LIBRERIA ANTIQUARIA MEDIOLANUM Ptolemaei; ingenio, & labore. ... the first few pages with rubric ti- ... (and later papal librarian), direc-

LIBRERIA ANTIQUARIAMEDIOLANUM

VIA DEL CARMINE, 1 - 20121 MILANO (Italy)

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1. AESOPUS. Fabularum quae hoc libro continentur inter-pretes at[que] authores sunt hi : G. Goudanus, H.Barlandus, E.Roterodamus, Aulus Gellius, A. Politianus, P.Crinitus, I. A. Cam-panus, Plinius Secundus Novocomensis, N.s Gerbellius Phor-censis, L. Abstemius, L. Valla; Aesopi vita ex Max. Planude ex-cerpta & aucta. - Vienna, per Ioannem Singrenium, 1520.

4°; 4 leaves, LII leaves (misnumbering); large, elaborate woodcut border on ti-tle-page; nice printer’s mark at the end. 20th century half vellum, manuscript ti-tle on spine. Negligible small worm-hole in the lower margin of the secondpart of the volume; a small portion of gutter margin wisely repaired in the lastleaf.

Very rare Vienna edition (no copies registered by ICCU) of this col-lection of fairy tales. In the first and last sections, the book offers Ae-sop’s fables translated into Latin by Valla and other distinguished hu-manists. In the central part, we find several parables and stories takenfrom Aulus Gellius, Erasmus from Rotterdam and others, and the se-ries of fables written by Lorenzo Astemio inspired by the Aesopic tra-dition.To be notice, the very nice xylographic border on title-page displayingthe monogram of the typographer framed by a gorgeous processionof bacchic creatures.Mayer, Wien’s Buchdruckergeschichte, I, p. 44 n° 60. Non in Hof-mann. € 4.000


2. ALDROVANDI ULISSE. Musaeum metallicum in librosIIII distributum. - Bologna, Gio. Battista Ferroni, 1648.

Folio; richly engraved title-page by Gio.B. Coriolano, 2 leaves (without thefourth blank), 979 pp. including more than 1200 woodcuts within the text, 6leaves; contemporary full stiff vellum, manuscript title on spine (one joint da-maged). Negligible water-staining in the upper blank corner of three initial lea-ves, minor browning to few final leaves. On lower margin of title-page, a thinstrip of paper covers an old ink annotation; other ownership inscription and astamped bookplate (imperial eagle), on verso of title-page. Second stamped bo-okplate on recto of the dedication l.: Roberto Lawley (1818-1881), well-knownItalian naturalist and botanist .

First edition of the Aldrovandi’s Musaeum metallicum from the libra-ry of the naturalist Roberto Massimo Lawley. Gorgeous illustrated catalogue devoted to mineralogical, geologicaland palaeological observations on items held in the famous Aldrovan-di’s private museum in Bologna, which was one of the most significantand earliest natural history collections in the world. His museum stillexists nowadays. The volume includes innumerable woodcuts depic-ting fossils, minerals, shells, stones, and so on. “Aldrovandi amassed ahuge personal collection, forming his own cabinet. The collection wasendowed to the city of Bologna and was later combined with that ofMarchese Ferdinando Cospi. Aldrovandi’s approach to recording, de-scribing and interpreting his specimens was as comprehensive as hiscollecting; he was able to publish three large volumes during his lifeti-me, with a further 10 being published posthumously. The volume ongeological materials (Musaeum Metallicum, 1648) was one of severalthat were seen through to publication by Bartolomeo Ambrosini(1588-1657, botanist and physician), a former student of Aldrovandi’swho served as custodian of the Museum from 1632 until his death”(Duffin).Nissen 75. Ward and Carozzi 43. C.J. Duffin, A History of Geologyand Medicine, London 2013, p. 26. € 8.500

3. ALTOBELLI ILARIO SENIOR. Tabulae regiae divisio-num duodecim partium coeli, et siderum obuiationum, ad men-tem Ptolemaei; ingenio, & labore. - Macerata, Giovan BattistaBonomi, 1628.

4°; 4 leaves, 198 pp., 1 leaf (misnumbering: pp. 174-175 repeated). Woodcutborder on title, typographic device; several full-page tables within the text.Contemporary full limp vellum. Scored ownership inscription on title-page;stamped bookplate (“Ex libris B.L. Lapia”) on end-papers. Very nice, unsophi-sticated copy.

Very rare first edition and first issue of the Altobelli’s Tabulae concei-ved as a completion of those of Giovan Antonio Magini. Of great in-terest is the figure of Ilario Altobelli (1560-1637) who deserves a placein the history of science as he was probably the first to observe the so-called “Stella nova” (today known as “Supernova of Kepler”): he an-nounced the sighting of the star on October 9, 1604, one day beforeKepler and Maestlin. In his De Stella nova in pede Serpentarii (Praha1606), Kepler himself acknowledged the precedence of Altobelli’s ob-servation.“He wrote on the new star of 1604, in 1610 addressed a letter fromAncona to Galileo on the satellites of Saturn, and in 1615 published atreatise on the occultation of Mars… All of Altobelli’s works are veryrare, not being listed in the printed catalogues of either BM or BN”(Thorndike). Altobelli was in contact with Galileo and really interested in his disco-veries about Jupiter’s satellites, announced in the Sidereus Nuncius,published in 1610. Altobelli wrote to Galileo discussing a number oftheories about the Milky Way and asking him for sending some lensesin order to build a telescope.Thorndike VII, pp. 16, 110-112. Riccardi I, 28. Cantamessa 245. L.Pizzamiglio, L’astrologia in Italia all’epoca di Galileo Galilei, 1550-1650, pp. 213-216. € 4.500


4. ANGELUS JOHANNES (ENGEL IOHAN). Astrola-bium planum. - Venice, Johannes Emericus de Spira for Lucan-tonio Giunta, 1494.

4°; 176 leaves (including the last two blank); Giunta’s device on title-page, afull-page woodcut on verso of title depicting an astronomer (signed N), morethan 400 astrological illustrations within the text, large initials printed white onblack. Late 18th century marbled calf, labels lettered in gilt on gilt-tooled spine,double gilt fillet on sides, gilt edges (head and tail of spine, and one joint wise-ly repaired, end-papers renewed). Nice copy from the well-known Huth mu-seum and from the library of Prof. Victor Goldsmith, Heidelberg (stamped bo-okplate on verso of the last leaf).

Second edition (close after the 1488 Ratoldt’s printed in Augsburg)with the nice full-page woodcut depicting an astronomer on verso ofthe title-page, which appears here for the first time, and hundreds ofwoodcut astrological illustrations throughout the text. ”A remarkable work, very representative of the belief in Astrology inthe XVth century and exhibiting the supposed influence of the starson human beings, every person being given a character (not always anenviable one) according to the star born under. One of the most pro-fusely illustrated works on the subject. Altogether there are about 400woodcuts of men, women and animals, with objects signifying varioustrades, etc., mostly enclosed within horoscopes, and with descriptions... Contains the series of the largest Planets and the largest Zodiacalsigns ... besides numerous large and small ornamental initials ... Theportion on Nativities was partly taken from Julius Firmicus” (Murray).”An important astro-logical work containing tables of the sign and de-gree of the ascendent for each hour and minute...; equations of theastrological houses...; and nearly 400 illustrations showing the potentialoccupations and types of persons born under given auspices” (Stillwell).HC 1101. GW 1901. IGI 3675. BMC V, 539. Goff A-712. Sander 384.Essling 433. Proctor 1877. Pellechet 760. Houzeau-Lancaster 3253.Murray 40. Cantamessa 2381. Stillwell 51. € 14.000


5. APOLLONIUS RHODIUS. Argonautica [Greek text].With Scholia by Lucillus, Sophocles, and Theon. Ed: Janus La-scaris. - Florence, (Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, Venetus),1496.

4°; 171 leaves (without the last blank); early 17th century full limp vellum, msc.title on spine and on lower edge, blue edges. Gutter margin of first 2 leavesreinforced, blank margins of the last 2 leaves wisely repaired. Nice copy.

Editio princeps of Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes, printed withthe famous Greek type designed by Janus Laskaris. The Argonautica isan hexametric epic poem about Jason and the Argonauts and theirquest for the Golden Fleece; Apollonius (295-215 B. C.), Greek poet,was pupil of Callimachus.”This great epic, possibly the most important written between Homerand Nonnus, had the good fortune to be printed as one of the out-standing examples of early Greek typography. Set in the sober classicaltypeface chosen for it by Laskaris, it is in fact one of the finest speci-mens of incunabular printing in any language… in my opinion this isthe most successful and visually satisfying example of a layout havingthe text and notes printed on the same page…It can be said without fear of contradiction that of the 180 or moreGreek founts that were cut and used in the fifteenth century those ofNicolas Jenson (1471), Zacharias Kellierges (1499) and Ianos Laskaris(1494) are the most original in their design… Laskaris broke with tra-dition by designing a fount of Greek characters strongly reminiscentof the lettering in ancient Greek inscriptions, to emphasize the classi-cal element and give a certain style to his editions of the Greek clas-sics… The lower-case fount, which as we have seen was used for thenotes surrounding textual matter printed in capitals (Apollonius Rho-dius), was also used for the text of some short books” (Staikos).HC 1292. GW 2271. IGI 753. BMC VI, 667. Goff A-924. Proctor,Printing of Greek, pp. 78-79. Legrand I n° 18: “d’une grand rareté”.Staikos, p. 276. € 32.000


6. AUGUSTINUS AURELIUS (Saint 354-430). De civitateDei. - Rome, Conradus Sweynheym and Arnoldus Pannartz,1468.

Royal folio (392x271 mm); 271 of 274 leaves (without 3 blanks). Type 2:115R,46 lines; 2-, 7-, 8-, 10- and 15-line initial spaces, rubricated (Lombard initials,some with reserved-white decoration, those on the first text page finely embel-lished with pen work heightened with paint, the first few pages with rubric ti-tles and headlines in antiqua hand, capitals with pale yellow wash). 19th centu-ry English blind-tooled citron morocco, edges gilt and gauffered (binding scuf-fed, scattered stains). Modern quarter morocco box. Nice copy. Eighteenth-century Italian pen-drawn armorial and monogram on first page (initial EB:perhaps the arms of Barbolani of Florence, augmented with two crescents onthe band); Marquesses of Bute, with the Luton Library bookplate; AlbertEhrman, Broxbourne library (bookplate).

