Fra Luca De Pacioli

New York: The Grolier Club, 1933. Hardcover. Fine. Hardcover. One of 390 copies, initialed by Stanley Morison, the British typographer and historian of printing, at the end of the preface. This magnificent book is among the most famous examples of 20th century fine printing, and one of the finest volumes designed and produced under the supervision of Bruce Rogers. Fra Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli (sometimes Paciolo) (1445 – 1517) was an Italian mathematician, educator, and Franciscan friar. He wrote one of the earliest compendia of mathematical knowledge to be reproduced on a printing press. He popularized the system of double accounting for keeping financial records and is often known as the father of modern accounting. He was a close friend of Leonardo da Vinci. The text is drawn from the Franciscan friar's larger text De Divina Porportione. The Grolier Club had previously published Albrecht Dürer's and Geofroy Tory's alphabets in editions designed by Bruce Rogers in 1916 and 1927. This beautiful work is included in A Century for a Century as Number 34 in its celebration fine printing in the 20th century. Although the book was printed at the University Press in Cambridge, England for The Grolier Club, it was very much the project of Bruce Rogers. It was noted by John Dreyfus, the esteemed book designer and historian of printing, that this book by Rogers was unsurpassed for its format, paper, inks and presswork being in such impeccable harmony. Joseph Blumenthal, the American printer, typographer, and book historian called the title page of the book as one of true grandeur, unique in the whole history of the printed word.

Bound in vellum backed brown and cream patterned paste paper covered boards with gilt titling to the spine and gilt top edge. Printed in red and black on Batchelor's handmade paper and illustrated throughout with Pacioli's alphabet. Frontispiece of Fra Luca De Pacioli printed by Emery Walker Ltd. Illustrations, frontispiece, and title page are protected with tissue guards. With the bookplate of Julia Parker Wightman (1909-1994). She was a prominent American bibliophile and collector, and one of the first women to be admitted to The Grolier Club. Her collection was bequeathed to the Morgan Library. A fine copy lacking the glassine cover and slipcase. Measures 8.25 x 12.25 inches. 100 pages plus preface and index. PRI/102924.