Vita di Benvenuto Cellini Orefice e Scultore Fiorentino da lui Medesimo Scritta…
CELLINI, Benvenuto.
Vita di Benvenuto Cellini Orefice e Scultore Fiorentino da lui Medesimo Scritta…
4to. (244 x 175 mm). Title printed in red and black, woodcut device to title. Small early repaired tear to title affecting three words, a little worming to first quire affecting a few words of text, pencil marginalia in neat late 19th-century English hand, occasional isolated wormholes to margin, small faint dampstain to lower margin and occasionally higher on a few leaves, lightly touching text, occasional very minor scattered staining, heavier at end, with possible traces of a little mould, but otherwise a very good copy. Mid-19th-century English speckled sheep, a little scuffed, covers double-ruled in gilt, spine in compartments with red title label gilt, corners bumped, skilfully rebacked to style, headbands renewed. Provenance: R. S. Wyatt, mss inscription to title, dated 1834.
THE RARE TRUE FIRST EDITION. Published under a false imprint under the editorship of Antonio Cocci, there was also a pirated edition in 1792 in Florence, following the second edition in 1791. Originally written between 1558 and 1566, the Autobiography was never published in Cellini’s lifetime, partly due to his descriptions of his disagreements with Cosimo de Medici.
Cellini was a truly gifted goldsmith and sculptor who worked for, among others, the Pope, François I of France, and Cosimo de Medici. One of his finest and most famous works is the so-called Salt Cellar he made for François I, which is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (when it hasn’t been stolen).
The Autobiography is a rare document and an absolutely rollicking read. Cellini was, by turns, creating magnificent Mannerist works of art - like the Perseus statue in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence or a large bronze-relief stag for François I (now in the Louvre), and getting into trouble for stabbing people who offended him. The Autobiography takes us from his workshop to some of the richest courts of contemporary Europe, as well as to jail and to bed with Cellini when he gets (and survives) the plague. Along the way, there’s also devil-worship and plenty about the lost wax process. D. H. Lawrence mentions the Autobiography in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, referring to Cellini and sex ‘in the Italian way’.
The rare first edition of an outstandingly early artist’s autobiography, and a cracking read for anyone interested in life in 16th-century Europe.
Cicognara 2231.
CELLINI, Benvenuto.
Vita di Benvenuto Cellini Orefice e Scultore Fiorentino da lui Medesimo Scritta…
4to. (244 x 175 mm). Title printed in red and black, woodcut device to title. Small early repaired tear to title affecting three words, a little worming to first quire affecting a few words of text, pencil marginalia in neat late 19th-century English hand, occasional isolated wormholes to margin, small faint dampstain to lower margin and occasionally higher on a few leaves, lightly touching text, occasional very minor scattered staining, heavier at end, with possible traces of a little mould, but otherwise a very good copy. Mid-19th-century English speckled sheep, a little scuffed, covers double-ruled in gilt, spine in compartments with red title label gilt, corners bumped, skilfully rebacked to style, headbands renewed. Provenance: R. S. Wyatt, mss inscription to title, dated 1834.
THE RARE TRUE FIRST EDITION. Published under a false imprint under the editorship of Antonio Cocci, there was also a pirated edition in 1792 in Florence, following the second edition in 1791. Originally written between 1558 and 1566, the Autobiography was never published in Cellini’s lifetime, partly due to his descriptions of his disagreements with Cosimo de Medici.
Cellini was a truly gifted goldsmith and sculptor who worked for, among others, the Pope, François I of France, and Cosimo de Medici. One of his finest and most famous works is the so-called Salt Cellar he made for François I, which is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (when it hasn’t been stolen).
The Autobiography is a rare document and an absolutely rollicking read. Cellini was, by turns, creating magnificent Mannerist works of art - like the Perseus statue in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence or a large bronze-relief stag for François I (now in the Louvre), and getting into trouble for stabbing people who offended him. The Autobiography takes us from his workshop to some of the richest courts of contemporary Europe, as well as to jail and to bed with Cellini when he gets (and survives) the plague. Along the way, there’s also devil-worship and plenty about the lost wax process. D. H. Lawrence mentions the Autobiography in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, referring to Cellini and sex ‘in the Italian way’.
The rare first edition of an outstandingly early artist’s autobiography, and a cracking read for anyone interested in life in 16th-century Europe.
Cicognara 2231.
CELLINI, Benvenuto.
Vita di Benvenuto Cellini Orefice e Scultore Fiorentino da lui Medesimo Scritta…
4to. (244 x 175 mm). Title printed in red and black, woodcut device to title. Small early repaired tear to title affecting three words, a little worming to first quire affecting a few words of text, pencil marginalia in neat late 19th-century English hand, occasional isolated wormholes to margin, small faint dampstain to lower margin and occasionally higher on a few leaves, lightly touching text, occasional very minor scattered staining, heavier at end, with possible traces of a little mould, but otherwise a very good copy. Mid-19th-century English speckled sheep, a little scuffed, covers double-ruled in gilt, spine in compartments with red title label gilt, corners bumped, skilfully rebacked to style, headbands renewed. Provenance: R. S. Wyatt, mss inscription to title, dated 1834.
THE RARE TRUE FIRST EDITION. Published under a false imprint under the editorship of Antonio Cocci, there was also a pirated edition in 1792 in Florence, following the second edition in 1791. Originally written between 1558 and 1566, the Autobiography was never published in Cellini’s lifetime, partly due to his descriptions of his disagreements with Cosimo de Medici.
Cellini was a truly gifted goldsmith and sculptor who worked for, among others, the Pope, François I of France, and Cosimo de Medici. One of his finest and most famous works is the so-called Salt Cellar he made for François I, which is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (when it hasn’t been stolen).
The Autobiography is a rare document and an absolutely rollicking read. Cellini was, by turns, creating magnificent Mannerist works of art - like the Perseus statue in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence or a large bronze-relief stag for François I (now in the Louvre), and getting into trouble for stabbing people who offended him. The Autobiography takes us from his workshop to some of the richest courts of contemporary Europe, as well as to jail and to bed with Cellini when he gets (and survives) the plague. Along the way, there’s also devil-worship and plenty about the lost wax process. D. H. Lawrence mentions the Autobiography in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, referring to Cellini and sex ‘in the Italian way’.
The rare first edition of an outstandingly early artist’s autobiography, and a cracking read for anyone interested in life in 16th-century Europe.
Cicognara 2231.