PAGANI (Antonio).

The discourse of saving and frutal penance. - Il discorso universale della sacra legge canonica. Venice, Bolognino Zaltieri, 1570. 2 works in one volume in-4, red morocco, large irons with foliated circles in border, central rectangle decorated with painted coat of arms on a background of large curved irons with foliated circles and small circles, spine decorated with the same circled roulette (Roman binding of the time). 2 very beautiful copper engraved titles decorated with large scrolls, and a curious full page copper engraving dated 1570 symbolizing the duplicity of man torn between Jesus and the Devil. BEAUTIFUL ROMAN BINDING WITH PAINTED COAT OF ARMS, ATTRIBUTABLE TO A VATICAN WORKSHOP. It is decorated with an interesting mix of circles in the roman style, and a nice composition with large curved and leafy irons in the venetian style. The similarity of some of the irons (the curved leafy irons and the small horseshoe-shaped iron in particular) with those of a Roman binding by Niccolo Franzese, the Vatican's official bookbinder from 1537 to his death in 1571, reproduced by Needham in Twelve Centuries of Bookbindings under no. 51, should be noted. Contemporary in its decorative elements to the pontificates of Pius IV (1559-1565) and Gregory XIII (1572-1585), this richly armorial binding is thus strictly contemporary to the edition it covers. The coat of arms, which has yet to be identified, could belong to a dignitary close to the Papacy. From the Miribel library, with ex-libris (1993, n°97). The first 4 leaves of the text very faded, light wetness on about fifty pages. Hinges, covers and corners skilfully restored.