Early Printed Books

 

Athenaeus; Isaac Casaubon; Jacques Dalechamps. [Deipnosophistae, Greek and Latin.] Athenaiou Deipnosophiston biblia pentekaideka. Athenæi Deipnosophistarvm libri qvindecim. Bound with, Isaaci Casauboni animadversionum in Athenaei Dipnosophistas. Lyon: J. A. Huguetan & M. A. Ravaud, 1657, 1664.  $1,400

Folio (36cm); two volumes in one; I: [48], 812, [48] pages; II: [8] pages, 998 columns (i.e., 499 pages), [39] pages (without last blank leaf). Title pages printed in red and black. Engraved and woodcut title page vignettes. Woodcut initials and ornaments. Greek text and Latin translation in parallel columns. Bound in speckled calf, ruled in blind, with blind-tooled turn-ins. Leather label on spine hand-tooled in gilt with floral border. Worn, joints cracked but holding, spine worn at crown and tail with some loss, lower board scuffed with some leather lost at corner. Annotations in early hand on blanks. Light scattered foxing at first and last leaves. One bifolium loose (apparently left unsewn in manufacture).

References: Hoffmann I, 396 & 398; Schweiger, Greek, 70; Simon, Bibl. Gastronomica, 145.

This compendious, encyclopedic work by the Greek-speaking Egyptian Athenaeus (fl. 200) portrays a Roman dinner party attended by the brightest, deepest and most learned thinkers of the early Third Century. The banquet lasts several days in order to allow conversation to take its course. Topics range lightly over law, medicine and literature, but the real subject at hand is food in all its aspects. In a sense, it is the oldest extant text on cooking. The Deipnosophistae ("Scholars at Dinner") is an important source of information on the gastronomic customs of the ancient world. It also quotes fragments of ancient literature which have otherwise been lost. The eminent Huguenot humanist Isaac Casaubon (1559-1614) established the definitive text of Deipnosophistae in 1597, when it was first printed alongside the Latin translation of Jacques Dalechamps. Casaubon's commentary on the work appeared several years later, and was frequently bound together with the bilingual text. The copy offered here is the third and last edition of Casaubon's text and commentary before it was absorbed into Johann Schweighauser's edition of 1801.

 

Bible. [Guéroult, Guillaume]. Figures de la Bible, illustrees de huictains francoys pour l'interpretation et intelligence d'icelles. Lyon: Guillaume Rouillé, 1564. $3,000

         

First edition. 8vo (17cm); 147 (of 148) leaves, lacks final blank leaf. Woodcut printers device, and 269 woodcut vignettes of Old Testament subjects by Pierre Eskrich, of which 18 are full-page cuts. Bound in unremarkable 19th-century marbled paper over boards. Two centimeters of title page excised at bottom edge, not affecting text. Pages lightly toned with occasional blemishes or stains; light dampmark pervades upper margin.

References: Baudrier, 9, 296 ("Les exemplaires de ce premier tirage sont beaucoup plus rares que celui du second"); Mortimer, French, 92 ("this edition is extremely rare"); Brunet, II 1255; Gültlingen 10, 147, #594.

Extremely rare first edition of the bible illustrations by Pierre Eskrich, with verses by Guillaume Guéroult. A second edition appeared in 1565, identical except for the year on the title page; the companion New Testament appeared in 1570. Merging the separate traditions of the "Biblia Pauperum" (bibles in pictures for unlettered readers) and the emblem book (wisdom conveyed in pictures with explanatory verses), this volume presents the Hebrew Bible in a series of woodcuts, glossed in French octaves. The full-page images are copied out of Estienne's 1540 illustrated Bible (Schreiber, 59), and the smaller cuts were designed for Rouillé's 1562 Bible, and here employed in more popular form, as emblems. Guéroult's name heads the dedication to Catherine de Médicis.
 

