Description

Primaleon.- Los tres libros del muy esforçado cavallero Primaleon et Polendos su hermano hijos del emperador Palmerin de Oliva, 3 parts in 1, collation: [maltese cross]8, A-L8; M-Y8; Z8, AA-II8, KK8, lacking final blank, [8], 262 (in Roman numbering), [1]ff., titles printed in red, the first with large woodcut (147 x 171 mm), slightly smaller woodcuts (142 x 146mm.) on other titles,128 woodcut vignettes at the beginning of each episode, numerous 9-to-11-line woodcut decorated and historiated initials, occasional and minor foxing, small wormholes to gutter of fols b5r-D2 without loss, lower blank corner of fols.II2-KK7 repaired, recto of front flyleaf 'At Colonel Stanley's sale in 1813 the Duke of Devonshire gave Thirty one pounds for a copy of this Romance, same edition', front pastedown with a cutting taken from a sale catalogue, fine later English tan morocco by Charles Lewis (1786-1836), covers framed within a large border of gilt fillets, floral tool in a circle at each corner, central coat-of-arms, spine with six raised bands, richly gilt tooled, double green morocco gilt-lettered labels, marbled endpapers, ruled gilt cover edges, inner dentelles, gilt edges, joints and corners slightly rubbed, generally a fine wide-margined copy, preserved in modern calf-backed cloth drop-back box, folio, 310 x 200mm., Venice, Giovanni Antonio Nicolini da Sabbio for Giovanni Battista Pederzano, 1534.

A very fine copy with excellent impressions of the woodcuts of the famous and rare 1534 edition of the Primaleón, printed in Castilian and edited by Francisco Delicado of Cordova (c.1480-1534). This Spanish chivalric romance, ascribed to Francisco Vázquez, belongs to the cycle of the Palmerín, and was first published in Salamanca in 1512. The work was enormously popular in Europe and was translated into several languages. Don Quixote owned the 'Palmerines' in his fictional library, and the influence of this libro de caballería is also evident in some plots of Shakespeare's Tempest.

In the 1534 Primaleón the text is for the first time divided into three books, a template which was adopted in subsequent editions of the romance. The volume published by Nicolini da Sabbio is highly praised not only from the textual point of view, but also for its lavish illustrative apparatus. Each part of the romance is introduced by its own title-page bearing a large woodcut, and each episode opens with a smaller vignette, depicting a scene related to the episode itself.

Rarely found in this condition, and with a distinguished provenance. Along the centuries the volume passed through the hands of famous collectors of chivalric literature: this copy was formerly housed in the library of Edward Vernon Utterson, who had in all likelihood acquired it in 1821 from the London bookseller Payne. "He collected mainly early English literature, and Italian, Spanish and French chivarly-romances [...] he often inscribed in ink [...] the date and price of purchase, using a word-cipher which would doubtless be easy to solve" (S. De Ricci, English Collectors of Books and Manuscripts, p. 139). His collection was sold in 1852 and 1857. The volume later belonged to the library of the well-known bibliophile Sir Thomas Phillipps. From the Bibliotheca Phillippica it was purchased in 1946 by another collector of chivalry-books, Oliverio Girondo.

Provenance: Edward Vernon Utterson (1776-1856; armorial binding, and note 'Payne 1821' on front flyleaf, in all likelihood in his own hand); Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872; see Sotheby's sale catalogue Bibliotheca Phillippica: Catalogue of a Further Portion of the Printed Books... which will be sold by auction... on Monday, the 25th of November, and following day, London 1946, lot 267); Oliverio Girondo (1890-1967; see P. M. Artundo, La Biblioteca de Oliverio Girondo, Buenos Aires 2008, no. 422; a cutting from Girondo's sale catalogue of 1973 pasted to front pastedown); H.P. Kraus (small ticket pasted on front pastedown).

Literature:Palau IV, 160.

Lot 59

Primaleon.- Los tres libros del muy esforçado cavallero Primaleon et Polendos su hermano hijos del emperador Palmerin de Oliva, Venice, Giovanni Antonio Nicolini da Sabbio for Giovanni Battista Pederzano, February, 1534.  

