Papal interregnum binding.- Muret (Marc Antoine) Epistolæ, hymni sacri et poemata omnia...editio ultima, title with woodcut printer's device, woodcut head- and tail-pieces and decorative initials, foxed, lightly browned, later endpapers, contemporary Italian tan panelled calf, richly gilt, covers with central medallion of the Sacra Rota with a closed umbraculum (umbrella), within ornate floral and foliage decoration, in turn within various decorative tools and fillet borders, spine with rosette and fleuron decorations within double fillet outer border, lacking ties, lower cover with three small areas of worming and some scuffing, corners and outer edges little worn, rubbed, especially at joints (very small chip to head of lower joint), g.e. 16mo (binding 128 x 86mm.), Lyon, For Pierre Rigaud, 1613.

⁂ A rare binding for the Sacra Rota with a closed umbrella (instead of the papal tiara), denoting a 'sede vacante'. It is likely that this binding was executed either in 1621 at the death of Paul V or in 1623 at the death of Gregory XV. Due to the typically short periods between the death of a Pope and the election of a successor bindings such as this are rare.

Provenance: Lucien Goldschmidt, sold to Cornelius J. Hauck, 30th October, 1956, sold his sale Christie's, 27th & 28th June, 2006 (bookplate to front pastedown).