VALLA (Lorenzo) Lot n° 8

Historiarum Ferdinandi, Regis Aragoniae : libri treis. Paris, Simon de Colines, 1521. In-4, green half-maroquin with long grain, smooth spine decorated with grotesque (Modern binding in the old taste). Renouard, p. 27. Second edition, the first having appeared in Rome in 1520. The history of Ferdinand I of Aragon, due to Lorenzo Valla (1407-1457), is considered an important source of the Spanish romancero: the character of Ferdinand I, the social and political events described therein, and, in a particular way, the campaigns against the Moors, have fructified in the series of "romances" that embellished the first pages of the Spanish national literature (S. Lopez Moreda, introduction to the Historia de Fernando de Aragon, 2002 edition). This edition was published by the Albigensian humanist Pierre Gilles (1490-1556). Close to the cardinal of Armagnac, he frequented Lazare de Baïf, André Thevet, Conrad Gesner, Guillaume Postel, and Guillaume Budé, and was commissioned by François I to bring back ancient Byzantine manuscripts from the East (see Coralie Miachon, "Les œuvres d'un humaniste : Pierre Gilles d'Albi, amoureux du savoir" in Annales du Midi, 2008). Typographical mark with rabbits on the title. Numerous handwritten annotations from the 16th century. Old mention on the title: Deo non hominibus. Lespaignol. Light staining on a few leaves.