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VIGERIUS, Marcus (1446-1516). Decachordum Christianum. Corrected by Guido de Sancto Leone and Francisco Armillino. Fano: Hieronymus Soncinus, 10 August 1507.
2o (315 x 212 mm). Collation: aa8 a10 b-z8 &8 A10 B-E8 F10 AA-BB8 (aa1r title, aa1v blank, aa2-8 index of chapter headings (here bound at end of main text, between quires F and AA), a1r Vigerius's dedication to Julius II, a1v Vigerius's address to the reader, a2v Annunciation woodcut, a3r first chorda, m8r blank, m8v woodcut, n1r seventh chorda, F10v colophon, AA1r index of subject headings, BB8v blank). 270 leaves. Author's coat-of-arms on title within woodcut border signed by F.V., 10 full-page cuts, probably metal (Mortimer), the one of the Nativity signed "L" and the Pentecost also signed "F.V.", within one of two repeated woodcut borders, 33 smaller cuts from 27 blocks illustrating the life of Christ, all but two in criblé style. Initials on a3r and d1r in blue and red, other initials and foliation strokes in red. Foliation correct on fo. lxxix (unlike the Harvard copy) and incorrect on fo. lxxxix (reads lxxxiiii, as in the Garden copy). (Some worming at beginning and end catching some letters, some intermittent pale spotting, generally very crisp.) Contemporary German blind-tooled pigskin over wooden boards, clasps and one catch, original chain hasp attached to back cover (lacking one catch, worming). Provenance: Charles William Dyson Perrins (bookplate); Hermann Marx (bookplate; sold Sotheby's, 19 April 1948, lot 146); Clifford Rattey (bookplate; his collection dispersed by Maggs Bros.); acquired from Bernard Quaritch, 1974.
FIRST EDITION. Vigerius joined the Franciscan order while his great uncle, the future Pope Sixtus IV, was general of the order, and it was to Sixtus IV that he owed his advancement, being made bishop of Senigallia in 1476, governor of Castel Sant'Angelo, and a cardinal in 1505. Vigerius returned to his studies in 1506, producing the Decachordum, a treatise on asceticism following the life of the Holy Family, which he dedicated to his cousin, the humanist Pope Julius II. A learned humanist himself, Vigerius was known to Erasmus as a defender of Lefèvre (Contemporaries of Erasmus III, p.392).
Soncino, first printer at Fano, was one of a family of itinerant printers active in Soncino, Naples, Brescia, Barco, Pesaro, Constantinople and other towns, and famous for their printing of Hebrew books. A year after settling in Fano, Hieronymus Soncino had an italic type designed for him by Francesco Griffo which he used to print his edition of Petrarch in 1503. Though the cuts remain unassigned, that of the Pentecost is signed "FV," as is the title-border, while the Nativity is signed "L." This latter cut was used by Lucantonio Guinta in 1511 for a Bible and copied abain for Jacques Sacon's Bible of 1516, Lyon, for Koberger. Mortimer notes that Amram's attribution of the cuts signed "FV" to Florio Vavassore cannot be correct as "this book is too early to be linked with other appearances of this name." In addition to the one block with head repaired noted by Mortimer, the block of the Last Supper appears here in two states, one with Christ's left hand repaired and altered slightly (p2v). The Decachordum is rightly considered one of Soncino's finest books. Adams V-746; Mortimer Italian 537; Van Praet, Vélins du roi I, 413; Isaac 13970; Brunet V, 126; Essling I:145; Sander III, 7589; De Marinis, Livres à figures italiens 214.
2o (315 x 212 mm). Collation: aa8 a10 b-z8 &8 A10 B-E8 F10 AA-BB8 (aa1r title, aa1v blank, aa2-8 index of chapter headings (here bound at end of main text, between quires F and AA), a1r Vigerius's dedication to Julius II, a1v Vigerius's address to the reader, a2v Annunciation woodcut, a3r first chorda, m8r blank, m8v woodcut, n1r seventh chorda, F10v colophon, AA1r index of subject headings, BB8v blank). 270 leaves. Author's coat-of-arms on title within woodcut border signed by F.V., 10 full-page cuts, probably metal (Mortimer), the one of the Nativity signed "L" and the Pentecost also signed "F.V.", within one of two repeated woodcut borders, 33 smaller cuts from 27 blocks illustrating the life of Christ, all but two in criblé style. Initials on a3r and d1r in blue and red, other initials and foliation strokes in red. Foliation correct on fo. lxxix (unlike the Harvard copy) and incorrect on fo. lxxxix (reads lxxxiiii, as in the Garden copy). (Some worming at beginning and end catching some letters, some intermittent pale spotting, generally very crisp.) Contemporary German blind-tooled pigskin over wooden boards, clasps and one catch, original chain hasp attached to back cover (lacking one catch, worming). Provenance: Charles William Dyson Perrins (bookplate); Hermann Marx (bookplate; sold Sotheby's, 19 April 1948, lot 146); Clifford Rattey (bookplate; his collection dispersed by Maggs Bros.); acquired from Bernard Quaritch, 1974.
FIRST EDITION. Vigerius joined the Franciscan order while his great uncle, the future Pope Sixtus IV, was general of the order, and it was to Sixtus IV that he owed his advancement, being made bishop of Senigallia in 1476, governor of Castel Sant'Angelo, and a cardinal in 1505. Vigerius returned to his studies in 1506, producing the Decachordum, a treatise on asceticism following the life of the Holy Family, which he dedicated to his cousin, the humanist Pope Julius II. A learned humanist himself, Vigerius was known to Erasmus as a defender of Lefèvre (Contemporaries of Erasmus III, p.392).
Soncino, first printer at Fano, was one of a family of itinerant printers active in Soncino, Naples, Brescia, Barco, Pesaro, Constantinople and other towns, and famous for their printing of Hebrew books. A year after settling in Fano, Hieronymus Soncino had an italic type designed for him by Francesco Griffo which he used to print his edition of Petrarch in 1503. Though the cuts remain unassigned, that of the Pentecost is signed "FV," as is the title-border, while the Nativity is signed "L." This latter cut was used by Lucantonio Guinta in 1511 for a Bible and copied abain for Jacques Sacon's Bible of 1516, Lyon, for Koberger. Mortimer notes that Amram's attribution of the cuts signed "FV" to Florio Vavassore cannot be correct as "this book is too early to be linked with other appearances of this name." In addition to the one block with head repaired noted by Mortimer, the block of the Last Supper appears here in two states, one with Christ's left hand repaired and altered slightly (p2v). The Decachordum is rightly considered one of Soncino's finest books. Adams V-746; Mortimer Italian 537; Van Praet, Vélins du roi I, 413; Isaac 13970; Brunet V, 126; Essling I:145; Sander III, 7589; De Marinis, Livres à figures italiens 214.