Boccaccio, Giovanni (1313-1375). Genealogiae Deorum Libri XV.  Vicenza: Simon De Gabis Bevilaqua (Colophon: per Symonem de gabis Papiesem), 20 December 1487.  $15,000

Folio (32 cm); [8], 200 leaves. Roman type 1, 53 lines per page. 7-line initial spaces with guide letters (initials occasionally supplied in pen by contemporary or later reader). Text in 2 columns. Bound in 18th-century (?) 1/2 mottled calf over patterned paper boards. Spine with raised bands, gilt tooling and gilt title label. Titled in ink on fore edge. Occasional notation in early hand; occasional spots and occasional light foxing. Few leaves browned in latter part of text. Free endleaves consist of original manuscript on vellum, 9th or 10th century, in a remarkably clear and readable Carolingian miniscule hand. The text on the endleaves is from the Homilies of Bishop Haymo of Halberstadt (d. 853).

References: HC 3316; GW 4476; Goff B-752.

First book printed by Simon Bevilaqua, and the only book in which he allowed his family name, De Gabis, to appear. Simone Gabi (1450-1518) deliberately kept his origins in shadow. We know nothing of him before the publication of this edition of Boccaccio's Genealogiae deorum. In all subsequent work (in Vicenza, Venice, Torino, and ultimately Lyon) he signed his name "Bevilaqua," a nickname he wore ironically because of the copious amounts of wine he consumed. In addition to Boccaccio's encyclopedia of classical mythology, the text also includes his gazetteer of classical geography, "De Montibus, Sylvis, Fontibus, Lacubus, Fluminibus, Stagnis, seu Paludibus, De Nominibus Maris."

 

Bochart, Samuel (1599-1667). Hierozoicon, sive Bipertitum opus de animalibus sacrae scripturae. London: Thomas Roycroft, 1663. $2,000

First edition. Two volumes in one; folio (40cm); [96] pages, 1094 columns, [137] pages, 888 columns, [112] pages, and engraved portrait. Woodcut initials and ornaments. Title page printed in red and black. Text in Latin, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, and other Semitic languages. Bound in contemporary vellum, embossed iwth "oriental" losenge and with the gilt stamp of the Society of Writers to the Signet on both boards.  Occasional light foxing; lower joint beginning to crack, with some vellum flaked away. Vellum scuffed and discolored. Early ownership inscription on title page.

References: Wing B3386; Wood 245; Osleriana 2062 (later ed.).

In an age distinguished by great intellectuals, Samuel Bochart stood out as one of the most learned. A master of Middle Eastern languages, he was invited to Stockholm by Queen Christina (in 1652) to study the important collection of Arabic scientific manuscripts there. The Queen gave Bochart an Arabic manuscript on animals as a gift upon his departure. That gift apparently engendered the Hierozoicon, an encyclopedic work on the zoology of the ancient Middle East, as recorded in the Bible. Bochart considers each animal mentioned in scripture and explores its treatment by ancient Greek, Roman, Arabic, and Hebrew naturalists. Some of the Arabic sources, liberally quoted and translated, appear in print here for the first time.

 

Casaubon, Isaac (1559-1614). De satyrica Graecorum poesi et Romanorum satira libri duo. In quibus etiam poetae recensentur, qui in utraque poesi floruerunt. [In appendix:] Euripides; Florent Chrestien (1541 - 1596). Cyclops Euripidae latinitate donata. Paris: Ambroise & Jérôme Drouart, 1605.   $1,600

              

First edition. Octavo (18cm); two parts in one volume: [16] 356 [4] (last two pages blank); 38 [2 blank] pages. Roman, italic and Greek types. Engraved illustration in text of Bacchus and Silenus among satyrs. Woodcut initials, woodcut and typographic ornaments. Bound in contemporary (?) vellum with yapp fore-edges. Early owner's inscription on title page (Henrik ter Borch); presentation inscription dated at Cambridge, 13 March 1930, on front free endpaper from "HFS" to Gilbert S. Inglefield, (later Lord Mayor of London). Engraved advertisement on front pastedown for Ward & Chandler, Booksellers, circa 1740. Some dampstaining, particularly at the end of the volume. A small red stain on the lower board.

