[Book simulant]
"Book simulant", "Buch Atrappe" or "Faux Livre". 17th-century vellum binding.
Geneva, Henri Estienne (the elder), 1592. Folio (33.8 x 21.6 cm). Full vellum. Half title, dedication leaf, 2 pp. Spine with six raised bands; boards blind-stamped with triple-lined border, double-lined panel with floral corner-pieces and with a central large, floral vignette. Edges speckled red.
A half-title, and preface, of the Thesauri lingue Graecae ab Henr. Stephano constructi Tomus II, as well as the first text page to that work cover a book simulant containing a 28.2 x 15.7 x 4.2 cm hidden compartment. The Thesaurus was published in Geneva, in 1572, and is a rare work itself, but the box is younger. Front hinge starting at top end, otherwise fine.