P. Virgilii Maronis Georgica P Rami eloquentiae et philosophiae regii praelectionibus illustrata ad carolum lotaringum cardinalem Virgil

P. Virgilii Maronis Georgica P Rami eloquentiae et philosophiae regii praelectionibus illustrata ad carolum lotaringum cardinalem (Virgil's Georgics, with the branches of eloquence and philosophy illustrated by royal lectures to Cardinal Charles of Lorraine) ***VERY SCARCE In Commerce: No other copy listed for sale, and in contemporary (possibly original) mid-16th century French full calf binding.*** RECENT PROVENANCE: From the Virgil Collection of Craig Kallendorf (1954-2023), who owned the largest private collection of Virgil works (1,1150 editions, not including Incunable books) in the world. Only a handful of prominent institutions like the British Library had larger collections. 89 of the books in his collection were the only known surviving copies, 71 only had one other known copy. He worked closely with Princeton University in helping to assemble, supplement and catalog its Junius Spencer Morgan Virgil collection. Craig Kallendorf was Professor of English and Classics at Texas A&M University. ABOUT THIS EDITION: Published in 1556 by Apud Andream Wechelum in Paris. Latin text. Virgil's Georgics in italics with extensive commentary, analysis and interpretation that were provided in a series of royal lectures to the newly appointed Cardinal Charles of Lorraine. Bound in its contemporary--possibly original--exceedingly scarce 16th century fine full-calf French binding: single gold-tooled fillet paneling to each cover with a large, centered symmetrical gold tooled fleuron; six compartments with a gilded fleuron divided by five raised spine bands. Octavo, 7" x 4.5", [2], 11-367, [1]. Vignette chapter headers and illustrated initials. Printer device vignette on title page and verso of final leaf. Collated and complete. Note: all complete editions have extensive erroneous numeration and all starting with page 11 versus page 1. ABOUT THE COMMENTARY Charles de Lorraine (February 1524 - December 1574), Duke of Chevreuse, was a French Cardinal (appointed by Pope Paul III in 1547), a member of the powerful House of Guise. He was known at first as the Cardinal of Guise, and then as the second Cardinal of Lorraine, after the death of his uncle, Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine (1550). He was the protector of François Rabelais and Pierre de Ronsard and founded Reims University. He is sometimes known as the Cardinal de Lorraine. CONDITION REPORT: Bound in contemporary mid-16th century full calf binding with all its original interior pages intact - endpapers, blanks and text (an exciting find!). Collated and complete. Rebacked with sympathetic leather with the original spine laid down and some discreet, beautiful professional restoration work to the spine, edges and corners. A few leaves with professional margin repair and paper restoration. Square spine, firm hinges and joints, tight pages, sharp corners. Numerous pagination errors (as found in every copy) by the printer. A few areas of 16th-17th century marginalia where the Latin word choice and spelling were corrected and sometimes underlined/crossed out. Multiple leaves with water dampening to the foot of the fore-edge corner area. Some toning to margins. Signs of handling, mostly along the wide margins - smudges and some ink stains, creasing. Most of the text block itself is bright, white and clean. Grubby, nearly 470-year-old endpapers with more modern prior owner French writing in pencil on the endpapers. FFEP affixed with the ex libris sticker "from the Virgil collection of Craig W. Kallendorf." A beautiful survivor of a scarce edition in its contemporary binding. Collated and compete. A copy for lovers of Virgil, ancient classics, bibliophiles, and collectors of works in their original or contemporary bindings.