CATHERINE DE SIENNE,

Lot 1000
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Estimation :
6000 - 8000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 14 533EUR
CATHERINE DE SIENNE,
saint. Epistle Devotissima Sancta Catharina da Siena. Venice, Aldus Manutius, 1500. In-folio (307 x 204 mm) of 10 ff.n.ch., CCXIV ff.ch., 1 f.n.ch., one full-page woodcut (fol. *10v) with the portrait of St. Catherine; red morocco, large gilt roulette wheel, spine with 5 ornamented false double nerves, roulette on the cups and inside roulette wheel, lining and endpapers of green silk set with a gilt roulette wheel, gilt edges (Purgold). First complete incunabulum edition of the letters and orations of the great Sienese mystic. It is dedicated to Francesco Piccolomini. It is the first book entirely in Italian printed by Aldus. Of the 368 letters printed in this edition, only 31 had appeared in 1492 in Bologna. Daughter of a dyer, Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) was distinguished by her infinite charity. The popes had recourse to her during the Great Western Schism, intervening with Gregory XI to bring him back from Avignon to Rome and advising Urban VI. Her aim was to reconstitute the unity of Christianity, to organize a general crusade against Islam. His correspondence is of capital historical interest. "Beautiful edition in round letters of which it is difficult to find well-preserved copies" (Brunet). It is illustrated with a splendid full-page woodcut showing the Saint receiving the triple crown from two angels, probably made after the statue by Neroccio Bartolomea Landi kept in Siena. The engraving contains five words printed in italics, a remarkable detail because it was not until the following year that Aldus Manus printed an entire work using this first italic engraving by Francesco Griffo. A fine copy, well bound by the master bookbinder Purgold. First and last seven leaves from another copy added at the time of binding. Provenance: Conte Trapani (stamped at the bottom of the title) - Estelle Doheny (ex-libris, bought from George Millard, included in the first sale of his library, 1987, lot 109) - Ritman
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