VASARI (Giorgio). - Lot 144

VASARI (Giorgio). Le Vite de' più Eccelenti Pittori, Scultori et Architetti. Bologna, Héritiers Evangelista Dozza, 1647. 3 volumes in-4, stiff vellum, gilt title on spine, blue edges (Binding of the period). Illustrated second edition of the famous founding text of art history by Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), originally published in Florence in 1550. The first illustrated edition dates from 1568. A copper-engraved frontispiece by Cornelis Bloemaert after Giovanni Angelo Canini and around 150 woodcut portraits of artists in the text in ornamented cartouches. Each volume bears a small rating label and the armorial bookplate of the Earl Ferrers Library, engraved by Warwick with the motto Honor Virtutis Premium. The first six leaves of volume II are slightly dislocated. Marginal staining of some leaves and browning of some quires. Small restoration at the bottom of the dedication leaf in Volume I. Rubbing to binding, spine tarnished.