References: Brunet I 1613-1614; Hoffmann II, 84; Tchermerzine III, 398 (Florent).

Casaubon's innovative work on classical satire, demonstrating that Greek satyr plays and Roman satire were two entirely distinct literary genres (thereby ending a confusion that had prevailed since the 4th century). The first specialized monograph on satire, the work grew out of Casaubon's commentary on Persius published earlier the same year. In appendix to De Satyrica, Casaubon published a translation by Florent Chrestien of Euripides's satyr play Cyclops, the only preserved specimen of the Greek satyric genre. Chrestien was a student of Henri Estienne and librarian to Henry IV. Online scans of the Yale copy of De Satyrica failed to include the Euripides.

 

Catullus; Sextus Propertius; Maximianus; Tibullus. Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius, Cor. Galli fragmenta ... Antwerp: Christoher Plantin, 1560; [bound with] Boethius. ...Boethii De consolatione philosophiae... Antwerp: Christopher Plantin, 1580.   $950

Two titles in one binding, the Boethius preceding the Elegiac poets. 16mo (12 cm); 190 (of 192) pages, [2] 144 leaves. Lacks final blank leaf of Boethius. Title of elegies within elaborate woodcut vine scroll border, with printer's "constantia et labore" vignette; Boethius with printer's compass device on title page. Woodcut initials. Bound in contemporary calf, ruled and tooled in gilt, old shelfmark inked on spine. Title pages somewhat foxed; text generally clean although lightly toned. Small foramen in S1; T1 starting. Contemporary notes on blank verso of final leaf. References: Adams C-1148; Brunet I,1679; Voet, Plantin, 933 (elegies); Voet 738 (Boethius).

The collection of elegiac poets was the first title to appear in Plantin's series of pocket editions of classical authors. The elegies attributed to Gallus are in fact by Maximianus, and "Lydia bella puella candida," here attributed to Gallus, is an anonymous medieval poem. The Boethius, edited by Theodor Poelmann, was first published in 1562.
 

Dictys Cretensis and Dares Phrygius. De bello Troiano et ... De excidio Troiae. [Paris]: Robert Stephanus (i.e., Estienne), 1618.   $250

14cm; [4], 207, [1] pages. Bound in contemporary vellum over pasteboard, worn and soiled, with slight loss at crown and along top edges; yet binding is strong and flexible. Scattered stains in text, with a pervasive light dampstain in the upper right quadrant. Several owners' inscriptions, and old bookplate. In all, a shelf-worn copy but sound and entire.

The late-antique and medieval world assigned Dictys of Crete and Dares of Phrygia the coveted roles of eyewitness chroniclers of the Trojan War. Dictys was reckoned companion at arms to Idomeneus, and Dares was the priest of Hephaestus who advised Hector not to kill Patroclus. Their supposed war journals became the chief source for medieval writers on the Troy cycle.

 

Estienne, Robert (1503-1559), and Henri Estienne II (1531-1598), eds. Fragmenta poetarum veterum latinorum. [Geneva]: Henri Estienne, 1564. $1,600

First edition. Octavo (18 cm); 432 (numbered 433) pages. Printer's olive tree device (Schreiber # 9) on title page. Bound in 18th-century polished calf, gilt ruled and tooled in gilt on spine. Gilt turn-ins, marbled endleaves. Silk signet. Spine ends a bit chipped, joints cracked but firm. Very minor blemishes. Early owner's inscription on title page. References: Adams P-1705; Schreiber 152 ("This first edition was not adequately supplanted until the 19th century, and is consequently quite rare") .

