1573 PRINTING OF CICERO’S LETTERS IN A WILLIAMSON OF ETON BINDING WITH CROWNED FALCON EMBLEM, PREVIOUSLY BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN OWNED BY ELIZABETH I

CICERO, Marcus Tullius. Epistolarum ad Atticum, Libri XVI. Eiusdem Epistolarum ad Q. Fratrem, Libri III. Paris: Jacques Dupuys, 1573. Octavo, contemporary full brown calf gilt, covers stamped in gilt with falcon device, red morocco spine label. $9500.

Sixteenth-century printing of Cicero’s letters in a very early 17th-century English calf binding gilt-stamped on the front and back covers with the crowned falcon device used by Anne Boleyn. For over a century this copy was believed to have been from the personal library of her daughter, Queen Elizabeth I, and its distinguished provenance includes the great libraries of Lord Amherst of Hackney and Mortimer L. Schiff. This is currently thought to be a trade binding by Vincent Williamson of Eton, who frequently used a crowned falcon stamp.

It was long assumed by many experts, booksellers, auction houses, and collectors that English bindings from this period containing the crowned falcon device were from Elizabeth I's personal library, suggested in part by standard reference works on bookbinding from the early 20th century such as Cyril Davenport's English Heraldic Book-Stamps. In fact, when the catalogue of Lord Amherst's book collection was published in 1906, this copy of Cicero (item 789) was described as "From the library of Queen Elizabeth, having stamped on the sides her maternal device, adopted by Anne Boleyn after her daughter's birth in 1533" (De Ricci, A Hand-List of a Collection of Books and Manuscripts belonging to The Right Hon. Lord Amherst of Hackney). However, without documented evidence of royal provenance, books from this period in plain calf bindings with the crowned falcon badge are now assumed to be trade bindings and not royal ones.

This copy was likely bound by Vincent Williamson of Eton, and it matches characteristics of other Williamson bindings with the crowned falcon stamp, including a 1540 edition of Cicero's letters in the possession of the Royal Collection Trust. "Full leather bound in brown calf, with blind and gold tooling. On each board is stamped a crowned falcon with sceptre on stump with bunch of flowers, one of the badges of Queen Elizabeth I. The crowned falcon tool is one of several versions used by various trade binders c.1600, including Vincent Williamson of Eton, who is also known for binding in plain calf with a very distinctive three line fillet round the edges of the covers, with one of the lines tooled in gold with a small stamp marking the intersection of the fillets, as seen here." (They also note in the provenance that their copy was "historically believed to have been owned by Elizabeth I before her ascension to the throne.")

This work is a 1573 Paris printing of Cicero's philosophical and political letters to his friend Atticus, along with his letters to his brother Quintus. Cicero's letters were particularly influential in introducing the art of refined letter writing to European culture during the Renaissance. Text in Latin, printed in italic. Davenport, Royal English Bookbindings, 52-53; English Heraldic Book-Stamps, 159-60. Fletcher, English Bookbindings in the British Museum , plate 24.
From the collections of Lord Amherst of Hackney, described in the 1906 catalogue of his library as it went to sale (a copy of the catalogue is included with the book); also of banker and renowned art, furniture and book collector Mortimer L. Schiff, with his morocco bookplate, sold by his son in 1938.

Interior fine. Joints expertly repaired, minor restoration to extremities of contemporary calf gilt binding. A beautiful volume with fascinating provenance.