Second edition and one of the earliest books printed in Rome. Havingset up a press in the Benedictine monastery at Subiaco, in the Sabinemountains near Rome, Sweynheym and Pannartz printed here justthree books and then moved their second press to Rome in 1467 at thePalazzo Massimo, very probably at the behest of the great humanist,Cardinal Bessarion. Bessarion’s secretary, Giovanni Andrea Bussi, so-on became chief editor of the press (and later papal librarian), direc-ting its printing programme of humanistic texts. As it concerns the text of Augustine, Sweynheym and Pannartz had al-ready printed the first edition of De Civitate Dei at Subiaco in 1467. Itis interesting to notice the difference between the fonts used in the1467 and those in the 1468 edition: the type used in Subiaco in 1467 isstill inspired by a German style and is defined as a “semi-gothic” (iden-tified as 120 SG); the one used in Rome in 1468 is called “romanus”(115R) and represents a real change, since it will be developed and mo-re and more refined up to the beautiful Jenson output (see BMC).Sweynheym and Pannartz were to print St. Augustine’s work a third ti-me in 1470. A list of Sweynheym and Pannartz books, made by Bussifor an appeal to the Pope for financial assistance and printed in the


press’s 1472 edition of Nicolaus de Lyra’s commentary on the Bi-ble, states that 825 copies of De civitate Dei had been printed,each edition thus comprising only 275 copies.St. Augustine’s magnum opus is ostensibly an apologia of the Chri-stian church, which he saw as rising from the ruins of the Romanempire, but it is also a work of history and philosophy. In the Mid-dle Ages “the writings of Augustine contained perhaps the mostsubstantial body of philosophical ideas then available in Latin”(Kristeller, ‘Augustine and the Early Renaissance’, Studies in Re-naissance Thought and Letters, I, 1956). His works were central tothe transmission of Platonic philosophy, and “both Luther andCalvin took Augustine as the foundation of Protestantism next tothe Bible itself” (PMM).HC 2047. BMC IV, 5 (IC. 17107). GW 2875. IGI 967. Goff A-1231. Proctor 3293. PMM 3 (first). € 180.000


7. (BAKST LEON), EINSTEIN CARL. Léon Bakst. - Ber-lin, Ernst Wasmuth, (1927).

Folio; 42 pp., 1 blank leaf, 19 pochoir plates and 29 coloured plates, each platewith protection paper and subtitle. Original half vellum, a female figure tooledin gilt on the front cover, gilt title on spine. Special issue consisting of 330numbered copies (copy # 316).

First, uncommon edition. The nice coloured plates mostly depict co-stumes, scene and theatre designs, croquis and sketches realized byBakst for plays like Phaedra, Judith, the Fire Bird, Daphnis et Chloe,Aladdin, and for the operas by B. Gudunov and others. The text waswritten by Carl Einstein (1885-1940), author of the novel Bebuquin(1912), a radically experimental short text, which became a milestonein the German literature. € 2.500

8. (BAKST LEON), LEVINSON ANDRE’. The story ofLeon Bakst’s life. - Berlin, Alexander Kogan Publishing Com-pany “Russian art”, Selle 1922.

Folio; 240 pp., 69 plates, mostly coloured. Several illustrations within the text.Original full vellum over boards, decorated spine and front cover lettered inbrown. Minor foxing. Very nice, untrimmed copy.

First edition of the English text, copy #42 of the special issue printedin 300 copies for Great Britain. The typographic layout was bound upin Berlin by D.R. Selle & Co for Alexander Kogan. The volume is in-troduced by the full-page colour portrait of Bakst by Modigliani. Thebiography of the great Russian artist is by André Levinson: the text isillustrated by a gorgeous iconographic apparatus consisting of a retro-spective of Bakst’s costumes, scenic and theatre designs. L. Bakst(1866-1924) was member of the Sergei Diaghilev circle and the BalletsRusses, for which he designed exotic, richly coloured sets and costu-mes.

€ 2.500


9. BALIANI GIOVANNI BATTISTA. De motu naturaligravium solidorum et liquidorum. - Genoa, Giovanni MariaFarroni, 1646. (Bound with:) (Printed letter from Baliani to Mar-senne). (1647).

4°; (De motu): 174 pp., 3 leaves (the last blank) – (Letter to Marsenne): one fol-ded leaf printed only on recto; typographic device on title-page, several illu-strations and diagrams throughout the text. Contemporary full limp vellum.Original ownership incription by Pietro Salvetti on the first end-paper. Very ni-ce, wide-margined copy.

Special copy belonged to Pietro Salvetti who probably inserted at theend of the volume the extremely rare first printed edition of the letterwritten by Baliani to Marsenne dealing with Baliani’s experiments withthe vacuum and the behavior of liquids: “adm. Rev. Patri Mersenno M.S. Postulasti a me tuis litteris datis 12. Iulii, et aliis, ut tibi, quid de vacuosententiam aperirem … Savonae, die 25. novembris 1647”. Only oneother extant copy of this letter is known, held in the public library ofSaint-Geneviève in Paris (see “Correspondance du P. Marine Mersen-ne” … commencée par Paul Tannery, publiée et annotée par Cornélisde Waard et Armand Beaulieu” XV, 554 and ff.).

Pietro Salvetti was scientist and musician, pupil of Viviani, active at thecourt of Cosimo III of Tuscany. Carrying out his studies on optic, heis credited with first trying to build a Newtonian telescope: his attempthad a great echo within his contemporaries. Newton himself, learnedabout Salvetti’s experiments, paid attention to his work.Second, enlarged edition, mostly original of Baliani’s main work: 6 bo-oks were added and the text was completely revised if compared withthe first edition printed in 1638. The debate regarding the motus in-volved Baliani and Galileo, who simultaneously was giving attention tothe matter. This work represents a remarkable chapter in the history ofscience: “in the second edition [Baliani] speculated on the possibilitythat in unmeasurably small successive finite times, the spaces traversedby a falling body might increase in proportion to the natural numbers[…]. Baliani’s argument embodied an important step toward the con-cept of mass and the analysis of acceleration” (DSB).DSB I, pp. 424-425. Cinti 117. Carli-Favaro 210. Riccardi I, 69. AboutPietro Salvetti see Riccardi II, 414 and Salvatore Rotta, Sulla costru-zione e diffusione in Italia dei telescopi a riflessione, Firenze 1968.

€ 23.000


10. BEMBO PIETRO. Gli Asolani. - Venice, nella Casa d’Al-do Romano e d’Andrea Asolano suo suocero, May 1515.(Bound with:): SANNAZARO JACOPO. Arcadia. - (Venice,nelle case d’Aldo Romano, September 1514).

Two works in one 8° volume; 130 leaves - 90 leaves. Ownership inscription ontitle-page of the first work (Gian Battista Medici Caula, 17th century, memberof an Italian noble family: see the homonymous town in the surroundings ofModena, Italy). Light water-staining in the outer blank margin of few leaves ofthe second work; the first and the last ll. of the volume slightly soiled. Goodmargined copy (9,5 x 16 cm).

Two works from the press of Aldus the Elder, the second Aldine edi-tion of Bembo’s work and the first Aldine edition of Arcadia by San-nazaro, in a handsome contemporary, probably Venetian, binding: fullbrown morocco, spine decorated in blind; on sides, between multiplegilt fillets, a gilt phytomorphic border, corner-pieces with lilies, in thepanel a rhomb formed by a geometric tool containing in the centre aflaming urn, gilt and gauffered edges (head and tail of spine repairedand joints slightly worn).(Bembo): Renouard, p. 72. Ahmanson-Murphy II, 116. (Sannazaro):Renouard, p. 68. Ahmanson-Murphy I, 108. € 11.000


11. BERTELLI FRANCESCO. Theatro delle città d’Italiacon sue figure intagliate in rame, et descrittioni di esse … accre-sciuto di nuove aggiunte. - Padova, Francesco Bertelli, 1629.

Oblong 4°; 10 leaves, 242 pp., 1 blank leaf, 42 pp., engraved title-page, title-pa-ge, 78 plates (1 geographic map and 77 etched city maps). Contemporary fulllimp vellum. Light water-staining on the margin of few leaves, 2 small tears wi-sely repaired without any loss. Nice, good-margined copy with bright and well-impressed engravings.

Third and most complete edition of Bertelli’s work: in addition to the

68 engravings included in the first part, it collects 10 more engravings(and 42 additional pages), appearing here for the first time, and depic-ting Ravenna, Faenza, Cesena, Imola, Modena, Fossombrone, Ascoli,Cividale, Asti and Vercelli. The dedication is addressed to “Oberto Ve-neroso nob. Genovese”.This is one of the earliest atlases dedicated to Italian cities, rare to befound complete and in such a nice condition.Cremonini 20. Vinciana 1326 (other ed.). Michel I, p. 154.

€ 22.000


12. BIBLIA LATINA. (with additions by Thomas Taqui andBiagio Romero). - Naples, Matthias Moravus, 1476.

Folio; 454 leaves. Latin, two- and three- columns text. 18th century full calf, ri-chly gilt-tooled spine, double gilt fillet on sides (joints repaired, head and tail ofspine slightly chipped). Few manuscript annotations and ownership inscrip-tions on end-papers and a number of marginal notes by an old hand. 19th cen-tury printed bookplate on the front paste-down. One tear repaired on l. YII.Good copy with wide margins (22 x 32,5 cm).

The first Bible to be printed in Naples. Matthias Moravus from Ol-mutz was the most prolific printer in Naples in the fifteenth century,producing numerous books of hours and other liturgical and devotio-nal texts. As far as its beauty and quality, his production has to be com-pared with that of Nicolas Jenson. “This edition is printed in two columns, in a slender gothic character,with considerable skill, and great attention to marginal beauty. It hasrunning titles, uniformly, on the rectos of the leaves” (Dibner).H 3059. GW 4220. IGI 1645. BMC VI, 862. Goff B-545. Fava-Bre-sciano, La stampa a Napoli nel secolo XV, p. 60. Dibdin I, 20.

€ 30.000


13. (BODONI GIAMBATTISTA). Oratio dominica in CLVlinguas versa et exoticis characteribus plerumque expressa. -Parma, typis Bodonianis, 1806.

Folio; 4 leaves (1 blank), XX pp., 2 leaves, 20 pp., 1 leaf, CCXLVIII pp., 1 leaf,1 blank leaf; XIX century half vellum, morocco labels lettered in gilt on tooledspine (minor defeats on front side). Negligible few foxing. Nice copy.