First appearance in print of several early Latin authors, including Ennius, Lucilius, Caecilius, Naevius, Accius and others who preceded classical Latin poetry. Robert Estienne began collecting the surviving fragments of Old Latin text for this edition, and upon his death in 1559 the work was completed by his son, Henri II. Henri included some of the original Greek sources which the Latin poets used as models.
 

Grazzini, Anton Francesco ("Il Lasca"). La prima e la seconda cena, novelle di Antonfrancesco Grazzini detto Il Lasca, alle quali si aggiunge una novella della terza cena, che unitamente colla prima ora per la prima volta si dà alla luce.   London [i.e., Paris]: G. Nourse [i.e. Jean-Claude Molini], 1756.   $600

8vo (18 cm); xxxii, 412, [10] pages. Typographic ornaments. Bound in full contemporary vellum with leather label on spine. Edges dyed red. Mildly soiled, with scattered light foxing. Sound and entire.

Reference: Gamba, 538.

First printing of most of the contents of this 16th-century Florentine frame tale (part 2 appeared separately some 12 years earlier). Anton Francesco Grazzini (1503-84), known in the Florentine academies as "Il Lasca," was a founder of the Accademia della Crusca and the guiding spirit of "serious" comedy and satire in 16th-century Florence. He edited a famous collection of Italian comic verse, "Canti carnascialeschi," and acquired fame in his lifetime for his own contributions to the genre. Meanwhile, he composed an extended set of prose "novelle," set in a Boccaccio-esque framework of ten youths telling stories on three dinner occasions during Carnevale in the 1540s. Publication was suppressed, probably not because of the racy contents so much as the populist, anti-authoritarian strain evident throughout. A counterfeit edition appeared almost immediately after this one, but our copy bears all the points of the original edition.

 

Juvenal; Giovanni Britannico; Josse Badius. [Satyrae.] Iu. Iuvenalis Aquinatis satyrographi opus. Venice: Bernardinum de Bindonis, 1539.  $4,000

Folio (32 cm); [6], CLXII leaves;15 woodcut illustrations in text. Title page printed in red and black, with title framed within elaborately illustrated border. Remains of extensively decorated and inscribed endleaves, as described below. Bound in recent one-quarter tooled leather over wooden boards in period style, with leather and brass clasps. One clasp missing; lower board stained, with one corner chipped. Some worming, mostly marginal and rarely affecting text. Occasional ink stains, some of them significant. Occasional staining, especially in first signature. Few leaves browned.

Reference: Renouard, Badius, II, 542, 15; Schweiger Latin I, 503.

A Venice edition of the Satires of Juvenal, utilizing the text established by Giovanni Britannico at the beginning of the century. The two remaining endleaves of this illustrated Renaissance edition of Juvenal reveal a remarkable trajectory of ownership. Above a color sketch of a crest framed by grotesque figures, one owner inscribed "io Federico addi' 20 jugno 1567 comprai questo da un Hebreo" (I Federico, on June 20, 1567, bought this from a Jew). A different hand, on the last blank, inscribed a sycophantic paean in Latin to Paul IV (Pope from 1555-1559), ironically the very pope who instituted the Jewish ghetto in Rome, along with decrees that Jews must wear distinguishing yellow hats and shawls. The second inscription is decorated with a roughly-drawn capital I featuring a human face and a rampant cat. Still other inscriptions identify the source of the crest ("Evander Rampinus faciebat haec insignia"); and, despite Paul IV, who instituted the Index of Prohibited Books, another inscription echoes Juvenal's rage against censorship ("il pennello è a pugnare," the pen is for fighting). In all, the fly-leaves show a juxtaposition of crested nobles, ghettoed Jews, and intolerant clergy around an illustrated classical text produced at the height of the Italian Renaissance. Also reprints the 1498 preface to Juvenal by Badius Ascensius. (4906) $4,000.00
 

Maimonides, Moses. Ex Rabbi Mosis Majemonidae opere, quod Secunda Lex, sive, Manus fortis inscribitur, Tractatus De consecratione calendarum, & De ratione intercalandi. Paris: Petrus Promé, 1669. $1,000

12mo (16cm); [32], 251, [1] pages. Woodcut and typographic headpieces. Bound in contemporary mottled calf, with later leather label. (Upper joint repaired, lower joint slightly cracked but sound and entire. A clean, crisp copy.)

