[BINDING - IPPOLITO II D'ESTE] CICERO, Marcus Tullius (106-43 BC). The Familiar Epistles of Cicero. Venice: Aldo Manuzio heirs, 1549. Scarce armorial binding of Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este, one of the few known to the literature, the present cited by De Marinis and Hobson. Ippolito is the embodiment of the late Italian Renaissance: the son of Lucrezia Borgia and Alfonso I d'Este, extraordinarily cultured and refined, Cardinal at the age of 10, in a lifelong struggle for the throne of St. Peter's, which he would never attain, he found consolation in patronage and luxury, splendidly embodied in the most famous of his residences, the Villa D'Este. The binding is in the style of the Roman bookbinder Niccolo Franzese, whose real name was Nicolas Fery, who worked in Rome between 1527 and 1571. 8vo, (160 x 103mm). (title page and colophon missing) Armorial binding of Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este printed in gilt on the boards within rich geometric and floral frames, gilt edges and embossed (restored spine, restorations to corners). Literature: De Marinis, La Legatura artistica in Italia nei secoli XV e XVI, no. 922; A. Hobson, Apollo and Pegasus: An Enquiry into the Formation and Dispersal of a Renaissance Library, p. 86 no. 92. (1)