BEMBO, Pietro Venetarum historiae libri XII Paris, ex officina Michaelis Vascosani, 1551
Second edition – the first was printed at the Aldine press in the same year – of Bembo’s magisterial history of Venice from 1487 to 1513, the year he was appointed Leo X’s secretary, based partly on his own experiences and partly on Sanudo’s diaries. The two folding leaves which do not appear in all copies contain a text by Joannes Boschaeus, comprising a brief description of the method of administration of the Republic, an epitome of the legal system, and finally a list of the Doges up to 1539, with their dates and the duration of their reigns. The second of the two leaves (which are obviously by the same printer) is signed and dated Vascosan, 1539, which would correspond with the text as the last doge there mentioned, Pietro Landi, was elected in that year. They do not seem to have been issued with an earlier work and are naturally not to be found in the Aldine edition.Adams B598; Cicogna 569 (note); NUC locates only the copy at the Folger Library: RLIN adds Chicago and OCLC UCLA
4to. 331ff. (of 332, lacks f.6 blank). With the 2 folding leaves in the first quire, in eighteenth century calf, rebacked, corners rubbed, gilt edges.
£850
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