The Fables of Aesop. 1. Printed from the Veronese Edition of MCCCCLXXIX in Latin Verses and the Italian Version by Accio Zucco, with the woodcuts newly engraved and coloured after a copy in the British Museum. 2. The First Three Books of Caxton's Aesop Containing the Fables Illustrated in the Verona Aesopus of MCCCCLXXIX.
Verona: Officina Bodoni, 1973. Tall 8vo. Limited edition. #122 of 160 copies. Original oasis green morocco-backed vellum, with geometric decorative border and title in gilt. Top edges gilt, others uncut. Transparent wrappers, together in a brown board slipcase, with morocco tips, and preserved in modern brown cloth folder and another slipcase. Text in Latin, Italian and English. Printed on Magnani mould-made paper with goose watermark (like that of the original edition). List of woodcuts and prospectus loosely inserted. 68 (of which 66 are full page) woodcut illustrations by Anna Bramanti after Liberale da Verona, all hand-coloured after a copy of the 1479 edition in the British Museum by the Atelier Daniel Jacomet of Paris. Fine. Item #8574
'Giovanni Alvise, the third early printer in Verona, was active between 1478 and 1480. With his Aesop he produced one of the most beautiful illustrated books of the fifteenth century. He was also the inventor of the first typographic ornaments, cast like letters in lead and so distinguishing his books from others. Newly cut by Charles Malin, they recur in our edition, whose essential attraction are sixty-eight woodcuts which in a masterly re-cutting by Anna Bramanti illustrate the fables [...]The delightful illustrations which adorn the text were hand-coloured after printing. A copy in the British Museum, which is by far the most beautiful among the few surviving coloured ones, served as the model. Its woodcuts were not merely coloured with a few strong accents in the primitive manner customary in the fifteenth century, but with a rich scale of colours and shadings that remind one of illuminated miniatures. Only a great master can have created the designs for the vivid scenes, and from the outset he must have had colours in mind that would bring the linear woodcuts to life.' Giovanni Mardersteig, The Officina Bodoni (1980) p.173. 'In many respects this work was the culmination of Mardersteig's endeavour during half a century as a printer, art historian, and discoverer.' Hans Schmoller in his Introduction to the above.
From the collection of Eric Sweet (1929-2024) a keen collector of Fable and Private Press books from his youngest years until his 90s, and a lifelong student of the book arts: paper, type, illustration and bookbinding. His career began at Brighton College of Art in the 1950s. He then spent some years in London as a lettering artist and typographer for various advertising agencies before a move to Birmingham where he became head of the Birmingham School of Printing. The folder and outer slipcase are by him.
Price: £5,500.00