Estimate: £10,000 - 15,000

Description

Primaleon.- Los tres libros del muy esforçado cavallero Primaleon et Polendos su hermano hijos del emperador Palmerin de Oliva, 3 parts in 1, collation: [maltese cross]8, A-L8; M-Y8; Z8, AA-II8, KK8, lacking final blank, [8], 262 (in Roman numbering), [1]ff., titles printed in red, the first with large woodcut (147 x 171 mm), slightly smaller woodcuts (142 x 146mm.) on other titles,128 woodcut vignettes at the beginning of each episode, numerous 9-to-11-line woodcut decorated and historiated initials, occasional and minor foxing, small wormholes to gutter of fols b5r-D2 without loss, lower blank corner of fols.II2-KK7 repaired, recto of front flyleaf 'At Colonel Stanley's sale in 1813 the Duke of Devonshire gave Thirty one pounds for a copy of this Romance, same edition', front pastedown with a cutting taken from a sale catalogue, fine later English tan morocco by Charles Lewis (1786-1836), covers framed within a large border of gilt fillets, floral tool in a circle at each corner, central coat-of-arms, spine with six raised bands, richly gilt tooled, double green morocco gilt-lettered labels, marbled endpapers, ruled gilt cover edges, inner dentelles, gilt edges, joints and corners slightly rubbed, generally a fine wide-margined copy, preserved in modern calf-backed cloth drop-back box, folio, 310 x 200mm., Venice, Giovanni Antonio Nicolini da Sabbio for Giovanni Battista Pederzano, 1534.

A very fine copy with excellent impressions of the woodcuts of the famous and rare 1534 edition of the Primaleón, printed in Castilian and edited by Francisco Delicado of Cordova (c.1480-1534). This Spanish chivalric romance, ascribed to Francisco Vázquez, belongs to the cycle of the Palmerín, and was first published in Salamanca in 1512. The work was enormously popular in Europe and was translated into several languages. Don Quixote owned the 'Palmerines' in his fictional library, and the influence of this libro de caballería is also evident in some plots of Shakespeare's Tempest.

In the 1534 Primaleón the text is for the first time divided into three books, a template which was adopted in subsequent editions of the romance. The volume published by Nicolini da Sabbio is highly praised not only from the textual point of view, but also for its lavish illustrative apparatus. Each part of the romance is introduced by its own title-page bearing a large woodcut, and each episode opens with a smaller vignette, depicting a scene related to the episode itself.

Rarely found in this condition, and with a distinguished provenance. Along the centuries the volume passed through the hands of famous collectors of chivalric literature: this copy was formerly housed in the library of Edward Vernon Utterson, who had in all likelihood acquired it in 1821 from the London bookseller Payne. "He collected mainly early English literature, and Italian, Spanish and French chivarly-romances [...] he often inscribed in ink [...] the date and price of purchase, using a word-cipher which would doubtless be easy to solve" (S. De Ricci, English Collectors of Books and Manuscripts, p. 139). His collection was sold in 1852 and 1857. The volume later belonged to the library of the well-known bibliophile Sir Thomas Phillipps. From the Bibliotheca Phillippica it was purchased in 1946 by another collector of chivalry-books, Oliverio Girondo.

Provenance: Edward Vernon Utterson (1776-1856; armorial binding, and note 'Payne 1821' on front flyleaf, in all likelihood in his own hand); Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872; see Sotheby's sale catalogue Bibliotheca Phillippica: Catalogue of a Further Portion of the Printed Books... which will be sold by auction... on Monday, the 25th of November, and following day, London 1946, lot 267); Oliverio Girondo (1890-1967; see P. M. Artundo, La Biblioteca de Oliverio Girondo, Buenos Aires 2008, no. 422; a cutting from Girondo's sale catalogue of 1973 pasted to front pastedown); H.P. Kraus (small ticket pasted on front pastedown).

Literature:Palau IV, 160.

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