Juvenal; Giovanni Britannico; Josse Badius

[Satyrae.] Iu. Iuvenalis Aquinatis satyrographi opus

      Bernardinum de Bindonis Venice Bernardinum de Bindonis 1539 Reference: Renouard, Badius, II, 542, 15; Schweiger Latin I, 503; Folio (32 cm); [6], CLXII leaves;15 woodcut illustrations in text. Title page printed in red and black, with title framed within elaborately illustrated border. Remains of extensively decorated and inscribed endleaves, as described below. Bound in recent one-quarter tooled leather over wooden boards in period style, with leather and brass clasps. One clasp missing; lower board stained, with one corner chipped. Some worming, mostly marginal and rarely affecting text. Occasional ink stains, some of them significant. Occasional staining, especially in first signature. Few leaves browned. A Venice edition of the Satires of Juvenal, utilizing the text established by Giovanni Britannico at the beginning of the century. The two remaining endleaves of this illustrated Renaissance edition of Juvenal reveal a remarkable trajectory of ownership. Above a color sketch of a crest framed by grotesque figures, one owner inscribed "io Federico addi' 20 jugno 1567 comprai questo da un Hebreo" (I Federico, on June 20, 1567, bought this from a Jew). A different hand, on the last blank, inscribed a sycophantic paean in Latin to Paul IV (Pope from 1555-1559), ironically the very pope who instituted the Jewish ghetto in Rome, along with decrees that Jews must wear distinguishing yellow hats and shawls. The second inscription is decorated with a roughly-drawn capital I featuring a human face and a rampant cat. Still other inscriptions identify the source of the crest ("Evander Rampinus faciebat haec insignia"); and, despite Paul IV, who instituted the Index of Prohibited Books, another inscription echoes Juvenal's rage against censorship ("il pennello e a pugnare," the pen is for fighting). In all, the fly-leaves show a juxtaposition of crested nobles, ghettoed Jews, and intolerant clergy around an illustrated classical text produced at the height of the Italian Renaissance. Also reprints the 1498 preface to Juvenal by Badius Ascensius.