First edition in Latin of this treatise on the Jewish calendar, chronology and astronomy by Maimonides. The philosopher discusses the calculations for determining Rosh Chodesh (the first day of the month), and deliberates on the interface between science and biblical authority. Recent scholarship has shown that Newton (in his studies on chronology) consulted this edition.  Translated from Hebrew into Latin by Louis de Compiègne de Veil, with his comments.

 

Petrarca, Francesco. Il Petrarca, con l'espositione d'Allessandro Vellutello, di novo ristampato con le figure a i triomphi, con le apostille, et con piu cose utili aggiunte. Venice: Gabriel Giolito, 1544.   $1,000

      

Octavo (22 cm); [8], 197, [7] leaves. Title within elaborate architectural title border with device, device on final verso. Full page woodcut map of Vaucluse; double portrait of the poet and Laura surmounted by the Giolito device; six woodcut illustrations to the Trionfi; numerous initials and ornaments. Eighteenth-century vellum, with leather label on spine. Binding tanned and rubbed at extremities. Moderate but pervasive foxing, mostly marginal, and pervasive damp marks, mostly light. Sporadic underlining and marginal notes in text in early hand, especially in the Trionfi. Early inscription on preliminary blank, together with later ownership inscriptions. Canceled inscriptions on A3 and Z6. Later owner's stamped initials in lower margin of final two leaves. Earlier and later owner's initials on title vignette. Small rupture in upper margin of title leaf, and in lower margin of final leaf. Small worm trail at fore-edge of quires E and F. References: Mortimer, Italian, 375; Bongi, Giolito, I, 80; Essling, I, 1, 105.

First Giolito edition, and the first appearance of the remarkable woodcut title border and the cuts illustrating the Trionfi. (The title illustration was repeated on many later Giolito editions of Petrarch.) This copy complete including the "sonnets against Rome," frequently removed or scratched out of early editions of Petrarch. Although scathed by time and love, this is still a proud copy of a desirable and important book.

Sacro Bosco, Joannes de (John of Holywood, fl. 1230); Antionio Brucioli, trans. Trattato della sphera, nel quale si dimostrano, & insegnano i principii della astrologia raccolto da Giovanni de Sacrobusto, & altri astronomi, & tradotto in lingua Italiana. Venice: Francesco Brucioli, 1543. $3,000

Small quarto (20 cm); [1] 24 leaves. Title within elaborate border showing signs `of the zodiac. Woodcut initials, 20 woodcut figures in text (including a globe showing the New World continents labeled "America"), and woodcut publisher's device on verso of colophon. Bound in recent scored vellum over boards. Leather title label on spine. Old tears in A1, A4 and D3 expertly repaired, with little interference in text. Contemporary marginal notes in ink.

References: Olschki, Choix, 4, 1709; Mortimer, Italian, 452 note; Sabin 74810; Honeyman Sale, 2730.

The medieval textbook on astronomy by the English wizard John of Holywood was the standard explanation of the Ptolemaic universe, and it appeared in many editions in Western Europe through the 16th century. This Italian version incorporates Sacro Bosco's text along with other sources into a general treatise on the Geocentric model. The title-page border and the cut on the colophon (showing a globe with the New World labeled "America") appeared in an earlier Italian version, and were deployed again here.

