Notable provenance example. 1613 Le Memorie di Filippo de Comines (Philippe de Commines)

This early 17th century edition of Commines important work on the inner-workings of the French government includes one of the more interesting provenance marks I've researched, not for the person but for the unique way it's (likely) verified:

"Pompeo Arrigoni" signed the flyleaf, and title page (twice). Searching this name quickly brought me to the Italian Roman Catholic Cardinal and Archbishop Pompeo Arrigoni. At his Italian Wikipedia page is a 1596 painting of him. I zoomed in on a note he's holding and there is his last name, written in (what appears to me) the same hand as the one that inscribed my book. The painting is "commons", which means I'm free to use the photo, so I've attached a copy of the note. I have to say, most times I have to infer that someone signed a book (context, time period, etc.); this is the first time I've ever found a picture of my subject holding their written name, as though saying, "Yeah, it was me that wrote in that book".

About the Author and Work -

Philippe de Commines (1447 –1511) was a writer and diplomat in the courts of Burgundy and France. He has been called "the first truly modern writer" (Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve) and "the first critical and philosophical historian since classical times" (Oxford Companion to English Literature). Neither a chronicler nor a historian in the usual sense of the word, his analyses of the contemporary political scene are what made him virtually unique in his own time.

In 1498 (fifteen years after the death of Louis XI of France), Commines's Memoires was completed (first published in 1524 in Paris), and is considered a historical record of immense importance, largely because of its author's cynical and forthright attitude to the events and machinations he had witnessed. His writings reveal many of the less savoury aspects of the reign of Louis XI, and Commines related them without apology, insisting that the late king's virtues outweighed his vices. He is regarded as a major primary source for 15th-century European history.

The Mémoires are divided into "books", the first six of which were written between 1488 and 1494, and relate the course of events from the beginning of Commines' career (1464) up to the death of King Louis. The remaining two books were written between 1497 and 1501 (printed in 1528), and deal with the Italian wars, ending in the death of King Charles VIII of France.

Commines' scepticism is summed up in his own words: Car ceux qui gagnent en ont toujours l'honneur ("For the honours always go to the winners").

Bibliographic Details -

Universal Short Title Catalogue number 4026765; 14 copies in the world's libraries.

Only two copies outside Italy, none in the Americas.

Physical Attributes -

Measures approx. 16.5 x 10.5 x 3.5 cm. Gatherings of eight (8vo). Vellum binding over pasteboard boards. Title in old hand on spine. Printer’s mark on title page. Several headers and decorated initials.

Pages – xxiv, 1-683, [1]

Collation – a8, b4, A-Z8, Aa-Tt8, Vv4

Someone fat-fingered the USTC entry, because my gatherings are correct but they wrote "[11]" as the post-numbering number of pages. I can verify it is [1] since my gatherings are correct.

Condition -

See pictures. Some nibbling around edges and joints of vellum binding. Boards with some rust marks. Turn-ins lifted (I’m sure to check for manuscript, there isn’t). Text block edges a little darkened from dust. Ex libris and bookseller marks to pastedown and flyleaf. Pompeo wrote his name on the title page several times, bottom one has bled through. Text block with a little toning and occasional thumbing, dog-eared pages, fox spot, page-edge/corner chip, etc. a2 with a 1 cm hole in the fore-edge margin. Bottom margin moisture mark intermittent. Bottom corner E5 chipped away, no text affected. I5 torn at gutter, from top, 3”, just barely touches start of text. L3 with a tear in bottom margin. V to Z gatherings with a moisture mark at top corner. Candle ember mark to Aa6. Oo7 bottom corner chipped. Two small wormholes in bottom margin of last gathering Vv.