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LEO CADOGAN RARE BOOKS
LEO CADOGAN RARE BOOKS
JUDGING PONTIUS PILATE

JUDGING PONTIUS PILATE

£7,000.00 - £7,000.00
£7,000.00
£7,000.00 - £7,000.00
£7,000.00

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[Montalto, Ludovico]: Tractatus reprobationis sententiae Pilati. Paris [Johannes Higman and Wolfgang Hopyl], for E. and G. de Marnef, 4 March 1493.

This first edition of Tractatus reprobationis sententiae Pilate—the earliest known legal study of Jesus’s trial before Pontius Pilate—was owned by notable 18th-century French bibliophiles. The author, Ludovico Montalto (d. c.1528), was a jurist, patron of the arts, and an important Neopolitan bureaucrat. 

Details

Printed. One volume, quarto, 19 x 13 cms in binding, ff. [62]. Collation: a-c8 d14 e-g8 (includes final blank). Printer’s device (Renouard, Marques, no. 711). Types 100 GB (title) and 76 G (text). 40 long lines to the page, marginal paratext throughout. Unrubricated.

Bound in red goatskin over boards, triple fillet frame tooled in gilt to both covers, gold-tooled sides and dentelles, goldtooled decoration and vertical lettering to flat spine. All edges gilt, green marbled endpapers. Quite possibly bound for the Duc de la Vallière, known for bindings in this style.

Condition (textblock): light browning and foxing, a small water stain in gutter at beginning and end, one folio folded in at outer margin at time of binding to preserve printed paratext. Condition (binding): leather professionally treated with conservation polish in 2024 to stabilise historic addition of extra colour. Underneath the bookplate, another was removed in the 18th century.

Provenance: formerly owned by Pierre-Jacques Sépher (1710-1781). and Alexis-Ferreol Perrin de Sanson (1733-1820). Perhaps also owned by Louis-César de La Baume Le Blanc de La Vallière (1708-1790). 

Bibliography: ISTC im00821000. BMC VIII 134. BodInc M-309. GW M25300. 17 copies worldwide, 4 of which in North America (Bridwell Library, Huntington Library, Library of Congress, Newberry Library). 
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