Beschreibung:

Ruscelli, Girolamo. Le imprese illustri del Sor Ieronimo Ruscelli. Aggiuntovi nuovamte il quarto libro da Vincenzo Ruscelli da Viterbo. Venice: Francesco de Franceschi, 1584 (1583)
First edition of Book IV, fourth edition of the first three books, in a fine armorial binding. Another copy.
4to (254 x 176 mm). Roman type, 46 lines plus headline. collation: a-b4 c6 A-Z4 Aa-Zz4 Aaa-Qqq4; πA4 A-I4 K6: 304 leaves, with final blank. Engraved title page to four parts, woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, engraved illustrations, 2 double-page engravings and 17 full-page engravings. (Hole to lower margin of title-page, possibly removing an inscription, marginal tear to foot of M1, minor loss to lower corner of Ll2, small tear to engraving on Bvv4, first two quires in book four misbound.)
binding: Seventeenth-century Italian morocco gilt (261 x 189 mm), covers with central armorial within a lozenge formed of small stamps, two concentric frames of blind and gilt fillets with leafy swirls at corners, spine gilt with small flower stamp, stubs from two pairs of ties, edges gilt and gauffered. Watermark in endeaves of a bird on three hills within a circle surmounted by the letter S (a similar watermark surmouned by an F is in Wasserzeichen-Informationssystem, dated 1662, Poggio a Canino). (Binding slightly rubbed, small holes in upper cover, some repairs to ends of joints.)
provenance: Unidentified arms on cover —  Charles James Stuart, Baronet (1824-1901), bookplate — Henry B. Wheatley (1838-1917), bookplate, his sale, Sotheby’s, 9 April 1918, lot 491 (described as citron morocco, Italian, seventeenth century). acquisition: Purchased in 2008 from Sokol Books, London. references: Edit16 77379, Landwehr, Romanic Emblem Books 650