Beschreibung:

Lafreri, Antonio. An album containing two architectural works and eight suites of plates of antique subjects by Enea Vico and others, 1535-1562, and assembled in Rome by Lafreri in around 1562, comprising:
Vignola, Jacopo Barozzi da. Regola delli cinque ordini d'architettura di M. Iacomo Barozzio da Vignola. [Rome, 1562]
Labacco, Antonio. Libro d'Antonio Labacco appartenente a l'architettura nel qual si figurano alcune notabili antiquita di Roma. Rome: [Antonio Blado], 1559
Monogrammists P.S. and G.A. with a caltrop. [Libro di cornice, capitelli & basi cavato dalle vestigie de gli antichi]. [Rome: Antoine Lafréry?], 1535-1537 [but printed later]
Vico, Enea. [Libro de fresi et fogliami]. [Rome: Antonio Lafreri, ca 1550]
[Grotesques]. Leviores et (ut videtur) extemporaneae picturae quas grotteschas vulgo vocant quibus Romani illi antiqui ad triclinia atque secretiora aedium loca exornanda utebantur e pluribus concamerationibus parietibusque antiquis variae desuptae ac summa fide diligentiaque in unum redactae. [Rome: Antonio Lafreri, ca 1544 or later]
[Trophies]. [Libro de trofei cavati da dissegni di Polidoro, ad imitazione de gli antichi]. [Rome]: Antonio Lafreri, 1550-1553
[Cartouches]. [Libro di diversi compartimenti]. [Rome: Antonio Lafreri? ca 1550]
[Masks]. [Libro de maschere]. [Rome: Antonio Lafreri? ca 1550]
Vico, Enea. Sic Romae antiqui sculptores ex aere et marmore faciebant. Rome: [Antonio Lafreri], 1543
[Vases]. [Libro de vasi et candelieri]. [Rome: Antonio Lafreri?], 1552
A rare survival of a contemporary collection of Lafreri prints of architecture and other antiquarian subjects, still in its original assemblage with sheets of blue and white paper marking the breaks between sections of prints. Not many of these volumes survive as they have been broken up over the years by both collectors and dealers, through changes in collecting taste and economic worth.
Lafreri was one of the pre-eminent producers of prints and atlases in sixteenth-century Rome, and in around 1573, towards the end of his life, he produced a catalogue of the prints available at his shop for purchase. These comprised maps, architectural views, religious scenes, portraits, natural history and anatomical prints, and, as here, Roman antiquities and architectural ornament. It is likely that sets of prints were printed and bound to order, resulting in differing impressions within a single suite, and also with some remargining of leaves (visible in this volume) to regularise the size of each leaf.
The entries 493-499 and 502-503 in Lafreri's catalogue include almost all of the items in this particular volume, starting with Vignola and Labacco and ending with the vases and candelabras. The set of grotesques (Leviores...) was original created by Enea Vico and printed by Barlacchi in Rome in 1541-1542, then copied by Lafreri. The decorations, designed to represent Roman dining rooms, contain details that were subsequently used by Roman bookbinders as well as more traditional artists for room decoration.
Rare first edition (second issue) of Vignola's architectural work, which appeared in numerous versions and variations in subsequent years with increasing numbers of plates (for the 1665 edition, see lot 638). This copy contains just 32 plates, and is identified as the second issue because of the number of lines at the foot of plate III.
10 works in one volume, folio (410 x 268 mm), with divisional sheets of blue then white paper inserted between each section. Vignola: 32 engraved plates including engraved title-page, engraved privilege, engraved dedication, and 29 architectural engraved plates. Labacco: 37 leaves. Engraved title-page, 3 letterpress preliminary leaves (colophon in roman type, privileges in italic type), 28 engravings (some double-page, plan of Ostia on three sheets, a few plates printed shakily), letterpress text leaf about the plan of Ostia (with 50 lines of text) bound after the plan. Cornices: 15 engraved plates, mostly with two images to a sheet. Fresi: 8 engraved plates. Leviores: 16 (of 20 or 24?) engraved plates (a few remargined). Trophies: 15 engraved plates (some remargined). Cartouches: 7 engraved plates, mostly with two to a sheet (one sheet damaged at foredge). Masks: 6 engraved plates with 3 or 4 masks to a sheet. Vico 1543: 14 engraved plates. Vases: 4 engraved plates. (Occasional light staining or creasing, particularly in first work and in last few plates, pages somewhat frayed and soiled at start of volume, first title-page with strip excised at head.)
binding: Old limp vellum (400 x 267 mm), assembled from two separate pieces of vellum overlapping on spine, canvas spine liner, stubs from two pairs of ties in upper cover only. In modern drop-backed folding box. (Binding somewhat shrivelled, creased and soiled, flyleaves torn; seemingly a later binding but not resewn.)
provenance: Miklós Pázmány de Panasz (1623-1662), inscription on first title dated 1651 (nephew of Cardinal Péter Pázmány de Panasz, archbishop of Esztergom, 1570-1637) — Joseph Switil (or Svitil, a Bohemian stage designer, died 1809 in Vienna), inscription on first title dated 1809 — [Marlborough Rare Books, sold in 1980 to] — Arthur and Charlotte Vershbow, bookplate, sale, Christie's, New York, 9 April 2013, lot 45. acquisition: Purchased at the preceding sale. references: Vignola: Edit16 64068; this edition not in BAL RIBA or Fowler; Labacco: Fowler 166 issue (a); cf. Mortimer, Harvard Italian 245 (fifth edition of 1559)