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the book is red and gold with gold trimmings on itan old book with a picture of a man in a coat of armsan old book with a picture of a man in a chairan old book with a picture of a man being taken out of itan old book with a drawing of a man on a horse in front of a man on a horse
ALDE

10 - BOCCACCIO. *The Decameron*. Revised once again, based on the…
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Estimate €3,000 - €4,000
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Description
BOCCACCIO. *The Decameron*. Revised once again, based on the ancient copies. Venice, Comin da Trino, 1556. In-8, red morocco, Du Seuil-style decoration with bird-shaped metal tools in the corners, coat of arms in the centre, decorated spine, interior lace, gilt edges on marbled paper (17th-century binding). A very rare Venetian edition of the Decameron. This is the second edition published by Comin da Trino, who was active in Venice from 1539 to 1574. It reproduces the first edition, published in 1552. The text is printed in italics and adorned with a series of eight woodcuts within the text introducing each of the ten days, the first of which is repeated three times, as well as a large illustrated initial and eight small ones (also repeated). In some of the illustrations, the figures depicted are identified by name. Only four copies of this edition are known to exist in public collections, including one in France (BnF) and three in Italy (Bergamo, Chioggia, and the Correr Museum in Venice). A very fine and highly sought-after copy bearing the coat of arms of the Marquis de La Vieuville, one of the most famous collectors of the 17th century. René-François de La Vieuville (1652–1719) was a colonel in the Navarre regiment and governor of Poitou. As a collector, he belonged to ‘the small circle of “curiosities enthusiasts” that had developed in Paris towards the end of the reign of Louis XIV’. It was on the initiative of this circle – which also included Antoine Leriche and Jérôme Duvivier – that book bindings specifically designed to cover rare books first appeared at that time. Together with Jean, his younger brother, who, it seems, shared his taste for books, the La Vieuville brothers thus had the covers of a number of their bindings decorated with a distinctive design. Tradition has given its name to this lace pattern, which is alternately adorned, within four-lobed compartments, with ducal crowns and fleurs-de-lis, as well as animals at the corners: the ‘La Vieuville lace’. We know from the inventory drawn up after René-François’s death that he had arranged his precious books in three bookcases: one in ‘copper and pewter marquetry’, another in ‘red Indian wood’ and the last in ‘Chinese wood’, all of which were situated in his cabinet of curiosities on the ground floor of his Parisian mansion on the Quai des Célestins. From the libraries of Michael Tomkinson (1841–1921), with a bookplate, in *Franche Hall* (1922, II, no. 1158); and Edwin Marion Cox (1869–1942), with a bookplate. A fine copy, well preserved. Spine slightly lighter in colour. Graesse, I, 450 – CNCE 6339 – USTC 814850 (3 copies cited) – OHR 716/2 – I. de Conihout and P. Ract-Madoux, 17th-Century French Bookbindings: Masterpieces from the Musée Condé, 2002, pp. 64, 67–68.
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About the sale Fine antique books – A library in the Languedoc
Auction location
Auction time 10/20/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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