The Trajan Inscription

PLINIUS SECUNDUS. Early Flemish panel binding signed by Anthoine de Gavere Epistolarum libri X.- Panegyricus Traiano principi dictus.- De viris illustribus in re militari, & in administranda Rep.- Item SUETONII TRANQUILLI De claris grammaticis & rhetoribus.- JULII OBSEQUENTIS Prodigiorum liber. Indices duo, quorum altero nomina referuntur eorum, ad quos Plinius scribit: altero quicquid memoratu dignum toto opere continetur. Latina interpretatio dictionum & sententiarum Graecarum, quibus Plinius utitur. Basel, per Andream Cratandrum, 1526, March.
Fine sixteenth-century Flemish panel-stamped binding, signed by Anthoine de Gavere. The family De Gavere were bookbinders at Ghent and Bruges between 1450 and 1545. The panel-bindings from Ghent and Bruges are among the most delicately engraved and the most carefully executed of all. According to Weale, Anthoine was active at Ghent from 1459 to 1505, but the archives of Lille contain documents proving that from 1495 to 1505 Anthoine worked at Bruges, not Ghent, and that he was the binder of a large part of the beautiful manuscripts from the library of Philip I, the Handsome, Duke of Burgundy (1478-1506). A binding with similar panels signed by Anthoine de Gavere, and containing another Plinius-edition, also dated 1526, is quoted by Leon Gruel. The present binding has two different panels on both sides, an upper panel with two rows of four animals and the surrounding text "ob laudem xpristi librum hunc recte ligavi anthonius de gavere" (Fogelmark, pl. XII), and a lower panel with two rows of three animals and the surrounding text "sit nomen domini benedictum ..." (not in Fogelmark). According to Fogelmark, not only it was practice among sixteenth-century binders in Flanders to use panels from other binders, probably obtained after their death, but also to copy panels in a process of clichage by pressing a panel die (matrix) into a soft mold (patrix). Although the present binding contains De Gavere's signature, it may be produced by another binder, as the "ob laudem' panel was frequently used in many variants, also by other binders. In any case, this binding is an interesting specimen of early gothic binding in Flanders, contributing to our knowledge of the Flemish binding-practices of this period. Contents: three works by Plinius II, forming the main historical source for Trajan's ill-documented reign: his letters, presenting with considerable charm a richly varied picture of the life of the more cultured Romans under the Empire; his famous rhetorical essay, the Panegyricus to Trajan; and the lives of illustrious men of that period. At the end the biographies of literary men by Suetonius, and Julius Obsequens's work on prodigies are included. The work is nicely produced in a fine italic type.
Fine copy in contemporary binding, with manuscript name J. Dickinson, later inscription dated 1729 on paste-down, and old ms. annotations in the margins.- (Binding restored, clasps gone).
Ad binding: cf. L. Gruel II, 85-87; W.H.J. Weale, Bookbindings and Rubbings of Bindings in the National Art Library South-Kensington Museum R. Devauchelle I, p. 60; S. Fogelmark pp. 86, 88, 126, 151, 171, 178, 185, 218, and plates XI, XXXVII R 81 (variant), and XL R 104; ad Plinius: Adams P 1541; STC German, p. 704; VD 16, P 3485.

8vo. Contemporary blindstamped calf, spine ribbed, each side with two different blindstamped rectangular panels with birds and animals in floral decoration, one signed by Anthoine de Gavere, gilt and gauffered edges. Woodcut printer's device on verso of the last blank and fine decorated woodcut initials in text. (24), 551, (41) pp.

[SW: 16th Century;Classical Antiquity;Bindings]

Details

Catich, Edward M. LETTERS REDRAWN FROM THE TRAJAN INSCRIPTION IN ROME, Davenport Catfish Press (1961)
With a three page introduction by W.A. Dwiggins followed by the text in the calligraphic handwriting of Catich. Catich has based his work on the original Trajan columns in Rome and included short critiques of the sources of these letters. Dwiggins, in his introduction, states that this work "will be a good tool in art schools - and elsewhere - for renovating standards that have become a trifle frayed in these revolutionary years. It will stimulate a return to an understanding of the true function of letters ..." His words still hold true 40 years later. Signed by Catich on first blank page. Bottom of spine of slipcase bumped with hinges cracked for about a half inch.

8vo., cloth. xi, 244 pages. With 93 4to. broadside plates, the two sections enclosed in a cloth bound case specially constructed to hold the two different sized parts.

[SW: none Private Press & Fine Printing CATFISH PRESS Iowa]

Details

Catich, Edward M. LETTERS REDRAWN FROM THE TRAJAN INSCRIPTION IN ROME, Davenport Catfish Press (1961)
With a three page introduction by W.A. Dwiggins followed by the text in the calligraphic handwriting of Catich. Catich has based his work on the original Trajan columns in Rome and included short critiques of the sources of these letters. Dwiggins, in his introduction, states that this work "will be a good tool in art schools - and elsewhere - for renovating standards that have become a trifle frayed in these revolutionary years. It will stimulate a return to an understanding of the true function of letters ..." His words still hold true 40 years later. Signed by Catich. Slipcase cracked along hinges.

8vo., cloth. xi, 244 pages. With 93 4to. broadside plates, the two sections enclosed in a cloth bound case specially constructed to hold the two different sized parts.

[SW: Private Press & Fine Printing CATFISH PRESS Iowa DWIGGINS, WILLIAM ADDISON]

Details

Evetts, L.C. Roman lettering. A Study of the Letters of the Inscription at the Base of the Trajan Colums, with an Outline of the History of Lettering in Britain. London & New York, Pitman & Taplinger. 1979.

88 pp. Wrappers.

[SW: Paleografie Archeologie Geschiedenis, antieke Kalligrafie Schrift Romeinen]

Details