Catalogue de la Bibliotheque de Feu M. Benedetto Maglione de Naples.
Paris and Rome: EM Paul, L. Huard et Guillemin and I. Rossi, 1894. Item #66
Two parts in one volume. 8vo. 237 x 152 mm. (9 1/4 x 6 1/4 inches). ii, 315, [1] pp.; [2], 308 pp. Late 19th century half vellum over decorated paper boards, edges rubbed but a sound, tight copy; a few of the text leaves are uniformly brown and some scattered foxing, mostly on the final leaves; marked throughout with pencil marks and notations, probably by Massimo Perlini.
Only Edition. The collection of over 2700 lots was sold over 12 days in the summer of 1894. Maglioni's collection is considered one of the most important libraries built in Italy in the 19th century as it contains many of the earliest printed editions of the works of Dante, Boccaccio, Bembo, Boiardo, Ariosto and many other Italian and French writers working in the 15th- and 16th-centuries. In a biographical note written by Tammaro De Marinis for the Enciclopedia Italiani (1934) he writes that "his library was rich in precious early editions of Italian literature, poetry and novels of chivalry, and sold at auction in Paris in 1894" (my translation). Many of the rarest books were purchased by the Ferrarese collector Giuseppe Cavalieri and appear in his auction catalogue of 1908. Much of the remainder was purchased by Bernard Quaritch and appears in their Catalogue 140, A catalogue of Italian literature, art, archaeology and history, issued in April of 1894.
The catalogue contains full descriptions and almost every lot is highlighted with scholarly annotations and notes on the edition or the binding. Maglione also collected Medieval and Renaissance ceramics, glass, and paintings and had a particularly fine collection of manuscript music that is now part of the collection of the Library at S. Pietro e Maiella in Naples.
It is thought that this copy is from the collection of the Arezzo bookseller Massimo Perlini, with his marks throughout rating the quality of many titles on a scale of 1 to 5
G. Ottino and G. Fumagalli, Bibliotheca Bibliographica Italica, 6225. Tommaro De Marinis, Enciclopedia Italiani (Online, 1934). (66).
Price: $750.00