Lot 87
Vitruvius Pollio, Marcus
De architectura libri decem
The Library of James Stirling, Mathematician
Auction: 23 October 2025 from 13:00 GMT
Description
… accesserunt Gulielmi Philandri Castilionii, civis Romani annotationes castigatiores, et plus teria parte locupletiores. Lyon: apud Joan. Tornaesium [Jean de Tournes], 1552. Folio (24.8 x 16.2cm), contemporary French sheep panelled in blind with gilt fleurons to spine compartments and within roundels to centre of each board, [8] 447 [29] pp., A4 ²A4 a-z4 ³A-³Z4 2a-2r4, retaining the errata (2r3) and the final leaf (2r4, blank but for publisher's woodcut device verso), folding plate, criblé woodcut initials, woodcut illustrations in text including roundel portrait to²A4 verso, roman and italic types, title-page inscribed ‘Emp. Ludg. anno 1552 12 s 6 d.' (apparently later), occasional manuscript marginalia in ink and old underlining in sanguine crayon (see provenance), marginal spill-burn to ³M1, wear and skinning to binding, slightly later manuscript spine-title [Adams V908; Cicognara 912]
Provenance
Title-page inscribed ‘Camill. Falconer, aggr. Lugd. Natal. fili Andr. nepos 1693’, with manuscript marginalia in Latin and detailed annotations to rear endpapers in French, all possibly in the same hand. The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge holds a copy of the 1499 Aldine edition of Julius Firmicus Maternus's Astronomicorum Libri Octo with an identical inscription on the title-leaf.
Footnote
First edition of Vitruvius to include the influential commentary of French humanist Guillaume Philander (Philandrier), which was originally published separately in 1544.