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a brown and gold book sitting on top of a white surfacean open book with a picture of a man on a horsean open book with a picture of a man on itan open book on a table with a white backgroundan open book on a table with a white background
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110 - [PSALMS]. SAINT AUGUSTINE. OCTAVUS TOMUS OPERUM DIVI AURELII…
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Estimate €5,000 - €7,000
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Description
[PSALMS]. SAINT AUGUSTINE. OCTAVUS TOMUS OPERUM DIVI AURELII AUGUSTINI HIPPONENSIS EPISCOPI, CONTAINING COMMENTARIES ON THE MYSTICAL PSALMS. Venetiis [Venice], ad Signum Spei, 1550. In-quarto (binding: 251 × 178 mm) comprising 381 folios and (1) folio; signatures a–z⁸, A–2A⁸, 2B⁶. List of quires and a prayer by Saint Augustine on the last leaf. Traces of fastenings with skilful and discreet restorations in their original positions, corner water-stain without paper fragilisation in the lower left-hand corner of the volume, more pronounced in the lower part of the final leaves; minimal worm damage without affecting the text in the lower margin of the first 54 leaves; leaves uniformly browned. 16TH-CENTURY VENETIAN EDITION OF THE WORKS OF SAINT AUGUSTINE, based on the editorial corpus established by Erasmus and originally published by the Froben family in Basel in 1528–1529. VOLUME VIII ONLY of this IMPORTANT HUMANIST EDITION published in Venice between 1550 and 1552, comprising ten volumes of text followed by a volume of indexes. It is printed in Roman type in two columns, with the ‘Speranza’ printer’s mark on the title page, depicting a woman facing the sun, accompanied by the motto taken from Psalm XXXIX: ‘Beatus vir, cuius est Dominus spes eius…’. THIS VOLUME VIII forms a complete textual unit bringing together all Saint Augustine’s commentaries on the PSALMS. A COPY BEARING THE COAT OF ARMS OF POPE PIUS V [Michele Ghislieri (1504–1572), a Dominican elected Pope in 1566], from a set of eleven volumes bound in Rome for the pontiff and now dispersed. A copy of Volume VI of this series, with the SAME BINDING AND PROVENANCE, was sold by Sotheby’s in December 2024; other volumes from this series, bound for Pope Pius V, entered the collection of Jean Fürstenberg (1890–1982), whilst several others were offered for sale by the renowned German bookseller Martin Breslauer (1871–1940). An old black-ink stamp from the Dominican convent of St Catherine of Trino appears in the margin of the title page; this provenance is also noted on Volume VI sold by Sotheby’s. The series appears to have previously belonged to the library of the Convent of Santa Croce in Bosco Marengo, founded in 1566 by Pius V in his hometown, before several volumes were transferred to the convent in Trino. REMARKABLE ROMAN PONTIFICAL BINDING, MADE CIRCA 1566–1572 FOR POPE PIUS V in red morocco on wooden boards, the covers entirely covered with a rich gilded decoration comprising a broad frame of interlaced foliage, large corner fleurons and small floral motifs; in the centre, the painted and gilded coat of arms of the Ghislieri family, surmounted by the papal tiara and the Keys of Saint Peter, set within an oval medallion between the inscriptions ‘PIVS V’ and ‘P·O·M’ for ‘Pius V Pontifex Optimus Maximus’. Four brass cabochons on each plate. Ribbed back entirely decorated within the compartments with gilded foliage interlacing, gilded title and date; abbreviated gilded title at the top of the lower plate: ‘S·AVGVSTINI / OPERVM . T·VIII’. GILDED, CHISELLED AND PAINTED EDGES WITH A FLORAL DECOR, FEATURING THE COAT OF ARMS OF THE ‘GHISLIERI’ IN THE CENTRE. A MAGNIFICENT COPY, from an important papal provenance, preserved in its ceremonial Roman binding executed by the Vatican workshop circa 1566–1572. ¶ EDIT16, no. 3412, for the complete set of 11 volumes – Ugo Rozzo, ‘Pio V e la biblioteca di Bosco Marengo’, in *Pio V e Santa Croce di Bosco*, Alessandria, 1985, pp. 315–340 – Francesco Malaguzzi, ‘Libri e legature per Michele Ghislieri e la Biblioteca di Bosco’, in *Il tempo di Pio V, Pio V nel tempo*, Alessandria, 2006, pp. 287–302 – Baroque Roman Bookbindings, 1565–1700, pl. 2 – Papal Bookbindings, no. 114, pl. LXXXIX – Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, Part V, 10 December 2024, lot 1019 – Graesse, Trésor de livres rares et précieux, I, p. 253, ‘very rare’.
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About the sale Sale of Antique and Modern Books
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Auction time 11/12/2026 at 2:00 PM
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