
Decorated Bookbindings in Renaissance Italy Outside Rome and Venice
A Catalogue
Anthony Hobson(Author)
Bodleian Library (Publisher)
Published on 4. September 2025
Book
Hardback
576 pages
978-1-85124-628-1 (ISBN)
Description
Anthony Hobson (1921-2014), former Director of Sotheby's, devoted a lifetime of observation, travel and study to the history of decorated bookbindings produced in Italy during the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This volume draws together Hobson's studies of workshops located outside Rome and Venice, comprising updated versions of previously published articles as well as wholly new work. It has been supplemented by the editors, Edward Potten and Mirjam Foot, with full bibliographical descriptions, extended provenances and citations to published literature.
The catalogue is arranged by location covering twelve centres of production and listing bindings attributed by Hobson to more than seventy workshops. It includes indices to current locations, provenances, and places of binding and binders. At least one binding from each workshop is illustrated in colour, showing as wide a variety of distinctive tools as possible.
This volume makes an exceptional contribution not only to the history of bookbinding, but also to the study of the Italian book, enhancing our understanding of book-use and patronage, trade, craft and art in Renaissance Italy; it is both a tribute to Anthony Hobson and an essential reference tool for anyone working on the history of the Italian Renaissance.
The catalogue is arranged by location covering twelve centres of production and listing bindings attributed by Hobson to more than seventy workshops. It includes indices to current locations, provenances, and places of binding and binders. At least one binding from each workshop is illustrated in colour, showing as wide a variety of distinctive tools as possible.
This volume makes an exceptional contribution not only to the history of bookbinding, but also to the study of the Italian book, enhancing our understanding of book-use and patronage, trade, craft and art in Renaissance Italy; it is both a tribute to Anthony Hobson and an essential reference tool for anyone working on the history of the Italian Renaissance.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
192 Illustrations, color
Dimensions
Height: 245 mm
Width: 170 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-85124-628-1 (9781851246281)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
ANTHONY HOBSON (1921-2014) was a former Director of Sotheby's and President of the Association Internationale de Bibliophilie. His books include Apollo and Pegasus (1975), Humanists and Bookbinders (1989) and Renaissance Book Collecting: Jean Grolier and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, their Books and Bindings (1999).
EDWARD POTTEN was formerly an Associate Director and Head of Rare Books at Cambridge University Library and is a freelance consultant.
MIRJAM FOOT is a scholar working in the field of book history; she was formerly a Director of the British Library and is Emeritus Professor of Library and Archive Studies at University College, London.
EDWARD POTTEN was formerly an Associate Director and Head of Rare Books at Cambridge University Library and is a freelance consultant.
MIRJAM FOOT is a scholar working in the field of book history; she was formerly a Director of the British Library and is Emeritus Professor of Library and Archive Studies at University College, London.