JOSÈPHE (Flavius)

Lot 2
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Estimation :
2000 - 3000 EUR
JOSÈPHE (Flavius)
De antiquitatibus judaeorum libri X posteriores. Lyon, Sébastien Gryphe, 1539. In-8, 526 pp. and 1 f.n.ch.: black-brown morocco, double frame of cold fillets joining the corners, central panel delimited by a double gilt fillet bordered by a frame decorated with curved motifs, with a central cartouche bearing the inscription IOS. DE ANTIQ. V. S., large emblem stamped in the centre of the second course, spine ribbed with a decoration of cold cross-braces, edges formerly silvered (Venetian binding of the time). Second volume alone out of three of the collective edition of the works of Flavius Josephus donated by Sébastien Gryphe. Printed in italics. Typographic mark of Gryphe on the back of the last page. Sixteenth-century Venetian binding, embossed on the second cover with the emblem of Fortune Marine. This emblem is the female figure of Neptune, shown naked on a dolphin, holding a sail. It can be compared with two other Irons of Fortune, both different and more schematic in their design, struck on Venetian bindings of the same period (cf. Mirjam Foot, The Henry Davis Gift, vol. III, no. 317, and cat. Maggs Bros, Book Bindings, 1921, no. 406, pl. CXVII). The binding bears on the first cover this gilt inscription on three lines, IOS./DE ANTIQ./V. S., the last two letters meaning volumen secundum and not designating the name of an unknown bibliophile as suggested in the catalogue of the Pierre Berès sale (V,2006, nº 426, reproduction) where the first volume of this edition, bound identically, appeared. The copy belonged to Count Nicola Maria de Bondenti (17th century), a nobleman from Crema in the province of Cremona (handwritten ex-libris on the title). From the Maurice Burrus Library (ex-libris). Restored binding. Minimal gallery of worms in the back of the first two notebooks, dirt and wetness on the endpapers.
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