Details
BRUNUS ARETINUS, Leonardus (1369-1444). Historiae florentini populi, in Italian. Translated from the Latin by Donatus Acciaiuolus. Venice: Jacobus Rubeus, 12 February 1476.
Median 2° (320 x 222 mm). Collation: a-k10 kk6 l-p10 q12 r-x10 (a1 blank, a2r translator's prologue, a2v author's prologue, a3v text, x10r colophon, x10v blank). 217 leaves (of 218, without the first blank). 41 lines. Type 1:110R. One 9-line and thirteen 8-line initial spaces with guide letters. Opening initial M finely illuminated by a contemporary Italian artist in gold leaf on blue, red and green ground with white penwork infill, large flower ornaments with small gold disk ornaments in three margins, lower margin with white-vine decoration on blue, red and green ground flanking a central painted armorial shield (overpainted?), the remaining initials supplied in blue with red filigree infill and flourishes. (Lower margin of first leaf strengthened on verso, discreetly repaired tears to lower blank margins of 4 leaves, washed, occasional residual staining, some old offsetting from initials.) Late 19th- or early 20th-century diced russia, covers and spine panelled in blind, ornate gilt monogram CGF (Commre. Go. Fumach?) at center of covers, turn-ins gilt, edges marbled and gilt, by Binda of Milan (joints and extremities rubbed, inner hinges cracked, backstrip faded).
Provenance: unidentified arms of original(?) owner on first page; F.G., initials concealed in lower border of first page; 18th-century library inkstamp on first page (illegible); Comm(endato)re G(iorgi)o Fumach, bookplate, binding(?); Silvius Zipolus, bookplate.
FIRST EDITION. Leonardo Bruni wrote his history of Florence in a fluent Latin style modelled after Livy and Sallust, but his Latin manuscript was not published until 1610 at Strassburg. During the fifteenth century Bruni's Latin text was eclipsed by Donato Acciaiuoli's better known translation, which after this, its first printing in Venice, was reprinted in Florence in 1492. This first edition survives in numerous copies bound together with the first edition of Poggius Fiorentinus, Historia fiorentina, printed by Rubeus during the same month. Bruni's history extends from the Roman period to 1404. It examines in detail the development of constitutional government in Florence, seen by Bruni as the heir of the free city-states of ancient Etruria and of the Roman Republic. The many short anecdotes and biographies interspersed throughout the chronicle include the earliest printed account of the life of Dante. Jacobus Rubeus, or Jacques Le Rouge, a Frenchman from Chablis, "was a friend of Jenson... and several of his types [including the font used here] are very close copies of Jensonian models; quite possibly he worked in Jenson's office for a time" (Scholderer, BMC V, p. xiv).
HC *1562; BMC V, 215 (IB. 20085); GW 5612; IGI 2202; Oates 1696; Pellechet 1115; Proctor 4242; Goff B-1247.
Median 2° (320 x 222 mm). Collation: a-k10 kk6 l-p10 q12 r-x10 (a1 blank, a2r translator's prologue, a2v author's prologue, a3v text, x10r colophon, x10v blank). 217 leaves (of 218, without the first blank). 41 lines. Type 1:110R. One 9-line and thirteen 8-line initial spaces with guide letters. Opening initial M finely illuminated by a contemporary Italian artist in gold leaf on blue, red and green ground with white penwork infill, large flower ornaments with small gold disk ornaments in three margins, lower margin with white-vine decoration on blue, red and green ground flanking a central painted armorial shield (overpainted?), the remaining initials supplied in blue with red filigree infill and flourishes. (Lower margin of first leaf strengthened on verso, discreetly repaired tears to lower blank margins of 4 leaves, washed, occasional residual staining, some old offsetting from initials.) Late 19th- or early 20th-century diced russia, covers and spine panelled in blind, ornate gilt monogram CGF (Commre. Go. Fumach?) at center of covers, turn-ins gilt, edges marbled and gilt, by Binda of Milan (joints and extremities rubbed, inner hinges cracked, backstrip faded).
Provenance: unidentified arms of original(?) owner on first page; F.G., initials concealed in lower border of first page; 18th-century library inkstamp on first page (illegible); Comm(endato)re G(iorgi)o Fumach, bookplate, binding(?); Silvius Zipolus, bookplate.
FIRST EDITION. Leonardo Bruni wrote his history of Florence in a fluent Latin style modelled after Livy and Sallust, but his Latin manuscript was not published until 1610 at Strassburg. During the fifteenth century Bruni's Latin text was eclipsed by Donato Acciaiuoli's better known translation, which after this, its first printing in Venice, was reprinted in Florence in 1492. This first edition survives in numerous copies bound together with the first edition of Poggius Fiorentinus, Historia fiorentina, printed by Rubeus during the same month. Bruni's history extends from the Roman period to 1404. It examines in detail the development of constitutional government in Florence, seen by Bruni as the heir of the free city-states of ancient Etruria and of the Roman Republic. The many short anecdotes and biographies interspersed throughout the chronicle include the earliest printed account of the life of Dante. Jacobus Rubeus, or Jacques Le Rouge, a Frenchman from Chablis, "was a friend of Jenson... and several of his types [including the font used here] are very close copies of Jensonian models; quite possibly he worked in Jenson's office for a time" (Scholderer, BMC V, p. xiv).
HC *1562; BMC V, 215 (IB. 20085); GW 5612; IGI 2202; Oates 1696; Pellechet 1115; Proctor 4242; Goff B-1247.