Ian Ehling
Head of Department
Lot 10
ENTRELAC BINDING. LACTANTIUS. C.250-C.325. Des divines institutions contre les Gentils et idolatres. Lyon: Imprimé par Balthazar Arnoullet [pour] Guillaume Gaseau, 1547.
11 December 2020, 10:00 EST
New YorkUS$5,000 - US$8,000
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ENTRELAC BINDING.
LACTANTIUS. C.250-C.325. Des divines institutions contre les Gentils et idolatres. Lyon: Imprimé par Balthazar Arnoullet [pour] Guillaume Gaseau, 1547.
12mo (127 x 89 mm). Title page with large woodcut printer's device; historiated opening initial showing a scholar with a book, and a number of foliated initials throughout. Contemporary French calf in the entrelac style, upper and lower covers with complex strapwork pattern tooled in gilt and painted black and white, the design comprising borders, interlaced squares, and complex scalloped and spade-like panels, with a green-painted oval at the center, the original flat diapered spine with each lozenge enclosing a thick dot (covers and spine remounted in the 19th century), all edges gilt. Early ink inscription on title page, frequent underlining and marginal annotations, paint in the strapwork decoration slightly worn.
The binding is likely to have originated in Lyon, where many of the best entrelac bindings were executed during the reigns of Francis I and Henry II. Partly influenced by Islamic models, entrelac decoration made its way through Italy and into southern France. Examples of this binding style can be found in such major libraries as those owned by Henry II, Catherine de Medici, and Jean Grolier in France; by Marcus Fugger in Germany; and by Thomas Wotton in England. During this time, the use of painted inlays or onlays was considered to be the height of French bibliopegic fashion and one of the most charming manifestations of the elegance of the Renaissance in France.
One of the ablest defenders of the faith in the early centuries of Christianity, Lactantius was a teacher of rhetoric known for his elegant flow of words. His "Divine Institutions" presents the new religion as the most logical of creeds, drawing on the arguments of Stoic philosophy and aimed at an audience of educated pagans. The work was written during the Great Persecution, but references added by Lactantius to Constantine indicate that he lived to see the legalization of Christianity. This first French translation by René Famé, secretary to Francis I, was likely undertaken at the request of that monarch, to whom the work is dedicated. This is probably the second edition, the first having been issued in Paris in 1542. Brunet III, 737; Baudrier X, 118.
12mo (127 x 89 mm). Title page with large woodcut printer's device; historiated opening initial showing a scholar with a book, and a number of foliated initials throughout. Contemporary French calf in the entrelac style, upper and lower covers with complex strapwork pattern tooled in gilt and painted black and white, the design comprising borders, interlaced squares, and complex scalloped and spade-like panels, with a green-painted oval at the center, the original flat diapered spine with each lozenge enclosing a thick dot (covers and spine remounted in the 19th century), all edges gilt. Early ink inscription on title page, frequent underlining and marginal annotations, paint in the strapwork decoration slightly worn.
The binding is likely to have originated in Lyon, where many of the best entrelac bindings were executed during the reigns of Francis I and Henry II. Partly influenced by Islamic models, entrelac decoration made its way through Italy and into southern France. Examples of this binding style can be found in such major libraries as those owned by Henry II, Catherine de Medici, and Jean Grolier in France; by Marcus Fugger in Germany; and by Thomas Wotton in England. During this time, the use of painted inlays or onlays was considered to be the height of French bibliopegic fashion and one of the most charming manifestations of the elegance of the Renaissance in France.
One of the ablest defenders of the faith in the early centuries of Christianity, Lactantius was a teacher of rhetoric known for his elegant flow of words. His "Divine Institutions" presents the new religion as the most logical of creeds, drawing on the arguments of Stoic philosophy and aimed at an audience of educated pagans. The work was written during the Great Persecution, but references added by Lactantius to Constantine indicate that he lived to see the legalization of Christianity. This first French translation by René Famé, secretary to Francis I, was likely undertaken at the request of that monarch, to whom the work is dedicated. This is probably the second edition, the first having been issued in Paris in 1542. Brunet III, 737; Baudrier X, 118.