Quintilianus (Marcus Fabius) [De institutione oratoria], collation: *⁴, a-z⁸, A-E⁸, F⁶; [4], 230 ff., F³ and F⁴ misbound, Aldine device on title and at end, blank space for capitals with printed guide letters, old repair to title with loss to a couple of letters on verso, a few stains and spots, some marginal water-stains and foxing, short tear to blank margin of f⁷ and E¹ without loss, single small wormhole to upper blank margin of final leaves, some marginalia and reading-marks, in two different early hands, contemporary south-German hazelnut morocco, elaborately blind-tooled (recased), covers within frames of multiple fillets and roll with foliate and floral motifs, at centre of upper cover small floral branches and inscriptions in cartouches, large lozenge-shaped tool at centre of lower cover, traces of ties, spine with three double raised bands, compartments decorated with fillets, a few wormholes to covers, joints slightly cracked, 8vo, Venice, Aldus Manutius, August 1514.

⁂ The first Aldine edition of one of the most important and influential rhetorical works of antiquity. Quintilianus' De institutione oratoria was edited by the leading humanists Andrea Navagero and Giovanni Battista Ramusio, and the text was set in the celebrated italic type designed and cut for Aldus by Francesco Griffo of Bologna. This copy once belonged to the Cistercian Abbey in Schöntal (Speciosa Vallis), famous for its impressive library, which comprised over 10,000 volumes. The volume was later purchased as a duplicate by the Royal Library in Munich.

Provenance: Cistercian Abbey at Schöntal, in Baden-Wüttenberg (ownership inscription 'Ad conventum Vallis Speciosa' on title); 'Ex libris Lindauer' (ownership inscription on title); sold as a duplicate by the Royal Library Munich (2 stamps on verso of title).

Literature: Adams Q52; Renouard 68.5;Ahmanson-Murphy 124.