VOLPI, Gaetano
ONLY 200 COPIES
La libreria de’ Volpi e la Stamperia Cominiana
Padua, Guiseppe Comino, 1756£750.00
FIRST EDITION, RARE. 8vo, pp. xiv, (ii), 592, (iv); xxiv; (xii), including additions. Head and tailpieces, decorative initials, t.p. Comino device and Volpi arms at end, all edges uncut. A very good copy on thick large paper of this rare and important catalogue, in reused quarter vellum over contemporary carta rustica. Main text followed by a catalogue of books currently for sale from the Comino press, modern typed partial index compiled by Hobson at end. Armorial bookplate of celebrated bibliographer Anthony Hobson ffep.
The Comino Press in Padua was founded in 1717 by Giannantonio (1686-1766) and Gaetano (1689-1761) Volpi, scholarly writers, editors and bibliophiles. Guiseppe Comino (d.1762), a learned typographer and editor, was put in charge of the press. The Volpi brothers underwrote the press, selected and edited the texts to be printed, and provided many of its editions with commentaries and notes; after they retired in 1756, the renown of the Comino press never again attained its earlier heights. The catalogue was compiled by Gaetano Volpi and lists the private collection of the two brothers, replete with scholarly descriptions and extensive footnotes. It is accompanied by two appendices, the first listing the books belonging solely to Gaetano’s brother Giannantonio, and the second listing those belonging solely to Gaetano himself.
The complete catalogue of the Vulpiorum Bibliothecæ Domesticæ is then followed by a list of all the Comino Press editions to date. This copy is supplemented by a short catalogue of books currently for sale at the Comino Press, as well as a modern typed partial index of the whole catalogue, inserted at the end.
‘Very rare’ Bigmore and Wyman III, 54; ‘ouvrage curieux’ Brunet V, 1351; ‘Volume curieux, et fort rare’ Peignot 131-32