The Fondazione Giorgio Cini library holds the world’s only copy of an illustrated edition of Aesop’s Fables, printed in Venice in the late 15th century. Having entered the library in 1962 together with the collection of Tammaro De Marinis (1878-1969), the Fables had been part of the collection of Charles Butler (1821-1910), whose library was sold by Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge in London in April 1911.

The scholar and previous owner, Tammaro De Marinis, had described the unique copy of the Aesop in 1940, in his publication Appunti e ricerche bibliografiche (Milan, Hoepli); here we can learn that already in 1940 unfortunately, several pages of the book were missing.

Since the book is the only surviving copy of this particular edition from about 1490, no direct comparison with a similar copy could be made to see where to insert the page (the book has no signature to indicate the proper sequence). After a very thorough analysis of the text, the restoration project was supported by the Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige Archival and Bibliographic Superintendency and completed in November 2021.
The restoration process initially involved the complete removal of the block of pages from the binding and its 19th-century stitching. The pages were restored by removing additions made in previous repairs with materials that had darkened over time, causing further stains. In the end, the booklets were stitched up using the same holes of the previous binding and the book is once again available to readers.

• Esopo. Una favola ritrovata / Aesop. A rediscovered Fable, in Lettera da San Giorgio, N. 46 (2022), pp. 56-61.
• L’Esopo di De Marinis. L’esemplare unico, la carta ritrovata, il restauro, in ‘Multa renascentur’ : Tammaro De Marinis studioso, bibliofilo, antiquario, collezionista, Venezia, Marsilio 2023.