First edition. One of the most remarkable editions by GiambattistaBodoni, printed in only 182 copies. The volume contains a magnificentseries of types, expressly designed by the great typographer himselfand realized to print the Oratio Dominica with 155 different alphabets.”In 1806, the Oratio Dominica is another masterly showing of whatBodoni could in foreign and ancient alphabets. This polyglot O.D. wasprinted at the suggestions of Pius VII who, in May 1805, had passedthrough Parma on his way from the coronation of Napoleon I. It wasintended to outdo a like work published by the Imprimerie Imperiale atParis. Bodoni’s book was dedicated to Eugène Beauharnais, Viceroy ofNaples, to whom he personally presented a copy. In return for thiswork, Bodoni received a pension and an offer of the direction of theRoyal Printing House at Milan” (Updike).Brooks 1003. Updike II, pp. 168-169. De Lama: “Libro prezioso che faepoca nella tipografia”. Giani, Cat. 178. Brunet IV, 200.

€ 8.000


14. BOSCHINI MARCO. L’arcipelago con tutte le Isole,Scogli, Secche e Bassi Fondi, con mari, golfi, seni, porti, città ecastelli; nella forma, che si vedono al tempo presente. - Venice,Francesco Nicolini, 1658.

4°; 4 leaves, 101 pp., one engraved plate displaying the coat of arms of Ales-sandro Farnese (dedicatee of the work), 3 large folding maps, 46 full-pagemaps within the text. Nice, a little later cartonnage. Very nice, unsophisticated,untrimmed copy. A fine impression.

First and only edition. One of the most detailed and exhaustive illu-strated description of the Greek Archipelago: the series of etchings in-cludes a large folding map depicting the Aegean sea, two double plates(Iraklion and Negroponte) and 46 full-page etchings. The very niceplates are by the painter, engraver and man of letters Marco Boschini(1613-1678).The etchings stand out for their very high quality and offer clear bird’seye views and a thorough definition of the coasts. Among them, weshould mention at least Chitira, Scarpanto, Rodi, Stampalia, Santorini,Milo, Mikonos, Paros, Amorgos, Patmos, Samo, Skiatos.Blackmer 172. Brunet I, 1123. Vinciana 1332. € 15.000


15. BOSCOVICH RUGGERO GIUSEPPE. PhilosophiaeNaturalis Theoria redacta ad unicam legem virium in natura exi-stentium. - Vienna, Officina Libraria Kaliwodiana, 1758.

4°; 14 leaves, 322 pp., 3 leaves (including “Monitum” and the leaf of errata, thislatter printed later but inserted into this copy), 16 pp., 4 folding engraved plateswith diagrams. Contemporary paper boards, label with gilt title on spine, mar-bled edges. Very nice copy.

First edition, very rare, in a really nice copy. “A landmark in the histo-ry of science, this work represents the birth of atomic physics: Bosco-vich’s theories are concerned in the first place with the constitution ofmatter, the behavior of physical forces and the nature of atoms and oflight. [The author] comes nearer certain ideas of modern physics…This ‘point-atoms’ of Boscovich were deemed to have a position –but no extension – in space, and to possess mass. Boscovich believedthat each atom is surrounded by a field of force, alternately positiveand negative through a number of cycles” (PMM). “The Theoria was not only the first general mathematical theory ofatomism… but more specifically it was the first scientific theory….[Boscovich] anticipated the aims, and many of the features, of twen-tieth-century atomic physics” (White).R.G. Boscovich was a physician, astronomer, and mathematician fromDubrovnic, active in Italy and France. He is given credit for many con-tributions to astronomy as well, including the first determination ofthe equator of a rotating planet and the absence of atmosphere on theMoon.PMM 203. Norman 277. Riccardi I, p. 180, 53. Sommervogel I, 1840,66. LL. White, Boscovich’s atomism, in Roger Joseph Boscovic, 1711-1787. Studies in His Life and Work on the 250th Anniversary of HisBirth, pp. 102-126. € 75.000


16. BOTERO GIOVANNI. Della Ragion di Stato libri dieci, conTre Libri delle cause della Grandezza e Magnificenza delle Città. -Venice, Giovanni e Giovanni Paolo Giolito de Ferrari, 1589.

4°; 16 pp., 367 pp., 1 leaf; engraved headings and end-piece on verso of the last leaf.18th century full vellum, spine lettered in gilt, marbled edges. Nice copy.

Original edition of Della Ragion di Stato, a masterpiece in the history ofeconomics and politics, considered to be the antagonist of Machiavelli’sPrincipe, and second edition of Delle Cause della Grandezza delle Città (firstpublished in Rome, 1588), which represents an anticipation of the theoriesof population developed by Malthus about two hundred years after Botero. It can be said that the work by Botero and the writings by Machiavelli are themost relevant Italian contribution to the European politic theory of the time. Giovanni Botero (1544-1617) was actually the founder of the “Antimachia-vellian” tradition, which tried to define the “perfect ruler” as the one whocan create, maintain and expand a powerful state by using moral principles.He reinterpreted the ideas of Machiavelli fitting them into a more equal fra-mework: the injustice cannot be considered as an advantage and the honestycan never be sacrificed. This text marks an important step in the evolutionfrom a feudal into a modern system. His treatise soon became a successfuland influential text.As it concerns Botero’s contribution to the theory of population (Delle Cau-se della Grandezza delle Città), it shall be noticed that his observations aboutdemographic increase and urbanization connected with the prosperity of acountry are of particular interest, as they are now seen as precursors of Mal-thusian theories.Moreover, it should be underline that an issue only including the edition ofDella Ragion di Stato was printed in the same year (1589) by Giolito (seeBozza, Scrittori politici italiani dal 1550 al 1650, n. 34, p. 66).Gamba 1271. Bongi II, pp. 132-133. Adams B 2548. Goldsmith 248. R. Bi-reley: “Machiavelli Turned Upside Down: Giovanni Botero’s Regione de Sta-to (1589)”, Chicago 2007. € 6.500


18. BRUNO GIORDANO. Candelaio. Comedia del BrunoNolano Achademico di nulla Achademia; detto il fastidito. InTristitia hilaris: in Hilaritate tristis. - Paris, Guglielmo Giuliano.Al segno de l’Amicitia, 1582.

Small 8°; 16 leaves, 146 leaves; 20th century full blue morocco, spine letteredand tooled in gilt, covers triple gilt-ruled, gilt edges.

Extremely rare first edition of the only theatrical play written by Gior-dano Bruno and one of his earliest works. Together with Machiavelli’s Mandragora (1524), Il Candelaio (TheCandlebearer) by Bruno is a masterpiece in the Italian Renaissancetheatre, embodying the spirit of the 16th century. Bruno had completed the comedy before leaving Toulouse and mo-ving to Paris, where he published it and his well-known treatises onmnemonic De umbris idearum and De compendiosa architectura etcomplemento artis Lullii. The cultural environment in Paris and thesupport of Henry III were particularly favorable for him; the publica-tion of Il Candelaio did not remain unnoticed. “The comedy develops a bitter satire against the insipid lover, the sor-did miser, and the foolish pedant, and though these figure against Pe-trarchan love, bourgeois greed, and academic knowledge. Both on thelinguistic level and in the weaving of the scenic action Bruno challen-ges institutional knowledge in a provocative, or “avanguardistic” way,as Barberi Squarotti defines it (“La struttura del Candelaio”, 1993).And he also rejects the false lyricism of the spiritualized lover, who isdeceived by the reality of economic interest; the illusions of alchemicalscience, which is mocked for its desire for easy gain; the empty formu-las of the humanistic language, which is reduced to pure grammaticaldeclamation; and finally, the deceptive versatility of biblical quotations,which are always subject to deformations and double meanings” (Fra-jese).The action unfolds in Naples in 1577. “Here is the Candelaio Bonifa-cio, who loves the prostitute Vittoria and hopes to attain his end by

17. BOUSSUET FRANCOIS. De natura aquatilium carmen,in universam Gulielmi Rondeletii doctoris medici, & medicinaein schola Monspeliensi professoris regii, quam de piscibus mari-nis scripsit historiam. - Lyons, apud Matthiam Bonhome, subclava aurea, 1558.

Two parts in one 4° volume; 10 leaves, 240 pp. – 136 pp. (i.e. 138: p. 65, largerand folding, is counted as one leaf) with the portrait of the author and morethan 400 woodcut illustrations within the text. 18th century full calf, moroccolabel lettered in gilt on gilt-tooled spine, triple gilt fillet on sides, marbled edges.Good copy from the libraries of the distinguished biologist and naturalist Ge-orges Cuvier (1769-1832) and of the zoologist Achille Valenciennes (1794-1865): stamped bookplates on title-page. More recent printed bookplate onthe front paste-down.

Remarkable copy belonged to the renowned scientist and naturalistGeorge Cuvier (1769-1832); first edition of one of the few XVI cen-tury printed books entirely dedicated to ichthyology. Cuvier wrote the“Histoire naturelle des poisons” (1828-1849), which offers the mostimportant iconography on fishes published in the 19th century, toge-ther with the French zoologist Achille Valenciennes, to whom Cuvierbequeathed part of his library after his death (see the bookplates). The volume is illustrated by more than 400 woodcuts ascribed to theLyonese engraver Georges Reverdy, active between 1529 and 1565.Both the illustrations and the general layout of the book derive fromthe Guillaume Rondelet’s work about fishes printed in Lyons a few ye-ars before (1554-1555). Each figure comes together with a Latin epi-gram that provides interesting scientific, gastronomic, medical, nutri-tional information (see Paleari, Wellcome, Durling).Nissen I, 58. Nissen (Fischbuecher) 31. Mortimer, Harvard French,118. Wellcome I, 1018. Durling 660 (incompleto). Paleari 50. BaudrierX, p. 257. € 7.000


magic arts and strange incantations. Here is the old Bartolomeo, thecredulous miser, who, bending over the furnaces, amid retorts, eagerlystrives to make gold. Here is that monument of empty learning, thepedant Manfurio, who hurls invectives against anyone disrespectful ofhis authority… The piece is one of the most obscene of the Cinque-cento, since the vulgar and immoral persons who appear in the playknew only vulgar and immoral expressions. But what vivacity, whatmovement in the tumultuous dialogues and monologues, in the flyingquestions and answers” (Kennard).Salvestrini 43. Sturlese 4, pp. 28-35. Giordano Bruno 1548-1600, Mo-stra storico-documentaria, Roma, Biblioteca Casanatense, 2000, 127. V.Frajese, Il Candelaio, Encyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies, ed. byG. Marrone and P. Puppa, New York 2007, p. 318. J. S. Kennard, TheHistory of the Italian Theatre, New York 1932, pp. 108 and ff.

