TOSTATUS (TOSTADO DE MADRIGAL), Alfonso.
Super Leviticum in sensu litterali nova et hactenus abscondita a se edita commentaria.
(Colophon: Venice, Petrus Liechtenstein, 1529). With title-page printed in red and black with a large woodcut containing the coats of arms of the Emperor Charles V (Charles I of Spain) and two bishops (the author and perhaps a relative), leaf 2 with a woodcut of the author writing at his desk, with his arms, and a woodcut initial with the other bishop's arms inside the letter, the arms in the initial and some lines of text printed in red. Printed in two columns.
With: (2) TOSTATUS, Alfonso. Opus super Deuteronomium.
(Colophon: Venice, Petrus Liechtenstein, 1528). With title-page printed in red and black, leaf 1 with a woodcut of the author writing at his desk, with his arms (not the same woodcut as in ad 1), and a woodcut initial with the other bishop's arms as in ad 1. Printed in two columns. 2 works in 1 volume. Folio. Contemporary blind- and gold-tooled tanned sheepskin over wooden boards; each board in a panel design with 2 (on the back board 3) different vine rolls, rules, and on the front board a central medaillon depicting Bathsheba kneeling before King David playing his harp, and a half dozen separate stamps, with author and title at the head, "Thostati Super Leviti et Deuteronomy" and the binding date MDXXXII (1532); blind-tooled spine, remnants of brass anchor plates on the back board (for straps?), catch plates on the front board lacking. 249, [1 blank]; [1], 120 ll.
€ 35,000
Splendid humanist medallion binding made in Krakow by Stanislaus, called the "Master of the Medallion", containing two early Venetian editions of biblical commentaries on Leviticus and Deuteronomy by the Spanish theologian Alfonso Tostatus (1400-1455), part of his collected works (Opera omnia).
Stanislaus made this binding for the humanist and theologian Joannes de Lwow (1482-1535), professor of theology at the University of Krakow. His owner's inscription, "Joannis de Leopoli" is written above the woodcut on the title-page of the first work. Lwow, once part of Poland, is now Lviv (Lemberg) in Ukraine. The binding is similar to those described in the section on Stanslaus in Poolse boekbindkunst 1400-1800 (see references), and is clearly a companion to that catalogue's no. 71. The binding with hinges and head and foot of the spine restored; some scratches and chafing; much of the gilding gone; ad 1: ll. 1-123 with a wormhole in the blank space between the columns, slightly affecting the woodcut on the title-page; overall some marginal soiling. Two Venetian biblical commentaries in a splendid contemporary Krakow medallion binding. For the binding: Poolse boekbindkunst 1400-1800 uit de Jagiellonski Bibliotheek, Krakow, nos. 67-71.
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