[TENSHŌ EMBASSY] Breve relatione del consistoro publico, dato àgli Ambasciadori Giapponesi : dalla buona memoria

A$15,000 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

Limited edition

della Santità di Papa Greg. XIIIj. in Roma, il dì 23. di Marzo 1585 : con l arriuo fatto in Pisa, la riceuuta fattagli da S.A.S. per tutto il suo felicissimo stato : et di nuouo baciati li piedi alla Santità di Nostro Signore Papa Sisto V . In Firenze : Dalle scalee di Badia, 1585. [Florence : Badia, 1585]. Small quarto, modern vellum over bevelled boards by Aquarius, spine with gilt lettered leather title label, ribbon ties; pp [8]; title page with woodcut printer s device; woodcut historiated initials; a fine copy; at the rear, the specially designed binding accommodates a window-mount housing a bronze medal by Giovanni Federico Bonzagni, struck in 1585 to commemorate the visit of the Japanese delegation: obverse tonsured bust of Sixtus V left, wearing cope; reverse legend and date in six lines below cherub’s head, AB REGIBVS IAPONIOR PRIMA AD ROMA PONT LEGATIO ET OBEDIENTIA 1585 ; 39 mm; a fine example with deep brown patina. The Breve relatione is the Italian translation of the official account of the Japanese embassy s audience with Pope Gregory XIII, the Acta consistorii , published after Pope Sixtus V s election (April 24, 1585). This is the rarest of the several Italian language editions published that year. Other editions were printed in Rome by Osmarino and Zanetti, respectively; in Florence by Tosia; and in Genoa. We can locate only three other copies of the Florence edition (British Library; Biblioteca Universitaria Alessandrina, Rome; Biblioteca comunale, Treviso

• Binding: Hardcover

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