Pietro Bembo. PETRI BEMBI CARDINALIS VIRI CLARISS. RERUM VENETARUM HISTORIAE LIBRI XII. Paris: Ex officina Michaëlis Vascosani, uia Jacobaea ad insigne Fontis, 1551. Gilt paneled limp vellum with yapp edges, gilt and manuscript title on spine, all edges gilt. 4to; ff. [20], 311, [1] (prelim. leaf 6 and 20 and final leaf blank). Roman type; text in Latin. With woodcut initials and head-pieces, two folding leaves in final gathering. Adams B598.

8 3/4 x 6 3/8 in.

From the Collection of Professor Roberto Severino, Washington, D.C.

Pietro Bembo (Italian, 1470-1547) was an important scholar and poet of the Italian Renaissance. His circle included Raphael, one of the most famous artists of the time. Bembo's portrait in the National Gallery, London, painted by the celebrated Venetian artist Titian, was painted after he became cardinal in the late 1530s.

Bembo's history of Venice was published by the Aldine Press in 1551, the same year as this Latin edition was published in France. This edition, however, has two supplemental folding leaves, one with a table included.

Age wear and discoloration to vellum with small tear at head of spine, minor wormholes; bookplate on front paste-down, endpapers with folds and minor insect damage, ink initials on title page, light to moderate toning throughout with scattered foxing; folding plates lightly toned and foxed, the first with a 3/4-in. tear and the other with (2) small tears; a very good example of this early historical work.