Studies for a Nativity and the ‘Mona Lisa Cartoon’ with Drawings after Leonardo from the Elmer Belt Library of Vinciana.

Item Details

Los Angeles, University of California, Los Angeles,, 1973, Wrappers.

First edition., Near fine

8 13/16 x 11 ¼ in.  [10], 13-49, [3] pp. Frontispiece. Illustrations throughout (partly in color). Title page text in red and black. Colophon: Printed by Saul & Lillian Marks at the Plantin Press, Los Angeles.

Brown wrappers with title in ornamented design printed in red on front wrapper, and title to spine. Very mild bending to wrapper extremities and corners, with one small tear to outer edge of front wrapper. A near fine copy.

Harmsen and Tabor’s Plantin Press bibliography states that 1,000 copies were printed.

Arthur Elmer Belt (1893 – 1980) was an American urogolgist heavily involved in the founding of the UCLA School of Medicine, as well as a widely recognized collector of Vinciana. During his medical career, Belt garnered fame and criticism as an early practicioner of gender-affirming surgery. Belt’s interest in book-collecting began at an early age. While attending high school in Los Angeles, Belt became acquainted with the city’s book circle, including Ernest Dawson and Jake Zeitlin (who would later source materials for Belt). In addition to Vinciana, he collected works by his patient, Upton Sinclair.

The present work, occasioned by Belt’s 80^th birthday, marks seven years since Belt completed his Vinciana donations to UCLA, donations which would form a standalone collection—the Elmer Belt Library of Vinciana. It includes reproductions of several of the items Belt donated, as well as commentary by Belt and UCLA Da Vinci scholar Carlo Pedretti.

Harmsen and Tabor, 367.