Synesius of Cyrene, Bishop of Ptolemais; Gregory of Nazianus; Saint John of Damascus. [In Greek:] Synesiou Kyrenes Episkopou Hymnoi deka. Gregoriou tou Nazianzeou odai tessares. Proetethe ho tou Ioannou Damaskeou hymnos eis ten Theogonian. Paris: Jean Bienné, 1570.  $1,800

8vo (18cm); [8], 155, [1] pages. Woodcut device on title page; woodcut headpieces and initials. Greek and italic type. Bound in modern 1/4 mottled calf over paper-covered boards. Edges gilt. Joints expertly reinforced. Interlinear and marginal notes on first two pages of text. Ownership autograph of Jean Gaultier, dated 1593. Bookplate of Adrian Sherwood, Oxford. A bright copy.

Early Christian lyric poetry in Greek by the 4th-century neoplatonist Synesius, his contemporary Saint Gregory Nazianzus, and by Saint John of Damascus. The Parisian printer Jean Bienné was a specialist in Greek (he inherited Guillaume Morel's presses), and the type is remarkably handsome. Latin translations of the poems (unattributed, but by Francesco Porto) are tucked in at the end. References: Adams, 2211; Renouard, Imprimeurs et libraires Parisiens, III, #644; Brunet V:613 ("très-belle édition").

Tasso, Torquato.  Discorsi … dell'Arte Poetica; et in particolare del Poema Heroico….  Venice: Giulio Vassalini, 1587.  $800.

4to (21 cm); [4], 108 leaves. Woodcut printer's device on title page, woodcut head pieces, initials and ornaments. Roman and italic types. Bound in 19th-century marbled paper-covered boards with polished calf backstrip, tooled and gilded. Joints a little weak and splitting near crown. Scattered light stains. Nice wide margins, occasionally inscribed with an early reader's comments. Adams T228; Gamba 971 note; UCLA Ahmanson-Murphy 789.  

Torquato Tasso's statement of the critical principles behind epic poetry. The 16th century was deeply concerned with the problem of fitting episodic narrative (like Ariosto's Orlando Furioso and Tasso's own Gerusalemme Liberata) into categories described in Aristotle's Poetics. Tasso's contribution was this profound and detailed taxonomy of the epic mode. The 19th-century bibliographer B. Gamba revealed that the book was printed with Aldine types, and indeed it is included in modern Aldine collections at UCLA and Brigham Young University.  

 

Tasso, Torquato, 1544-1595 ; Angelo Grillo, 1557-1629. Le prose del Signor Torquato Tasso, divise in cinque parti. Nuouamente poste in luce separate dalle rime. Venice: Evangelista Deuchino, 1612.  $600

12mo 914cm); 5 volumes in one. Title within decorative border; Woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces. Complete collation available upon request. Bound in contemporary limp vellum. Titled in manuscript on spine, with shelf mark on old paper label. Shelf wear. Upper joint starting. Hinges a little tender. Extensive worm trails on rear endleaves, with minimal effect on text. Occasional light stains. References: Raccolta Tassiana, 45; BL 17th-century Italian, 891; Bruni and Evans, 5240.

First separate edition of Tasso's collected prose. Gathers into one volume Tasso's great studies, dialogues and meditations. Includes his disputes about poetics, his agonies over defining epic form, and his thoughts on love, virtue and nobility. .

 

Tesauro, Emanuele (1592-1675); Valeriano Castiglione.  Del regno d'Italia sotto i barbari epitome. Venice: Giacomo Hertz, 1680. $750

17cm; [24], 732, [72] pages (including 58 full-page woodcut portraits and four allegorical scenes); extra woodcut title page and [3] folded maps. Engraved device on printed title page. Woodcut ornaments. Bound in contemporary calf, rebacked in period style, corners rebuilt. Speckled edges. Stain on last 50 pages, else fairly clean and bright, with occasional toning. First published in folio in 1663, and several times in 12mo thereafter. References (to 1663 edition): Brunet V, 730; Olschki, Choix, 15778.

