AGOSTÍN, Antonio - Lot 17

AGOSTÍN, Antonio I Discorsi sopra le medaglie et altre anticaglie divisi in XI dialoghi con l'agiunta d'alcune annotatione e molti ritratti di belle e rare medaglie [Rome], [Ascanio & Girolamo Donangeli], [1592] A SUPERB COPY BOUND IN THE PERIOD FOR JACQUES-AUGUSTE DE THOU. IMPORTANT TREATISE ON MEDALS AND INTAGLIOS. BEAUTIFUL PROVENANCES: DE THOU, ROHAN-SOUBISE, DESTAILLEUR, BÉHAGUE AND GALARD DE BÉARN First edition in Italian. In-4 (230 x 165mm) COLLATION, CONTENTS and ILLUSTRATION: 72 engraved plates + A-Z4 2A-G4 a-b4, i.e.: engraved title and verso engraved portrait of the author followed by 70 plates of medals numbered 3-72, A1r: text, a1r Tavola CONTEMPORARY BINDING. Red morocco, gilt decoration, arms in the center of the boards, spine decorated with the monogram combined with the first names ("IAM"), gilt edges. PROVENANCE : Jacques-Auguste de Thou (1553-1617) and his first wife Marie de Barbançon-Cany (died 1601) -- Jean-Jacques Charron, Marquis de Mesnard (1643-1718) -- Armand-Gaston, Cardinal de Rohan (1674-1749), then Charles de Rohan, Prince de Soubise (1715-1787 ; Soubise mark in brown ink on upper cover and inside back cover) -- probably John Hunter, his sale, London, 1805 according to an ink note -- Hippolyte Destailleur (Cat., Paris, 1895, no. 845: "très bel exemplaire") -- comte de Béhague (bookplate) -- comte René de Galard de Béarn de Brassac (armorial bookplate), acquired in his sale -- docteur Henri Polaillon (Paris, July 8, 2020, no. 1) Small burrs on upper cover, top cover slightly rubbed. Antonio Agostín (1516-1586) was archbishop of Tarragona. This "Spanish mentor of the Roman antiquarians" (J. Cotte) wrote this treatise on medals, which was translated throughout Europe, following in the footsteps of Enea Vico. BIBLIOGRAPHY : USTC 808136 (the copy conforms to this collation, as does the Getty Research copy on HathiTrust) -- Edit 16 CNCE 562 -- J. Cotte, "Du trésor au médaillier : le marché des monnaies antiques dans la France du début du XVIIe siècle", Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartes, 1996