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the three books are lined up in a row on a white surfacean old book with a drawing of a man on top of a statuean old book with a picture of a man in a crown on itan old book with a black and white image of a man on a horse
ALDE

40 - OLIVIERIO (Antonio Francesco). *La Alamanna*.
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Estimate €2,000 - €3,000
Sale commission
Description
OLIVIERIO (Antonio Francesco). *La Alamanna*. Venice, Vincenzo Valgrisi, 1567. 3 parts in 2 quarto volumes, red morocco, triple gilt fillet, spine decorated with grotesque motifs, interior lace, gilt edges on marbled paper (18th-century French binding). First edition of this epic poem in twenty-four cantos. In this epic poem, Antonio Francesco Oliviero (1520–1580) describes the Schmalkaldic War, which, in 1545, within the Holy Roman Empire, pitted Charles V (1500–1558) against a coalition of Protestant princes from Northern Germany who were demanding legal recognition of Protestantism. Although victory went to the Emperor, it was henceforth impossible for him to ignore the spread of Lutheran ideas in Germany. Following *La Alamanna* come three further poems by Oliviero: *Carlo Quinto in Olma*, *L’Origine d’Amore* and *Canzone...*, which brings the second volume to a close. A sumptuous print by Vincenzo Valgrisi, alias Vincent Vaugris, a printer from Lyon who settled first in Venice and then in Rome. The volume is adorned with a beautiful architectural frame on the title page, featuring an equestrian portrait of Charles V beneath a triumphal arch (repeated twice), a portrait of the author (repeated three times) and the printer’s large mark (also repeated). The text is illustrated with 36 engraved scenes, each framed by four separate woodcuts, including 12 full-page illustrations, a historiated initial at the beginning of each book, and headpieces and tailpieces, all engraved on wood. Only the first part of the work is illustrated. Indeed, as the preface to the second part explains, this highly ambitious project proved too costly and was not completed. The iconographic cycle bears similarities to that of *Orlando furioso*, published by the same publisher in 1556. A magnificent copy in fine 18th-century Parisian bindings. The copy belonging to the art collector Joseph-Antoine Crozat (1751, no. 1712), President of the Parliament of Paris, bearing his handwritten bookplate on the reverse of the title page. President of the Chamber of Inquiries of the Parliament of Paris, Joseph-Antoine Crozat (1699–1750), Marquis de Tugny, was the son of the financier Antoine Crozat (c. 1655–1738), the wealthiest man in France at the end of Louis XIV’s reign and the first owner of Louisiana. In 1740, Tugny inherited the art collection of his uncle, Pierre Crozat (1661–1740): the famous Cabinet de Crozat. Sharing his uncle’s highly discerning taste for the fine arts, he devoted most of his time and his immense fortune to expanding his collection. Having become one of the most valuable collections of paintings ever assembled (including a Raphael, twelve Rubens, eight Rembrandts, five Poussins, three Watteaus, two Chardins…), Crozat’s collection was, in 1770, through the intermediary of Diderot but to the great scandal of his contemporaries, sold in its entirety to Catherine II of Russia. Since 1772, it has been one of the jewels in the crown of the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. As for Joseph-Antoine de Crozat’s library, it had been dispersed in 1751 during an auction comprising no fewer than 5,000 items. The volumes we have been able to trace, which originate from this library, all bear the same handwritten bookplate: Ex Bibliotheca D. Crozat in Suprema Parisiensi Curia Praesidis. The copy subsequently belonged to the famous English bibliophile Richard Heber (1773–1833), an insatiable collector who also devoted his time and fortune to travelling throughout Europe in search of rare and valuable editions, which he chose with great care, thereby building what became one of the most vast collections of books ever assembled by a private individual. Over a period of some thirty years, from 1800 to 1830, he amassed more than 150,000 volumes. He liked to say that he needed to own three copies of every book: the first to show off, the second to read, and the third to exchange! Walter Scott, with whom he was close and who dedicated the sixth canto of his poem *Marmion* to him, described his library as ‘superior to all others in the world’. The dispersal of the collection gave rise, between 1834 and 1837, to sixteen sales held in London, Oxford, Ghent and Paris. This copy is described in the Heber catalogue (1836, IX, no. 2206) as follows: “beautiful copy, in old French red morocco, by Padeloup”. The eight blank leaves have not been preserved. Adams, O-167 – Mortimer, no. 326 – CNCE 38244.
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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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