€ 60.000

19. CAROSO FABRIZIO. Il Ballarino diviso in due trattati.Alla Serenissima Signora Bianca Cappello de Medici, grandu-chessa di Toscana. - Venice, Francesco Ziletti, 1581.

4°; 8 ll., 16 ll., 184 ll., 4 ll. (misnumbering: ll. 55, 60, 103, 177, 179 respectivelynumbered as 25, 90, 104, 179, 181), portrait of the author and 22 full-page et-ched illustrations (some repeated) by Giacomo Franco; large woodcut historia-ted initials, several sections with music notation. Contemporary full limp vel-lum, manuscript title on spine. Nice, unsophisticated copy.

First edition of one of the most important treatises about dancing inlate Italian Renaissance. The Ballarino is finely illustrated by the autho-r’s portrait and by 22 magnificent full-page etchings by Giacomo Fran-co (1550-1620); it provides specific rules and choreography for themost amazing dances performed by nobility at that time. The work, ad-dressed to Bianca Cappello, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, is a chiefsource of contemporary social dance and offers an impressive exampleof the life-style at European courts. In the first section, Caroso, a prominent Italian dancing master, provi-des a thorough description of 55 basic rules of dancing; the secondpart, more practical, deals with 80 kinds of dances, each dedicated toone lady (e.g. Lucretia d’Este della Rovere, Duchess of Urbino, Mar-garita Gonzaga d’Este, Duchess of Ferrara…).Derra de Moroda 527. Magriel, p. 43. Eitner II, 341. Fetis II, 194. Ci-cognara 1616. Gamba 1294. Mortimer 106. Colas 532.

€ 17.000



20. CASSINI GIOVANNI DOMENICO. Theoriae mo-tus cometae anni 1664 pars prima. Ea praeferens, quae exprimis observationibus ad futurorum motuum praenotio-nem deduci potuere, cum nova inuestigationis methodo, tumin eodem, tum in comete novissimo anni 1665 ad praxim re-vocata. - Rome, Fabio di Falco, 1665. (Bound with:) Lettereastronomiche al Signor Abbate Ottavio Falconieri sopra ilconfronto di alcune osservazioni delle comete di quest’annoM.DC.LXV. - (At the end:) Rome, Fabio di Falco, 1665.

Two works in one folio volume: (Theoriae motus): 2 ll. (title-page and de-dication), 60 (i.e. 62) pp., 1 large folding engraved plate, 1 leaf (index) -(Lettere): 22 pp., 1 leaf (imprimatur). 20th century full calf. Stamped ex li-bris of a private collection on title-page of the second work. Negligiblebrowning on scattered leaves. Nice, wide-margined copy (32 x 22 cm).

First edition of the two extremely rare works by Cassini concer-ning the comet of 1664. The author observed it through a new te-lescope, described in the preface, and “formulated a new theory (inagreement with the Tychonian system) in which the orbit of thecomet is a great circle whose center is situated in the direction ofSirius and whose perigee is beyond the orbit of Saturn. A new andfertile direction now opened up for Cassini’s observation. Throughhis friendship with the famous Roman lensmakers Giuseppe Cam-pani and Eustachio Divini, Cassini, beginning in 1664, was able toobtain from them powerful celestial telescopes of great focallength. He used these instruments - very delicate and extremely ac-curate for the time - with great skill, and made within several yearsa remarkable series of observations on the planetary surfaces,which led him to important discoveries. In July 1664 he detectedthe shadow of certain satellites on Jupiter’s surface and was thusable to study the revolution of the satellites and to demonstratethat of the planet” (DSB).


The large folding plate at the end of the first work depicts the positionof the comet in the Southern Hemisphere between December 13,1664 and January 1665. The second work is a collection of letters addressed to Ottavio Falco-nieri, where Cassini offers further information about the comet andmany remarks on the Auzout and Hevelius’ observations.DSB III, p. 101. I) Riccardi I, p. 276. Grassi, p. 139. Lalane p. 261. II)Riccardi I, p. 277. Grassi, p. 139. Lalane, p. 258. € 30.000

21. CATULLUS, TIBULLUS, PROPETIUS (sic). Carmina. -Venice, Aldo, January 1502.

8°; 152 unnumbered leaves (44 ll. Catullus, 36 ll. Tibullus, 70 ll. Propertius), 2 ll.(colophon and half-title). 16th century ownership inscriptions on end-papersand half-title: “ad usum Vincentii Binis, Antoni Mozzii, Francisci Rosselli”. Asmall worm-hole along the volume, not affecting the text. Good-margined, ni-ce and unsophisticated copy (10,3 x 16,5 cm) from Landau library (printed bo-okplate on the front paste-down).

First Aldine edition, first very rare issue showing the incorrect name“Propetius” on title-page, in a remarkable, probably Bolognese, bin-ding of the second quarter of 16th century: full brown morocco, pa-nelled sides with a central compartment surrounded by two phyto-morphic borders tooled in gilt and showing in the centre two flamingurns, 4 corner-pieces displaying horns of plenty, gilt and gauffered ed-ges, 4 original metallic clasps preserved (leather ties maybe later repla-ced), vellum end-papers (head and tail of spine wisely repaired).The text was edited by Aldus himself and by Girolamo Avanzi, as it issaid in the preface by Aldus and in the significative letter addressed byAvanzi to Marino Sanuto, following the section dedicated to Catullus.Renouard 39, 16. Ahmanson-Murphy I, 40. € 14.000


22. CESALPINO ANDREA. De Plantis. - Florence, GiorgioMarescotti, 1583.

4°; XL pp., 621 pp., X pp.; contemporary full limp vellum (end-papers renewed,the front board replaced). The outer margin of title-page slightly worn, minorwater-staining to the blank margin of few initial leaves. Stamped bookplate totitle and to the first leaf of dedication (Sandro Brugnatelli). Nice copy.

First edition, a milestone in the history of botany. Cesalpino was thefounder of the morphology and physiology, producing the first scien-tific classification of flowering plants. In fact, he was the father of thebotany as an independent science. Before the invention of the microscope, this text provides a hugeamount of thorough information about flowers and fruits. “With theknowledge of new fauna coming into Europe from the New Worldand the East, and the creation of many new botanical gardens, the ne-ed was felt for a more scientific classification of plants … With An-dreas Caesalpino a new era begins. He was professor of materia medi-ca and director of the botanical garden at Pisa and later professor inRome and physician to Pope Clement VIII. His book on plants wasthe first attempt to classify plants in a systematic manner based on acomparative study of forms” (PMM).Cesalpino’s “ideas governed the development of botany in the 17thcentury and his influence extended into the 18th. He was the first todescribe in accurate detail the parts of flowers, seeds and fruits, andbased his analytic classification on these parts. He was perhaps the firstto wrestle in print with the concept of species; and his solution, likethose of many modern botanists, was based on the capacity of a groupto reproduce its kind” (Introduction to the Hunt Catalogue of Botani-cal Books, Pritzel 1640, pp. XXVII-XXVIII).PMM 192. Alden 583/20. Arents (Add) 73. Bird 528. Dibner 20. Nor-man 432. Waller 11483. Wellcome 1181. € 30.000


23. CONTARINI AMBROGIO. Il viazo del clarissimo messer Ambro-sio Contarini ambasciator della illustrissima signoria di Venezia al sig.Uxuncassan, Re di Persia. - Venice, 1543.

8°; 40 leaves (ll. B2 and E4 misnumbered Q2 and I4). Half blue morocco by Wallis, spine let-tered and tooled in gilt, gilt edges. Nice copy.

Third edition, very rare. The first and the second editions, almost impossible to befound, were printed in Venice respectively in 1487 and in 1524. This account ofContarini’s travel to Persia between 1473 and 1477 is an extraordinary source of in-formation and direct observations of countries like Germany, Poland, Ukraina, Rus-sia, Lithuania and Persia. It represents an important document concerning a diplo-matic missions of 15th century, at the time when “the swift expansion of the Otto-man Turks into the Levant and the Balkans had cut heavily into Venice’s profitabletrade with that area… Venice, now greatly concerned about its fate, dispatchedemissaries to various countries seeking support against the Ottomans. Among the-se was Ambrogio Contarini. The principal object of Contarini’s mission was to per-suade the king of Persia, Uzun-Hassan, to renew hostilities against the Turks in or-der to relieve the mounting pressure on Venice from the Ottoman advance up theeastern shores of the Adriatic… The Republic was compelled to cede important co-lonies in the Balkans and pay huge indemnities to the seemingly-invincible enemy…Contarini left Venice on the 23rd of February, 1473… Crossing the Alps, they ma-de their way to Nuremberg where they met two Polish ambassadors to the court ofthe Holy Roman Emperor. The ambassadors, returning to Poland, invited the Ita-lians to accompany them… Casimir IV, grand duke of Lithuania, appointed twoguides to lead Contarini to Kiev…, an important crossroads between eastern Eu-rope and the Levant, [which] served as a barrier or frontier garrison against the Tar-tars who were continually harassing their neighbors to the north… ” (Lituanus). On his way back to Italy, Contarini spent some months in Moscow: the descriptionof the city is of particular interest, since the author refers to the general life-styleof people, the economic and politic situation, the architecture (see Amat di S. Fi-lippo).Wilson, A Bibliography of Persia p. 47. Amat di San Filippo, Biografie dei viaggia-tori italiani, pp. 162-5. Adams C-2557. Not in Atabey and Blackmer. € 6.500

24. DANTE. Dante col sito, et forma dell’infernotratta dalla istessa descrittione del poeta. - Venice,nelle case d’Aldo et d’Andrea di Asola suo suocero,August 1515.

8°; 2 leaves (title and dedication to Vittoria Colonna), 244 leaves,l. 244 verso and the 4 following pages with xylographic plates il-lustrating Inferno and Purgatorio, 1 blank leaf, 1 l. with Aldine ty-pographic device. 18th century full calf, morocco label with titlelettered in gilt on spine (joints a bit worn); paper case. Very faintsoiling on the first leaf. Nice copy with wide margins.

Second Aldine edition, including the xylographic plate atthe end of the volume depicting Inferno and Purgatorionot int the 1502 print. As it concerns the text of Dante’swork, a number of scholars argues that Aldus himself pre-pared this new edition, using a different and more correctmanuscript.Renouard, p. 73. Amanson-Murphy II, 118. Mambelli 24.

