of the Second Portion of the Famous Library … formed by the late Mortimer L. Schiff, London, 5–7 July 1938, lot 1092 Pl. 78), purchased by — Maggs Bros., London (£280), evidently sold to — Maurice Burrus (1882–1959; Christie’s, Paris, 15 December 2015, lot 84). acquisition: Purchased at the Burrus auction through Robin Halwas.
references: BP16 113581; FB 72131; USTC 150389; Mortimer, French, no. 248; Schreiber, Estiennes, no. 104; for the binding, see: G. D. Hobson, Maioli, Canevari and Others (London, 1926), pp. 86–87 no. 44; A. Hobson, “Les livres reliés pour Thomas Mahieu,” in Bulletin du bibliophile (2004), pp. 239–270 (p. 256. no. 60); see also: Veyrin-Forrer, “Notes sur Thomas Mahieu,” in Bookbindings & other Bibliophily: Essays in Honour of Anthony Hobson (Verona, 1994), pp. 321–349; A. Hobson, Renaissance Book Collecting: Jean Grolier and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, Their Books and Bindings (Cambridge, 1999), p. 228.
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