Sm. 8vo., full green morocco with a pair of double gilt fillet borders trapping a beaded border; floral gilt corner fleurons; the spine is decorated in a Greek key design, without titling. A.e.g. over red staining, printed floral endpapers. A handsome, unsophisticated binding of indeterminate age in fine condition.Ruth Mortimer points out that this series of 113 woodcuts was designed for the first de Tournes-Gazeau edition of 1547, and continued in use into the seventeenth century. The subjects were freely adapted from the Paris blocks--either directly or through Lyons copies used in editions by Jacques Moderne in 1544 and 1545—with considerable skill in added detail. The series is attributed to BERNARD SALOMON and are considered, "the most skillful of the Alciati interpretations."The Hofer-Harvard copy Ms. Mortimer describes is the 1580 sixth de Tournes edition. Our edition contains EXCELLENT IMPRESSIONS of the blocks and wide margins except for the title-page border which is closely trimmed along the right edge with minimal loss. Lower right corner of the first two leaves restored from the verso with a small ink addition to the border. UNCOMMON IN ANY EDITION, just one copy shows up in auction records for the past twenty-six years.See also: Cartier vol. 2. Brunet I, p. 148 (1547 edition only). Praz p. 6 (1547 edition).