Add MS 8797

VINCENZO STAMPA: Alexandrinae Mensae Descriptio; circa 1587. Latin. Copy. Text of dedication of a magnificent table in Florentine mosaic or pietra dura offered in 1587 to King Philip II of Spain by Cardinal Michele Bonelli, nephew of Pope Pius V and commonly known as Cardinal Alessandrino. The table is now in the collections of the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid; cf. A. González-Palacios, Las colecciones reales españolas de Mosaicos y Piedras Duras, exhibition catalogue (27 June – 26 Sept. 2001) (Madrid, 2001), no. 2, pp. 59-64. Brief description of the MS. in P. O. Kristeller, Iter Italicum, iv (1989), p. 85. The MS. is entitled (f. 1) 'Alexandrinae Mensae Descriptio'. Inc. (f. 2) 'Philippo Hispaniarum atque Indiarum Regi Catholico Potentissimo, ac Invictissimo. Vincentius Stampa Mediolanensis Civis Romanus. S. / Vetustissima admodum consuetudo', expl. (f. 10v) 'et precari nunquam desistam. Vale'. Old shelfmark '29' in top right corner of f. 1. Armorial bookplate of 5th Earl of Guilford, with shelfmark 'L/16/E' (front pastedown). '265' in pencil in top left corner of front paste down. Purchased, together with Add. 8730, 8792, 8793, 8794, 8795, 8796, and 8798, from R. H. Evans, 8 Dec. 1830, lot 265 (part).

Paper; ff. 10+iii. Old foliation in ink '1-9' (ff. 2-10). 258 x 183mm. One Italian hand. Late 16th-cent. binding of full vellum over limp pasteboards.