Illustrated history of Italian rulers from the fall of the Roman Empire to the end of the first millenium. Each monarch is represented in a full-page monumental portrait by François Lefevre or Antonio Bosio. Commentary by Valerio Castiglione, who incidentally turns up as an expert on the Lombard kings in Manzoni's I Promessi Sposi.

 

A Companion to Classical Reading

Torrentino, Hermano; Girolamo Brusoni. Elucidario poetico. Venice: Iseppo Prodocimo, 1677.  $300

12mo (14cm); 2 volumes in one, [8], 214, [2 blank], 360 pages. Printer's woodcut device on title page. Woodcut initials and head-pieces. Bound in contemporary quarter calf over mottled boards. Cloth signet. Edges worn. Some stains, pages generally toned.

This pocket-size Italian encyclopedia of classical literature began life in 1503, in the fullness of the Renaissance, in Latin. It went through many editions and translations, growing in both scope and concision with each incarnation. The entries gloss classical mythology, literature, geography, and historical events with admirable efficiency.

 

Valier, Agostino, Cardinal, Bishop of Verona (1531-1606). De rhetorica ecclesiastica libri tres. Cum synopsi et praelectionibus ; Ejusdem de Acolytorum disciplina. Verona: Girolamo Stringario, 1583.   $700

4to (21cm); [24],336, [52], 78, [2] pages. Woodcut device on title page. Woodcut initials and ornaments. Bound in contemporary limp vellum, titled in manuscript on spine for horizontal storage, with remains of later paper label titled in manuscript for vertical storage. Binding wrinkled and worn. Text block construction renewed with fresh thread and new endleaves. Edges toned, corners bumped at extremities. Scattered light foxing and toning.

Reference: Adams V-145

Last printing of the bishop of Verona's study of the arts of speech, directed at the working clergy (first published 1574, and one of the first post-Tridentine handbooks of sacred rhetoric). Perhaps this edition was intended to reinforce the author's pursuit of promotion, since he was made Cardinal later the same year. It is the first printing of it to include the 50-page diagrammatic synopsis of the work in the same volume, along with a shorter work on the education of priests. The text, based on classical models, provides priests with the elements of public speaking, including instruction on how to construct one's talks; how to excite joy, fear, pity, and anger; when and how to use memorable slogans and other ornaments of speech.

 

Vasari, Giorgio (1511-1574). Ragionamenti del Sig. cavaliere Giorgio Vasari, pittore et architetto aretino, sopra le inventioni da lui dipinte in Firenze nel palazzo di Loro Altezze Serenissime. Florence: Filippo Giunti, 1588.   $6,000

    

First edition. Quarto (21 cm); [8], 186, [18] pages, including woodcut portrait. Woodcut devices on title page and on colophon ("Nil Candidius.") Woodcut initials. Bound in later vellum over boards, titled in gilt-stamped letters on spine. Marbled edges. Scattered foxing, generally light, although a bit heavier on colophon, portrait page and title page. A desirable copy. Reference: Gamba, 1729; not in Camerini or Adams; see also Seznec, The Survival of the Pagan Gods, 288 ff.

Although there are no illustrations (except for the remarkable self-portrait of the author), this essay may be seen as a sort of emblem book. Typically, emblem books consist of cryptic images with explanatory text. In this case, the cryptic images are the author's great frescoes in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, and the explanatory text is a series of imaginary conversations interpreting the mythic circumstances and allegories depicted in the paintings. Jean Seznec wrote, "His aim is certainly to make known to the wider public the meaning of a work which he himself knows to be unintelligible." The text is full of detail, identifying individual portraits as well as grand schemes, and offering unique insight into the creative process. In addition to the account of the pictures in the Palazzo Vecchio, there is a key to Vasari's frescoes in the cupola of the Duomo of Florence appended to the text. The manuscript, completed in 1558, was edited by the author's nephew and published posthumously. (4798) $6,000.00