€ 8.000


25. DANTE. Comedia with the commentary by Benvenutoda Imola. - (Venice), Vindelin da Spira, 1477.

Folio; 373 ll. (without 3 blank ll.: the 1st, the 17th and the last one); early 18thcentury full calf, morocco label on gilt tooled spine, double fillet on sides (smallwormhole to the head of spine; the tail of spine lightly reinforced). Minor re-pairs to the upper blank margin of the first two leaves, wormhole in the lowergutter margin of few leaves (k5-k10, l1-l5), two negligible marginal paper faults(ll. p9 and p10), very small wormholes at the beginning and at the end of thevolume. Nice, unsophisticated copy with large margins (21,5 x 31,5 cm).

Very rare first edition of Dante’s poem including a commentary. Itcontains also the first edition of the “Vita di Dante” by Boccaccio.The text ascribed to Benvenuto da Imola is by Iacopo della Lana (suchas Iacopo di Uguccione di fra Filippo di Cambio di Oliviero della La-na), the first one to produce a complete commentary of the Comme-dia (between 1324 and 1328).Colomb de Batines I, p. 23. Fiske I, p. 3. Mambelli n° 7. HC 5942. GW7964. IGI 358. BMC V, 248. Goff D-27. Pellechet 4112. Proctor 4414.PMM 8 (first). € 130.000

26. DEL MONTE PIETRO. De dignoscendis hominibus in-terprete G. Ayora Cordubensi. - Milan, Antonius Zarotus, 1492.

Folio; 228 leaves; 18th century full stiff vellum, morocco label lettered in gilt onspine. Contemporary ownership inscription on the last leaf (verso): “Est B. Ra-parii quem sibi dono dedit Loysius Ripoll Gottolanus, Ferd. Neap. Regi apudLud. Mediol. Ducem nuntius”. A number of marginal annotations throughoutthe text. Nice copy.

First edition, rare, of one of the earliest works on physical fitness andmartial arts: it is the earliest published book on the art of wrestling.The text is divided into 6 books dealing with exercises for keepingphysically fit, the correct training of the athlete and warrior, the gym-nasium (see Stillwell). The edition, survived in very few copies, hadwidespread circulation within the most important figures of the Re-


naissance, for example Baldassarre Castiglione (who quotes Del Mon-te’s work in his Galateo), or Leonardo da Vinci, who surely knew it. The volume includes (ll. r4-t2) the Latin version of Opusculum deConceptione Virginis, dedicated to Isabella of Castile: this is the firstand only printed edition of this work, whose original Spanish text islost nowadays. Pietro del Monte was weapon master in Milan in the Late 15th centu-ry; he wrote at least four treatises, but the present one was the only tobe printed before author’s death (1509).HC 11608. GW M2543720. IGI 6731. BMC VI, 722. Goff M-857.Stillwell 458. Palau 17780. B. Nardini, Vita di Leonardo, Firenze 2008.

€ 15.000

27. EUCLIDES. Elementa geometriae. - Vicenza, LeonardusAchates de Basilea and Guilielmus de Papia, 1491.

Folio; 137 leaves (without the last blank); title-page with a fine woodcut bordercomposed of animals, festoons, putti and a decorated initial; several marginalwoodcut diagrams within the text. Full brown morocco by Lortic with gilt co-at of arms of Prince d’Essling on sides, spine tooled in gilt, gilt fillets, gilt den-telle, gilt edges. A small worm-track wisely repaired on a blank portion of title-page, not touching the text.

Second rare edition of this monument in the history of science: “theoldest mathematical textbook still in common use today” (PMM), abook which “has exercised an influence upon the human mind greaterthan that of any other work except the Bible… The decisive influenceof Euclid’s geometrical conception of mathematics is reflected in twoof the supreme works in the history of thought, Newton’s Principiaand Kant’s Kritik der reinen Vernunft” (DSB). The Liber Elemento-rum of Euclides was the first mathematical treatise to be printed (ex-cept the dedication to the Doge of Venice, this edition closely repro-duces the princeps - Venice, Ratdolt, 1482 – but is much rarer) and thefirst to be illustrated by an apparatus of diagrams.


The text, probably written around 300 BC, is divided into 13 booksand is in fact a collection and systematization of theorems and writingsof early Greek mathematicians such as Pythagoras (and his school),Hippocrates of Chios, Theaetetus of Athens, and Eudoxus of Cnidos.However, Euclid is generally credited with arranging these theorems ina logical manner. The Latin text derives from Abelard of Bath’s (1070-1160) version of Arabic sources, revised by Campanus of Novara(1220-1296).HC 6694. GW 9429. IGI 3723. BMC VII, 1033. Goff E-114. Proctor7130. Sander 2606. Klebs 383.2. Stillwell, 87. Dibner 100. PMM 25(first edition). DSB IV, pp. 415-425. € 32.000

28. (FERREIRA CHRISTOVAO). Relatione delle persecu-tioni mosse contro la fede di Christo in varij regni del Giapponene gl’anni 1628, 1629 e 1630. Al molto reverendo in Christo Pa-dre Mutio Vitelleschi preposito generale della Compagnia diGiesù. - Rome and Milan, Filippo Ghisolfi, 1635.

8°; 218 pp. (i.e. 220: pp. 126-127 repeated), 2 blank leaves; woodcut device ofthe Society of Jesus on title-page. Contemporary cartonnage (two losses onspine). Old ownership inscription on the first end-paper (“Suor Barbara Ca-moggi”). Pale marginal soiling in the second part of the volume.

Rare edition, identical and contemporary to the first one (Rome 1635)excepting the typographic layout. The text is an interesting accountabout history of Japan and of Jesuit missions in that country along the17th century. The author, a Portoguese Jesuit missionary, “compiled anaccount of the martyrdom of numerous Christians in the region ofTakaku, that is, near Shimabara Peninsula, where Christians had beentortured, maimed, or killed. He also wrote on the martyrdoms that to-ok place in the hot sulphur springs of Unzen” (Cieslik).Ferreira was active in Japan as a missionary for more than 24 years un-der the oppression of the Tokugawa shogunate. In 1633 he was captu-red and tortured and eventually committed apostasy, becoming a con-troversial figure in the history of the Society of Jesus. He died in Na-gasaki in 1650.Cordier, Japonica 323. Backer-Sommervogel III, col. 681. H. Cieslik,The Case of Christovao Ferreira, Monumenta Nipponica 29, 1 (1974),pp. 1-54. € 3.000


29. FICINO MARSILIO. Epistolae. - Venice, Matteo Capca-sa (di Codeca), per Hieronymus Blondus, 11 March 1495.

Folio; 6 leaves (including title-page with typographic device printed in red andthe “privilegium” with a richly decorated engraved bordure), CLXXXXVII lea-ves, 1 l.; two large engraved frames (“prohoemium” and “prologus”), 10 en-graved initials; at the end, woodcut typographic device printed on black. Con-temporary full calf with a nice blind-tooled geometric and phytomorphic de-coration to spine and covers. Original label partially preserved (spine and cor-ners restored). Ownership inscription on the first end-paper (dated 1582), in-teresting handwritten annotations throughout the text. Gutter margin of title-page wisely reinforced, minor wormholes repaired; small portion of outerblank margin of ll. 3-5 replaced without affecting the text; original paper labelwith notes applied to the margin of l. CLXV (recto and verso) replacing earlierhandwritten annotations; one stain to the lower blank margin of the last twoleaves. Nice copy.

First edition, issue with the title-page printed in red. These letters areof great relevance for the knowledge of the Neo-platonic doctrine,which such an important influence had in the development of the late15th century’s philosophy, art and literature. The list of addressees il-lustrates Ficino’s relationship with important figures of the Italian Re-naissance, from Lorenzo il Magnifico to Aldo Manuzio, Angelo Poli-ziano, Bernardo Bembo, Antonio Calderini, Francesco Soderini, andothers. The text of these letters was edited by Girolamo Rossi (see thePrologus); the typographer Girolamo Biondi probably printed onlythis book and, one year before, the Liber de coelesti vita by J. Canales(see Martini).HC 7059. GW 9873. IGI 3863. BMC V, 486. Goff F-154. Essling 805.Sander 2706. Klebs 399.1. Martini 159. € 18.000


30. FORLANI PAOLO - ZENOI DOMENICO. Il primo (esecondo) libro delle città e fortezze del mondo. - Venice, 1567.

Two parts in one 4° volume (23,5 x 17,5 cm); 2 title-pages, 2 blank leaves, alto-gether 36 double-page plates (17 -19): bird’s-eye views, city maps and one geo-graphic map. 17th century full calf (minor repairs to one joint and to spine). Oc-casional water-staining and a lower blank margin of few leaves imperceptiblyshaved. Nice copy.

First edition of the earliest printed work on urban geography. This is aunique copy, including the title page of the second part under the nameof Zenoi, who collaborated with Forlani (Ganado).”The year 1567 constitutes a landmark in the history of Italian mapproduction… The Forlani-Zenoi town books are among the rarestitems in cartographic literature. There are only three extant copies, allwith different contents, and only one copy of Zenoi’s book which con-tains maps at other times apparently forming part of Forlani’s book”(Ganado). The copy Wroclaw consists of 24 plates; the one in Vienna displays 26plates; the copy we are offering, as said in the description, collects 36plates depicting Jerusalem, Constantinople, Naples, Rome (site), Rome,Castel St. Angelo, Genoa, Siena, Fano, Venice, Parma, Mirandola, Paris,Antwerp, Calais, Guines, Thionville, Malta, La Valletta, Tripoli, Il Pi-gnon, Crescentino, Milan, Le Havre, Agria, Iavarino (Raab), Tocai, Zi-get, Giula, Comar, Vienna, Iavarino siege, Austria, Istria and Dalmatia,Gotta, Gotta siege. ”The Forlani-Zenoi town books must have made huge impact on theItalian map market. The novel idea was immediately taken up by otherVenetian publishers, and other town books followed one other in quicksuccession. A special study of these atlases should prove highly rewar-ding. Quite a number of them have been recorded; others are still to befound and described” (Ganado).Ganado, The Forlani-Zenoi town books of 1567. A description andanalysis in Speculum orbis, 1993. F. Bachmann, Die alten StadtebilderLipsia 1939, n. 285. € 40.000




31. FOSSATI GIORGIO. Memorie della vita del gloriosopatriarca San Giuseppe sposo di Maria Vergine. Dedicate alle di-stintissime religiose … del monistero di Santa Cecilia della cittàdi Como. - Venice, Carlo Pecora, 1750.

Folio; frontispiece, 4 leaves, LXXVI pages, 20 full-page engravings printed invarious colors. Beautiful contemporary full marbled calf, covers with a gilt geo-metrical border and gilt cornerpieces, decoration tooled in gilt in the centre ofcovers; the upper cover with the coat of arms of Earl Giuseppe Foppa on a co-lored vellum label; the lower cover with the gilt monogram of Foppa and thedate ‘1762’; morocco label with title on gilt spine, marbled end-papers. 18thcentury ex libris of Earl Giuseppe Foppa. Excellent, unsophisticated copy.

