Francesco Griffo da Bologna | Fragments and Glimpses; A new account of the life & work of the man who cut types for Aldus Manutius, Francesco Griffo da Bologna, told through a collection of fragments and glimpses assembled from a variety of sources, with a leaf from the Aldine edition of Ovid’s Heroidvm Epistolae set in Griffo’s first italic type
[Vancouver]: Heavenly Monkey, 2020 [in roman numerals]. Octavo, 23.3 x 15.9 cm. Cased in blue paper over boards with a dark blue cloth spinestrip. The covering paper was decorated with a silver metallic finish. Matching paper label, lettered in silver, to the spine. The self-ends are decorated with a metallic finish. pp. [16, including self-ends] 9 - 112 [pp. 65-66 are on a fold-out leaf sewn into the text block; plus 10, including self-ends]. A fine copy. The text was set in Bembo, and printed damp on Arches Wove. Included is a leaf from the second of three volumes of the Aldine edition of Ovid’s works (1502-1503). It was mounted on a fold-out leaf, which was sewn into the text-block. From a total edition of 50 numbered copies issued for sale. An additional eight copies were produced hors commerce. The present copy is number 31. It is one of 30 copies, bound at HM, comprising the regular state. (This Monkey’s Gone to Heaven, 1.41). Item #388
“The set [the three volumes comprising Aldus’ Ovid], as Firmin-Didot states, is highly esteemed for the care Aldus took to present the most authoritative texts possible. Henri Estienne declared the Aldine Ovid preferable to that of the later editions and even superior to that of all the other poets published by Aldus, and chastised ‘the ignorant and presumptuous publishers, who disfigure Ovid, instead of copying the excellent edition of Aldus.’ Renouard shared this high opinion, adding that the second volume is the most rare of the three due to the inclusion of the libri Amatori, which were either overly popular with young people, or excised by their prudish guardians (perhaps this was the first outrage that led to the breaking of the copy that supplied these leaves?).
The first volume, which contained Metamorphoses, a biography of Ovid written by Aldus, and a Greek-Latin glossary, is notable for also including the privilege granted by the Venetian senate, giving Aldus exclusive permission to publish books printed with Greek and Latin types ‘so ingeniously worked out and composed that they seem written by pen,’ thus causing the rift with Griffo.” — HM.
Price: $900.00