Libri V. de Asse et partibus ejus.. This item is unavailable.Libri V. de Asse et partibus ejus.

Size of binding: 5 1/4 inches x 8 1/2 inches, leaf size: 5 inches x 8 1/8 inches. [12] ils. 262 (260 ils.), 2 lls. Leaf 158 is numbered: 158, 159, 160. (12 preliminary unnumbered leaves, 262 numbered leaves, 2 unnumbered leaves including printer's page.) Printed in italics, Aldus' device on the title and last leaf. A fairly wide-margined copy, with some faded glosses identifying the subject matter of the text. Initial spaces with printed guides. Attractively bound in full vellum, in antique style, by Bayntun-Riviere, with their stamp at the lower edge of the back paste-down. With gilt Aldine anchor & dolphin design on the front cover, on the title page, and on the reverse of the printer's page; and gilt-lettered spine, reading: Budaeus De Asse Aldus 1522. Sewn headbands. Latin text with some passages in Greek. Title page and a few preliminaries display light, scattered age-spotting. Otherwise, a beautiful book, beautifully bound. A treatise on Roman coinage, weights and measures written by the humanist, Guillaume Bude. This is the work that made Bude famous: it was an essay on ancient Roman measures, but included a plea for humanistic studies to accompany study of the Bible and theology. Similar pleas were being made at the time by Erasmus and Thomas More, with whom Bude corresponded. Jean Grolier (1479-1565) a noted bibliophile, obtained a copy of the De Asse & Partibus Eius in Latin and sent it to Francesco Asulo, an associate of the famous printer Aldus with a letter detailing how he wanted it to be printed and published. This book is one of the rare Aldine printings. Loosely inserted is a two-page typed translation into English by a modern Renaissance scholar of the letter sent by Grolier to Asulo, in which Grolier expresses his desire "that beauty and elegance be added to it which choice paper, clearness of type, and those least worn, and ample margins" be provided. Renouard, p. 94, NO. 3. Brunet, Vol. 1., 1374.…