One of the most beautiful and rarest books ever published in the 18thcentury Venetian typography. It is then not surprising that the publi-sher was Carlo Pecora, who had printed the Favole (Fairy Tales) in1744 and will print, one year later, the Vita di San Rocco, both of themhighly regarded for the fine engravings by Fossati, printed in variouscolors. The impressive iconographic apparatus of this volume – wholly car-ried out by Fossati – consists of the frontispiece depicting the portraitof the Saint and framed by a richly elaborated border colored in bistre,the red vignette on the red and black title-page, the large red headingand the red initial at the first page of the text, and the 20 full-page en-gravings representing scenes from the life of Saint Joseph and printedin various colors: beige, grey, red, orange, black, green, bistre, brown,light-blue, pink.Morazzoni 232. € 11.000

32. FRACASTORO GEROLAMO. Homocentrica. Eiusdemde causis criticorum dierum per ea quae in nobis sunt. - Venice,1538.

4°; 4 leaves (including portrait), 78 leaves. Contemporary full vellum, reinforcedspine, end-papers renewed. Excellent copy.

Rare first edition. The Homocentrica provides us with the earliest in-dication about a telescope used in astronomical research (see Part III,chapter 23, leaf 58 versus). ”Si noti tuttavia che nell’opera del Fraca-storo contiensi la prima idea del cannocchiale che fu detto Galileianoapplicato alla contemplazione degli astri” (Riccardi).Moreover, the Homocentrica is of great importance in the history ofscience as it foreshadows, for the first time, the idea of an heliocentricsystem. The work was written as a reply to a handwritten treatise, DeHomocentris by G. Contarini, and it represents one of the earliest at-tempts, according to the Averroist position, to overcome the Ptolemaicscheme.”Apart from the intrinsic value of the work, its attempts to solve cer-tain problems in astronomical and terrestrial physics are interesting, asare the studies on refraction… Fracastoro points out the apparent en-largement and approach of celestial objects (as well as the moon) ob-served through two superimposed lenses, analogous to the appearanceof a body immersed in water, which varies exactly according to thequantity and density of the water itself” (DSB).The second work, De Causis Criticorum Dierum, develops the con-cept of experience: Fracastoro argues that the experience, if correctlyinterpreted, is the only valid method of attaining knowledge. “In Decausis Fracastoro gives an example of badly interpreted experience:critical days really exist in the course of an illness, but it is an error tolook for the explanation of this solely in astral influences or certain nu-merological relationships”. (DSB).Riccardi I, col. 481. Houzeau-Lancaster 2454. DBI XLIX, pp. 546 ff.DSB V, pp. 104 ff. € 18.000


the speed of light; and other fragmentary comments on physics as awhole. Thus Galileo’s Two New Sciences underlines modern physicsnot only because it contains the elements of the mathematical treat-ment of motion, but also because most of the problems that came ra-ther quickly to be seen as problems amenable to physical experimentand mathematical analysis were gathered together in this book withsuggestive discussions of their possible solution” (DSB).PMM 130. Horblit 36. Dibner 141. Norman 859. Sparrow, Milestonesof Science, 75. Roberts & Trent, Bibliotheca Mechanica, pp. 129-130.Carli-Favaro 162. Cinti 102. Riccardi 516. DSB V, p. 245. Gamba 478.Willems 468. € 60.000

33. GALILEI GALILEO. Discorsi e dimostrazioni matema-tiche, intorno a due nuove scienze attenenti alla mecanica & imovimenti locali, con una appendice del centro di gravità d’al-cuni solidi. - Leyden, Elsevir, 1638.

4°; 4 leaves, 306 pp. (i.e. 314: misnumbering), 3 leaves (index and errata); seve-ral woodcut illustrations and diagrams within the text. Contemporary full vel-lum (soiling to the front cover; spine partially repaired). Old bookplate with amonogram on the first leaf. Faint, uniform browning. Nice copy.

First edition. This is the most important scientific work by Galileo, thetext which laid the foundation of modern physics. “Mathematiciansand physicists of the later seventeenth century, Isaac Newton amongthem, rightly supposed that Galileo had begun a new era in the scienceof mechanics. It was upon his foundations that Huygens, Newton andothers were able to erect the frame of the science of dynamics”(PMM). A manuscript copy of the book was given by Galileo himselfto his friend Count of Noailles, addressee of the work, who smuggledit out to France in order to avoid the censure by the Congregation ofthe Index; the work was printed in Leyden by the Elzevirs. “Unable to publish this treatise on mechanics in his own country be-cause of the ban placed on his books by the Inquisition, he publishedit in Leyden. Considered the first modern textbook in physics, in itGalileo pressed forward the experimental and mathematical methodsin the analysis of problems in mechanics and dynamics. The Aristote-lian concept of motion was replaced by a new one of inertia and ge-neral principles were sought and found in the motion of falling bodies,projectiles and in the pendulum… Newton said he obtained the firsttwo laws of motion from this book” (Dibner). “Of the four dialogues contained in the book, the last two are devotedto the treatment of uniform and accelerated motion and the discussionof parabolic trajectories. The first two deal with problems related tothe constitution of matter; the nature of mathematics; the place of ex-periment and reason in science; the weight of air; the nature of sound;


34. GIOACHINO DA FIORE. Expositio in Apocalipsim. -Psalterium decem chordarum. - Venice, in calcographia Franci-sci Bindoni & Maphei Pasyni sociorum impressum, 1527.

4°; 32 ll., 280 ll., 12 ll. (the last blank); two title-pages printed in red and blackwith a large woodcut frame; several woodcuts within the text. Contemporaryfull limp vellum, original leather ties partially preserved. Negligible small tear ingutter margin of the first title-page, not affecting the text. Contemporary ow-nership inscription in lower margin of the title. Very nice, unsophisticated co-py.

First edition of both works. The Exposition of the Book of Revela-tion and the Psaltery of Ten Strings are the most relevant and influen-tial texts by the Cistercian monk, mystic, and esotericist Gioachino daFiore (1135 – 1202). These writings deal with the nature of the Trini-ty, the ages of the Church, the Antichrist, the Apocalypse and the LastJudgment. The volume is illustrated by three title-pages with woodcut borduresand by several figures throughout the text: among them, the famousseven-headed dragon is of great interest. Born in the small village of Celico near Cosenza, in Southern Italy,Gioachino spent a long time as a hermit before joining the Cistercianorder. He founded the Abbey of Fiore (Flora) in the mountains, ap-proved by Pope Celestine III in 1198, which became a new, stricterbranch of the Cistercian order. He theorized the beginning of a newage, based on his interpretation of verses in the Book of Revelation;members of the spiritual wing of the Franciscan order acclaimed himas a prophet. The influence of his thought was enormous. It is saidthat Richard the Lionheart wished to meet him before leaving for theThird Crusade.Russo, Bibliografia Gioachimita. Essling II, pp. 653-654. Sander 3603.Not in Caillet. € 6.000


35. GIRONI ROBUSTIANO. Saggio intorno alle Danze deiGreci. - Milan, Giulio Ferrario, 1822.

Folio; 2 leaves (half-title and title-page), 66 pp., 3 leaves, 8 water-coloured en-graved plates. Contemporary red paper, gilt-tooled spine, a richly decorated,gilt-tooled Neoclassic border on sides, (minor repairs to spine). A msc. note bythe author on the front end-paper (copy sent as a gift for Antonio Zonca). Ni-ce copy.

One of the rarest books about dancing; copy belonging to the limitedissue printed in only 30 copies displaying 8 plates (another issue wasprinted in 80 copies with only 6 plates). “A very scarce work on the an-cient Greek dances, the last few pages are devoted to the contempora-ry Greek Dance” (Derra de Moroda).This refined item, expression of a pure Neoclassic taste, was realizedon the occasion of the wedding of Archduke Rainer of Austria, Vice-roy of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, with Elisabeth of Savoy-Carignano. The volume is finely illustrated by the high-quality etchings

(aquatint) by Fumagalli, Gallina, Biasioli and Bonatti, and wisely water-coloured at that time.Blackmer 693. Lipperheide 185. Magriel, Bibliography of Dancing, p.41. Derra de Moroda 1092 (other issue). Non in Cicognara. € 3.500

36. GLORIOSO CAMILLO. Ad theorema geometricum anobilissimo viro propositum, Ioannis Camilli gloriosi respon-sum. - Venice, Baglioni, 1613. (Bound with:) Exercitationummathematicarum Decas prima. - Naples, Lazzaro Scorigio, 1627.

Two works in one 4° volume; 38 pp., 1 blank leaf – 108 pp. (pages numbered89-94 consist of folding leaves displaying tables), 1 blank leaf. In the secondwork, signature E is misplaced. Several diagrams within the text and few anno-tations by an old hand. Contemporary full limp vellum, manuscript title on spi-ne. Upper corner of the first title-page and outer blank margin of the last blankleaf slightly reinforced, little stain in the outer blank margin of three leaves atthe beginning of the volume. Nice copy.

Exceedingly rare first editions of the two works. The Responsum adtheorem geometricum is the earliest work by Glorioso: with this texthe tried to affirm himself as a distinguished scholar and to succeedGalileo as a professor of mathematics in Padua. He obtained the ap-pointment in the same 1613, thanks to the support of Galileo himself.The first Decas of Exercitationes was printed in 1627 and had an ear-ly, separate circulation, since the second and third Decades were prin-ted by other typographers only in 1633 and 1639. This work is legiti-mately considered as Glorioso’s most significant text. Giovanni Camillo Glorioso (1572-1643) participated in the scientificdebate about the comet appeared in 1618, a debate that had involvedall the most important scholars of the time (Grassi, Guiducci, Galileo).Glorioso stood out for the independence of his observations and opi-nions and for the controversy with Liceti’s theories explained in Denovis astris et cometis, printed in Venice in 1622.Carli & Favaro 108. Cinti 74 (De Cometis). € 10.000


37. GRIENDEL JOHANN FRANZ. Micrographia nova: si-ve nova & curiosa variorum minutorum corporum singulariscujusdam & noviter ab autore inventi microscopii ope adaucto-rum & miranda magnitudine repraesentatorum descriptio tamutilitatis quam jucunditatis gratiae additis eorum figuris. - Nu-remberg, sumptibus Johannis Ziegeri, bibliopol., 1687.

