The Life of Michelagnolo Buonarroti; Collected by Ascanio Condivida la Ripa Transone
[Boston]: [The Merrymount Press (D. B. Updike)], [1904]. Hardcover. Octavo size, 98 pp., "Note on [the] New Type" loosely laid in. Near fine. Item #CNBR374
Michelagnolo (now spelled "Michelangelo") di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564) has likely been the artist with the most pervasive influence on Western art. Not only his sculptures (the "Pieta" and the "David) but also his paintings (for example, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel) have instilled a sense of awe in viewers for centuries.
This book a lovely reprint by the inimitable Daniel Berkeley Updike of a biography written (in 1603) within fifty years of his death, by a contemporary who enjoyed "love, conversation and close intimacy" with Michangelo (n.b., p. ix).
___DESCRIPTION: Bound in full blue laid paper over boards, title and a single ornament in black on the front board with the same on the spine (printed in the European manner, with the lettering going from the tail to the head of the spine), fore- and bottom edges uncut, title page in black with red ornaments and surrounded by an angular ruled border, three five-line initial capitals (at the Dedication, the Preface, and the first page of text), vintage bookseller ticket on the rear pastedown (Brentano's, New York); octavo size (8 1/4" by 6 1/4"), pagination: [i-vi] vii-x, 1-86 [1, blank] [1, colophon with one ornament in red]. Loosely laid in is a small (4 1/4" tall by 6 1/4" wide) "Note on Mr. Horne's New Type" which "is in no sense a copy of any early fount, but (it is hoped) possesses a personal and distinctive character."
___CONDITION: Near fine, the boards mostly clean with a bit of dustiness and some sunning, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior clean and bright, and other than the bookseller ticket entirely free of prior owner markings; the corners gently bumped with the top corners slightly rubbed, sunning and gentle bumping to the spine.
___CITATION: Smith, no. 189, which names the typeface "Montallegro" and notes that it was first here used.
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Price: $250.00