A Pristine Copy of the Bodoni Facsimile Edition of the 1479 Veronese Aesop Complete With Sixty-Eight Woodcuts Colored by Hand
Fables of Aesop. Printed from the Veronese Edition of MCCCCLXXIX in Latin Verses and the Italian Version by Accio Zucco, with the Woodcuts Newly Engraved and Coloured after a Copy in the British Museum.
Verona: Editiones Officinae Bodoni, 1973.
BODONI PRESS. CAXTON, William, [translator]. OFFICINA BODONI. The Fables of Aesop. Printed from the Veronese Edition of MCCCCLXXIX in Latin Verses and the Italian Version by Accio Zucco, with the Woodcuts Newly Engraved and Coloured after a Copy in the British Museum Verona: Editiones Officinae Bodoni, 1973.
Full description:
AESOP. The Fables of Aesop Printed from the Veronese Edition of MCCCCLXXIX in Latin Verses and the Italian Version by Accio Zucco, with the Woodcuts Newly Engraved and Coloured after a Copy in the British Museum. Verona: Editiones Officinae Bodoni, 1973.
[Together With:]
The First Three Books of Caxton's Aesop Containing the Fables Illustrated in the Verona Aesopus of MCCCCLXXIX. Verona: Editiones Officinae Bodoni, 1973.
One of 160 copies printed on handmade Magnani paper, this being number 142. Two octavo volumes (9 3/4 x 6 1/4 inches; 247 x 159 mm). 277, [1], [1, blank], [1, imprint]; 119, [1], [1, blank], [1, imprint] pp. Volume I complete with sixty-eight woodcuts colored by hand. Imprints with the Bodoni device in red. With prospectus and list of woodcuts laid in.
Original quarter green morocco over vellum, boards decorated and lettered in gilt. Spines with gilt lettering. Top edges gilt, others uncut. Vellum has some mild browning, otherwise both volumes are in pristine condition. Volume II is protected by acetate dust wrapper. Remarkably clean and bright inside. Previous owner's small bookplate to front free endpaper of volume I. Overall a fine set.
This is a gorgeous copy of the Bodoni facsimile of the Latin-Italian edition of Aesop , first published by Giovanni Alvise in Verona in 1479 (volume II comprises the English translation of Aesop that Caxton published in 1484). Stunning hand-colored woodcuts and presswork in this bibliographic touchstone demonstrate why Bodoni is considered by many to be the most accomplished fine press of the latter half of the twentieth century.
"When Giovanni Alvise, Verona's third printer, published his Aesop in 1479 he produced one of the finest illustrated books of the fifteenth century; it is very rare and known only to few. Alvise was the first printer to use typographic ornaments, cast in lead, like letters. These have been recut for our new edition, which contains also the original Latin and Italian texts with their 68 woodcut illustrations. ...
"The accompanying illustrations, recut on wood with outstanding skill by Anna Bramanti, are particularly attractive. When they had been printed they were coloured by hand after a copy of the Aesop in the British Museum which far surpasses the few other surviving coloured copies because of the unusual quality of the painting. ...
"Our English edition is supplemented by a second volume containing the fables in Caxton's translation. The first fable and the final six of the Veronese edition, which Caxton did not include, have been translated from the Latin by Betty Radice. ...
"The illustrations have been coloured by hand at the Atelier Daniel Jacomet in Paris. The paper has been hand-made by Magnani in Pescia, watermarked with a goose like that of the original edition. The binding, with morocco spine and parchment-covered boards, carries a simple geometric design in gold" (from the prospectus).
Barr. Mardersteig.
HBS 68881.
$4,000.
Price: $4,000.00
Item #68881