4°; 4 leaves, 64 pp., 55 engraved illustrations on 37 plates; Latin text; contem-porary full stiff vellum, blue edges. Printed bookplates on the front paste-down(Vincenzo Marini). Faint, uniform browning. Unsophisticated copy.

First edition, rare. Illustrated by several plates, this book is a landmarkin the history of microscope. The Latin edition was issued in the sameyear as the German one (1687): both are considered as original, but theLatin one seems to be earlier. Griendel’s work contains “on p.7 an account with illustrations of amicroscope of his own design, which is interesting chiefly as being thefirst instrument in which there was an attempt made to improve theobjective; for in this microscope the objective consists of two plano-convex lenses mounted with their curved surfaces facing one another.This construction was not copied by any other make and for the nexthundred years the objective was universally made of a single lens,usually bi-convex” (Clay and Court). “Griendel’s “microscopes werefor many years considered to be among the best of their epoch not on-ly in Germany, but in all other countries” (Daumas). The number of plates varies from copy to copy: the total of 55 engra-ved illustrations dedicated to single observations are included in 37folding plates; some figures have been originally cut and applied onwhite leaves. The illustrations show several insects, plants and minerals,their organic structure and textile.Wellcome III, p. 165. Nissen ZBI 1715. Clay and Court, History of theMicroscope, Londra 1932, p. 84. M. Daumas, Scientific Instruments17th & 18th Centuries, 1972, p. 88. € 8.500


38. GUARINI ALFONSO. Sponsalitio. - Without any typogra-phic note (Ferrara, 1540-1550?).4°; 26 leaves (without the 2 last blank); engraved title-page framed by alarge and nice architectonic bordure and showing a deer with a snake inits mouth. 18th century full stiff vellum, morocco label lettered in gilt ongilt-tooled spine. Light water-staining; gutter margin of two central leavesslightly reinforced. Printed bookplate (arms of Terzi) on the front paste-down.First and sole edition, absolutely rare. One of the two comedies in Italianascribed to Alfonso Guarini. The Sponsalitio, written in proparoxytonehendecasyllables, was probably composed between 1524 and 1534 and li-kely performed in Ferrara on the occasion of a Carnival or during a courtcelebration. The text, inspired by the new model of Ariosto, speaks aboutthe troubles of a father who has to plan the marriage of his daughter. Thefirst section of the comedy is of great interest from a gastronomic pointof view, as it describes in details the wedding banquet and the organizationof the kitchen and “chefs”: “Ma sopra tutto vedi che sian pratichi/ di fargli arrosti saporiti, et morbidi,/ torte, pastelli, mangiar bianco, tartare,/stellette, guanti, fenestrata, rasole,/ et tutte le vivande al fin, che s’usano/hoggidì ne le corti d’i gran principi,/ che danno la lor mensa per stipen-dio” (c. Aiv v). The second act is introduced by a dialogue between twochefs concerning cooking tools and ingredients for recipes. The edition, commonly ascribed to the Ferrara area, doesn’t provide anytypographic note; the name of the printer and the exact date of the issueremain still uncertain. Some scholars incline to date the edition to the 20’sof the 16th century (e.g. Sander); others support the idea of a posthu-mous printing. In our opinion, both these hypotheses should be rejected;instead, as ICCU and BMC indicate, we support the proposal of a dateof printing to be set around 1540-1550.Allacci, p. 737. DBI LX, pp. 337-339. Not in Folger Library. Not in M.Bregoli Russo, Renaissance Italian Theater, Florence 1984. Not registeredby the most important bibliographies concerning the history of theatre.

€ 3.500


39. GUERICKE OTTO VON. Experimenta Nova (ut vocantur)Magdeburgica de Vacuo Spatio. - Amsterdam, apud Joannem Jan-ssonium à Waesberge, 1672.

Folio (31,6 x 19,5 cm); frontispiece, 8 leaves (including the engraved portrait of theauthor), 244 pp., 3 leaves (index and errata); 2 folding plates and 20 engravings, mo-stly full-page, throughout the text. Contemporary full calf, spine lettered and tooledin gilt, gilt decoration on fore-edges (minor repairs to head and tail of spine). Pale wa-ter-staining to the gutter margin of few leaves in the first part, one tear wisely repai-red in the upper blank margin of p. 111 only affecting the heading. Good copy fromthe library of Emmanuel-Maurice Duverney (1688-1761), distinguished doctor andprofessor of anatomy at Jardin du Roi between 1718 and 1729 (ownership ink. in-scription on title-page).

First edition. A landmark in the history of science, this work, illustrated byseveral and thorough engravings, describes the most important experimentsconducted by Guericke and, in particular, the one with the so-called Magde-burg hemispheres, used by the author to demonstrate the power of air pres-sure. The experiment is depicted in the magnificent double-page etching atp. 104. In fact, Guericke designed the world’s first vacuum pump: “this di-scovery of the elasticity of the air represents perhaps the most important re-sult of Guericke’s experiments. From it he was led to investigate the de-crease of the density of the air with height and to theorize concerning em-pty space beyond the atmosphere of heavenly bodies; to study variations ofair pressure corresponding to changes in the weather…; to propose syste-matic weather reporting through a network of observation stations; to cometo know the ponderability of air within air; and, finally, to draw further con-clusions about a variety of phenomena connected with vacuums” (DSB). Furthermore, this text marks an important new step in the history of elec-tricity: “This remarkable work on experimental philosophy ranks next toGilbert’s in the number and importance of the electrical discoveries descri-bed.” (Wheeler Gift).Dibner, Heralds of Science, 55 (pp. 30 and 67). Dibner, Founding Fathersof Electrical Science, pp. 13-14. DSB, V, pp. 574-576. Horblit 44. Sparrow,Milestones of Science, p. 16. Wheeler Gift Cat. 170. € 19.000



41. JUVENALIS DECIMUS JUNIUS. Opus. - Venice, Fran-cesco e Giovanni Antonio Rusconi, 1523.

Folio (30,5 x 21 cm); 6 leaves, 164 leaves (the last blank); title-page printed inred and black surrounded by a large bordure and with a small woodcut vignet-te depicting St. George killing the dragon; other woodcuts within the volume;Juvenal’s text in the centre, commentaries on two columns. 18th century halfvellum, morocco label lettered in gilt on spine, marbled paper boards, red ed-ges. Title-page slightly worn. Nice, unsophisticated copy from the “Bibliotecadel Cataio dei marchesi Obizzi” (printed bookplate on the front paste-down).

Venetian illustrated edition of Juvenal’s Satires with commentaries byGiovanni Britannico and Badio Ascensio. The set of illustrations in-cludes the fine engraved title-page with the vignette depicting St. Ge-orge and the dragon and 15 large woodcuts throughout the text repre-senting characters taken from the Satires.Essling 793. Sander 3740. € 3.500

40. HIPPOCRATES. Omnia opera Hippocratis (Greek text).- Venice, in aedibus Aldi et Andreae Asulani soceri mense maii,1526.

Folio; 6 leaves, 233 leaves, 1 l. (typographic device). Contemporary full vellum,handwritten title on spine (originally reinforced). Thin worm track to the upperblank margin of sixth leaf and of the first four numbered leaves; pale trace ofan old ownership inscription at the bottom of title-page. Nice, unsophisticatedcopy.

First edition of the “Hippocratic corpus” in its original Greek text.This collection of medical writings includes 59 works attributed toHippocrates himself, “the greatest of clinical physicians” (PMM) or tohis school; some of them did not appear in the first Latin edition, pu-blished one year before in Rome. ”The Hippocratic corpus, brought together … from the writings attri-buted to Hippocrates and his school, has exerted a most profound in-fluence on all subsequent western medical thought … Through thewritings attributed to him Hippocrates is credited with developing thefirst system of empirical medicine based on clinical experience, and theHippocratic oath has long been registered as expressing the funda-mental ethical and moral standards of the medical profession” (GrolierMedicine).PMM 55. Renouard, p. 102. Ahmanson-Murphy I, 209. Durling 2316.Wellcome 3173. Osler 142. Staikos, p. 16. € 55.000


42. (LICHTENBERG JOANNES). Pronosticatio in latino.Rara et prius non audita: quae exponit et declarat nonnullos coe-li influxus: et inclinatione certarum constelationum magne vide-licet. - Venice, 23 August 1511.

4°; 39 leaves, 1 blank leaf; typographic device printed on blank on title, wood-cut white on black bordure on l. 2 verso, historiated initials, 1 full-page wood-cut depicting Ptolemy, Aristotle, Sibylla, Brigitte and Lulhardus with God Fa-ther; 44 other woodcuts within the text (one repeat, one full-page and anotherthree-quarter page). 18th century cartonnage. Few underlining, the outer mar-gin of l. 10 verso fully annotated by an old hand. Margins lightly worn in fewleaves, one light stain (l. 37). Nice, well-preserved copy.

Rare, early 16th century edition of this famous woodcut illustratedbook of prophecies. The striking xylographies depict animals, Adamand Eve carrying a church, the “three estates” (Lords Spiritual, LordsTemporal, and Commons), St. Peter’s vessel, and so on. The text ofLichtenberg’s predictions enjoyed great success and was printed seve-ral times (first edition: Modena 1492). All the editions are extremelyrare. Johann Lichtenberg was a German astrologer, active at the courtof Emperor Frederick III.Essling 1252. Sander 3968. € 14.500


43. LUCRETIUS CARUS. De rerum natura. - Venice, in ae-dibus Aldi et Andreae soceri, January 1515.

8°; 8 leaves (the last blank), 125 leaves, 3 leaves (one is blank); Aldine device onthe first leaf. 18th century full stiff vellum, morocco labels lettered in gilt onspine, marbled edges. Few marginal annotations by an old hand. Very light fo-xing and minor water-staining on scattered leaves. Good copy from the collec-tion of Tammaro De Marinis (printed bookplate on the front paste-down).

The second edition of Lucretius’ poem printed by Aldo Manuzio andhis last book: in the preface dedicated to his former pupil Alberto Pio,he complains of having been unwell for sometime; he will die on Fe-bruary the 6th, 1515. The first Aldine edition of De rerum natura was published in 1500,edited by Girolamo Avanzi. In this second edition, the text was com-pletely revised and improved by Andrea Navagero, who published amore correct version.Renouard, pp. 74-75 (and see p. 23). Ahmanson-Murphy I, 112.Schweiger, p. 573. € 3.900

44. MACHIAVELLI NICCOLO’. Discorsi sopra la primadeca di Tito Livio a Zanobi Buondelmonti et a Cosimo Rucellai.- Florence, Bernardo Giunta, 10 novembre 1531 (on title-page:1530).

