Cicero (Marcus Tullius) Rhetoricorum..., collation: *⁶, a-k⁸, l⁴, m-z⁸, A-G⁸, H⁸, I⁴; [6], 245, [3] ff., Aldine device on title and at end, blank spaces for capitals with printed guided letters, first quire slightly browned and foxed, a few finger-marks and spots, minor loss to blank outer lower corner of k³, repair to corner of H⁶ without loss, verso of rear endpaper and rear pastedown with note 'HH.C.I', rear pastedown with date '1825', price notice 'b. 80' inked by an early hand on title, contemporary brown morocco over pasteboards, executed in Venice or Padua, covers within multiple gilt and blind fillets, centre with foliate tools at each corner and small central fleuron in gilt, spine with three double raised bands alternated to three single bands, decorated with gilt fillets and friezes, pastedowns and endpapers renewed, blue edges, extremities of spine and corners restored, joints repaired, two small worm-holes to upper cover, 4to (213 x 132mm.), Venice, Aldus Manutius, March 1514.

⁂ The first Aldine edition of the complete rhetorical works of Cicero, carefully edited for Aldus by the outstanding humanist Andrea Navagero. A reprint of Aldus' Cicero was issued in 1521 by his heirs (see lots xxx and xxx). The text is set in the Italic font designed by the well-known Bolognese punchcutter Francesco Griffo and used by Aldus for all his books printed in octavo format after the Virgil of 1501. The Cicero of 1514 was issued in quarto size but still respected the rules of the divine proportions of the 'golden section'.

This copy is in a handsome and strictly contemporary binding, its elegant but sober gilt and blind decoration indicating that it was executed in the Veneto area, in all likelihood by craftsmen active in Venice or in Padua. A binding with similar tools, and attributed to Veneto workshops, is listed by Tammaro De Marinis in his La legatura artistica in Italia, II, no. 1684.

Literature: Adams C1676; Renouard 65.1; Ahmanson-Murphy 120.