Binding.- Genealogy.- Vitignano (Cornelio) Vera genealogia e discendenza della serenissima et invittissima prosapia d'Austria, first edition, collation: A-E⁴, title with woodcut arms recto and verso, woodcut head- and tail-pieces, decorative initials and printer's device to final verso, sig. D lightly browned, some spotting or light staining, handsome 17th century red morocco richly gilt, with the arms of Cardinal Vidone, covers with central arms within various foliage, sawtooth or filet borders, spine in four compartments, each with a central star, the uppermost compartment with a later ink number 8, lacking ties, spine ends and corners skilfully restored, little spotting, 4to (binding 214 x 154; text block 208 x 136mm.), Naples, Giovanni Giacomo Carlino for Enrico Bacco, 1599.

⁂ Handsome binding for Cardinal Vidone on a work tracing the genealogy of the House of Austria. Vidone having studied at Pavia and Perugia arrived in Rome during the pontificate of Pope Clement VIII (1592-1605). His rise through the church hierarchy was rapid, eventually earning the important post of Treasurer General of the Apostolic Chamber, and Commissary General of the papal army in 1625, thereby effectively running the entire administration of papal domains. He was made a cardinal on 30th August, 1627. His short period as a cardinal allows us to date this binding quite precisely to between 1627 and the year of his death in 1632.