Facta et dicta memorabilia

Folio of 198 ll. printed on vellum. 30 lines per page, Gothic type (a-c 10, d 12, e 10, f 12, g-i 10, k 12+1, l-n 10, o 8, p 10, q 10+1, rs 10, t 12; lower margin of the last leaf with the mark restored without any loss of text). Complete. Brown morocco, compartmented fillets, ornamentation, gilt edges. English binding circa 1840.

285 x 195 mm.

Valerius Maximus. Facta et dicta memorabilia. [Les Faits et Dits de Valère Maxime].

Mainz, Peter Schoeffer, 14 juin 1471.

Folio of 198 ll. printed on vellum. 30 lines per page, Gothic type (a-c 10, d 12, e 10, f 12, g-i 10, k 12+1, l-n 10, o 8, p 10, q 10+1, rs 10, t 12; lower margin of the last leaf with the mark restored without any loss of text). Complete. Brown morocco, compartmented fillets, ornamentation, gilt edges. English binding circa 1840.

285 x 195 mm.

« The first edition with the date. ‘Illuminated) copy printed on vellum » (Catalogue des Livres Précieux de M. A. Firmin-Didot. Juin 1878, n°713.

First incunabulum edition printed by Peter Schoeffer of Valerius Maximus’s *Memorable Deeds and Sayings*, a bestseller of the Middle Ages; the second edition following the one published the previous year in Strasbourg by Mentelin (Brunet, V, 833).

The author drew his work from the most famous accounts of Latin and Greek historians. The various themes cover vices and virtues, public and private institutions, religion, the homeland, and the family, and aim to present the reader with examples of life drawn from a rich repertoire of anecdotes that allowed the work to enjoy extraordinary popularity in the Middle Ages and even into the 16th century.

A magnificent print on vellum, thanks to the talent of Peter Schoeffer, a copyist and calligrapher who began his career as a printer under Johannes Gutenberg and founded a renowned printing house in Mainz, where he continued to produce works until his death in 1502.

Between 1457 and 1503, Peter Schoeffer, aside from pamphlets and religious texts, printed only nine books in runs of approximately 250 copies, including a few deluxe first-edition copies illuminated on vellum, such as this one.

The Gesamtkatalog lists only six other copies of the Valerius Maximus and a fragment of this vellum edition.

Provenance: Ambroise Firmin-Didot (1790–1876), bookplate dated 1850, Paris, June 5–6, 1878, lot 713; Baron Horace de Landau (1824–1908), bookplate with coat of arms, June 13, 1948, lot 118; Frederick, 2nd Lord Hesketh, with bookplate.

This illuminated copy on vellum has always attracted strong bidding.

It sold for 3,097 gold francs at the Firmin Didot auction (Paris, June 5–6, 1878) – Lot 713.

H 15774 ; GW M 49160 ; BMC i27 ; Goff v, 23 ; Alston p 171 ; Van Praet, Velins du Roi, 476.