4°; 6 ll., 155 ll. Twentieth-century full morocco, triple fillet on sides, lace patterndecoration inside, spine gilt. Internal margin of title-page reinforced. Goodcopy. The year M.D.XXX on title-page - instead of M.D.XXXI - is probablycaused just by an ink-mistake.

Very rare original edition, issued less than one month after the first oneprinted in Rome by Antonio Blado (Oct. 18th, 1531), but based on dif-ferent manuscripts. After the fall of the Republic in 1530, Alessandro de’ Medici cameback to Florence. Within this new political and cultural atmosphere,between 1530 and 1531, the Machiavelli’s relatives and Alessandrohimself commissioned Giunti, official printers of the city, to publishthe works by Niccolò. In fact, he died in 1527 leaving all his writings unpublished. The Medi-cean restoration was really artful in ‘taking the possession” of his textsand in deriving cultural benefits from them. In the same way, but wi-thout the permission of Machiavelli’s relatives (that is why this Floren-ce edition can be considered the original one), Clemente VII - such asGiulio de’ Medici - commissioned Blado to publish in Rome the sameworks (Discorsi, Historie, Principe). See also Gamba 603: “Quantunque la data in quest’edizione sia del 10novembre (quando nella susseguente, fatta in quest’anno medesimo inRoma, è del dì 18 ottobre) tuttavia può giudicarsi originale, leggendosinella dedicatoria … che l’autore molto più può contentarsi nel vedere isuoi diletti figliuoli uscir fuori custoditi per mano della sua prima et piùveneranda madre che per l’altrui”. Parenti, p. 321: “Ne fu fatta un’edi-zione in Roma il 13 ottobre dello stesso anno, ma non è dell’autore”.Bertelli-Innocenti 11. Gerber, p. 10 . € 18.000


45. MAGINI GIOVANNI ANTONIO. Italia data in luce da Fabiosuo Figliolo. Al Serenissimo Ferdinando Gonzaga Duca di Mantova eMonferrato. - Bologna, impensis ipsius autoris, (Sebastiano Bonomi),1620.

Folio; 4 leaves including the engraved title-page displaying allegoric figures by OlivieroGatti, 24 pp., 61 water-coloured plates (58 double-page, 2 full-page and 1 smaller, Isolad’Elba, originally mounted). Nice 18th century half calf, morocco label lettered in gilt ongilt-tooled spine, marble paper on boards. Printed bookplate on the front paste-down(Principe di Soragna). Small repaired tear in blank margin of the plate depicting Ischia.

One of the very rare hand-coloured copies of the first edition, first issue, of theearliest geographic atlas devoted to Italy; expressively bound in the 18th centuryfor the important library of the Prince Lupi di Soragna.This atlas represents the masterpiece of the astronomer, geographer and mathe-matician Antonio Magini, whose work has been influencing the Italian cartogra-phy for centuries. The first issue includes the plate called “Liguria overo riviera diLevante” instead of the one named “Liguria o stato della repubblica di Genova”,in addition to the plates “Riviera di Genova di Ponente “ and “Riviera di Genovadi Levante”. The two maps illustrating the East of Liguria (Levante) show manydifferences between each other; this feature distinguishes just a number of copiesbelonging to the first issue (e.g. the present one and the one described by Cre-monini) and proves the thorough work dedicated by Antonio Magini and by hisson Fabio especially to the topography of the Ligurian area. The set of plates is introduced by 24 pages of text with a short description; thena general map of Italy and 60 regional maps according to the political division ofthe time. The plates are engraved by the three Flemish brothers Arnoldi and bythe Englishman Benjamin Wright. Thanks to the support of Gonzaga (the workis dedicated to Duke Ferdinando), maps provided by the various Italian states we-re brought to Mantua, so that the plates are based on original and first-hand sur-vey. The process took a long time and was really arduous. Magini did not see theprint of his work, excepting for one general map published in 1608 with the titleItalia Nuova. The atlas was eventually, posthumously published by his son Fabio.Almagià, L’Italia di Giovanni Antonio Magini, p. 7. Cremonini, n° 21. € 45.000



46. MAIGNAN EMMANUEL. Perspectiva horaria sive dehorographia gnomonica tum theoretica tum practica libri qua-tuor. - Rome, Filippo Rubeo, 1648.

Folio; 14 ll. (including the frontispiece engraved by P. Guerin after P. Ceccho-ne), 706 pp., 46 etched plates (two double-page and one folding); a large etchedvignette on the third leaf with the portrait of the dedicatee (Card. Spada); se-veral illustrations within the text. 18th century full stiff vellum, manuscript titleon spine. Occasional light browning. Nice copy.

First edition, illustrated by several fine engravings. “Perspectiva horaria [1648] is an extremely detailed and almost exhau-stive discussion of sundials, both from a practical and from a theoreti-cal point of view. In this work many optical topics such as sciagraphyare also treated. Maignan is responsible for introducing a strongly ex-perimental emphasis into the scholastic textbook, turning aside fromthe bookish Aristotelician tradition, while at the same time remainingcritical of Descartes and other contemporary authors. His work, per-


haps as well as any of the seventeenth century, shows the marked in-fluence of experimentalism on scholastic thought” (DSB).The engraved plates are very finely executed and show several instru-ments’ details. Within the volume, we have to mention the large foldingplate displaying a large anamorphic fresco realized by Maignan himselfin 1642: his studies about “anamorphic deformation” inspired severalartists in the following centuries, from the Baroque until to FrancisBacon. Emanuel Maignan taught philosophy and theology at the Minim con-vent of Monte Pincio in Rome from 1636 to 1650, during which timehe became interested in the experimental approach to knowledge, co-ming into contact with Gasparo Berti Raffaello Magiotti, AthanasiusKircher, and Descartes.DSB IX, p. 25. Houzeau & Lancaster, 11466. Lalande, p. 226. Poggen-dorff II, 16. Les Français à Rome, n° 395. P.J.S. Whitmore, The orderof Minims in seventeenth-century France, pp. 165 e ss. € 8.500

47. MARCHELLI GIOVANNI. Trattato del compasso diproporzione composto ad istruzione de’ signori convittori delcollegio de’ nobili di Milano. - Milan, Galleazzi, 1759.

8°; XXII pp. (without the first blank leaf), 352 pp., 8 ll. (index), 1 large foldingetching. Contemporary full cartonnage, manuscript title on spine. Negligible,faint water-staining to final etching, slightly reinforced. Very nice, untrimmedcopy.

First and sole edition, dedicated to Marchese Giacomo Maria Brigno-le. Really interesting handbook containing a thorough explanation ofthe use of the Galilean proportional compass, written by the authorfor his pupils in the Jesuit College of Milan. The large folding etchingprovides a detailed description, divided into five sections, of the Gali-leo’s scientific instrument.Riccardi II, 105. Cinti 177. € 1.200


48. MARTIALIS MARCUS VALERIUS. Epigrammata inamphitheatrum Caesaris. - Venice, Aldo Manuzio, December1501.

8°; 192 leaves (the last one is blank). Beautiful Venetian contemporary marbledcalf richly tooled and paneled in blind, manuscript title on edges (minor repairsto head and tail of spine and to corners). Light yellowing and soiling in scatte-red leaves. Nice copy.

First Aldine edition of Martialis and one of the first Aldine items prin-ted in the 8° “pocket-size”, here in a special copy showing one of theearliest extant examples of marbled calf binding. The calf has beenoriginally acid-treated with a special technique in order to give it a two-coloured decoration: the leather is mottled with a black vegetable dyeproducing the impression of antique marble, perfectly fitting the clas-sical content of the book. This kind of binding is exceptionally rare, al-so because this technique soon fell into disuse. Two other examplesshowing similar bindings are those containing Euripides’ Tragedies(printed by Aldus one year later: Februrary 1503) respectively held inthe Casanatense Library in Rome and in the Breslauer collection (Cat.#12). This edition of Martialis is the fifth of the Aldine “pocket classics” –after Vergil, Horace, Petrarch and Juvenal-Persius (in the same 1501) –printed in the famous italic type purposely cut by Francesco Griffofrom Bologna for Aldus.Renouard, p. 30. Ahmanson-Murphy I, 47. Firmin-Didot, p. 176.Schweiger I, p. 594: “very rare”. Cat. Breslauer, 12.

€ 12.000


49. MENASSEH BEN ISRAEL, AHARON LEVI. Esto es,Esperanca de Israel. - Amsterdam, Semuel Ben Israel Soeiro, 5410(i.e. 1650).

8°; 7 leaves (without the first blank), 126 pp., 1 blank leaf. Contemporary full vel-lum. Interesting annotation on the front paste-down referring to Samuel Palache(perhaps the Jewish-Moroccan merchant, diplomat and pirate who was sent as anenvoy to the Dutch Republic?); ownership inscription on the rear paste-down “Frie-derich Emanuel Richter 1671”. Nice, unsophisticated copy.

First edition. One of the most influential and fascinating texts in the XVIIcentury religious and political debate in Europe about Jewish community.This book contains the account of Aharon Levi, alias Antonio de Monte-zinos, Marrano traveler: he reports on natives in Ecuador who could be ac-quainted with ancient practices and rituals of Judaism. The assumptionwas that these indigenous people were a remnant of the Ten Lost Tribesof Israel.“The legend of the Lost Tribes was particularly powerful among Jews…This trend reaches its clear apex with the messianic agitation of Rabbi Ma-nasseh Ben Israel of Amsterdam, in the period between Shabbatai Zvi’sfirst messianic self-awareness in 1648 and his public movement in 1665-1666… Manasseh thought a great deal and in short order composed atreatise, The Hope of Israel, containing Montezinos’ testimony, along witha detailed theory about how it fit the other known information about theLost Tribes and the imminent arrival of the messiah. He reviewed the re-ports about Jews turning up in China and India as well as America, and puttogether a geographical representation of the Tribes’ dispersal. In his en-deavor he used Abraham Ortelius’ up-to-date atlas, along with works ofWilhelm Schickard, Nicolas Trigault, Samuel Bochart, and dozens of othercontemporary European sources” (Goldish).Sabin 44191 (wrong date 1649). Palau (1926) V, p. 146: “rare”. M Goldish,The Sabbatean Prophets, Harvard 2004, p. 32. C. Harris, The Way Jews Li-ved: Five Hundred Years of Printed Words and Images, 2009, p. 93.

€ 12.000



50. MUENSTER SEBASTIAN. Kalendarium Hebraicum,opera Sebastiani Munsteri ex Hebræorum penetralibus iam re-cens in lucem æditum: quod non tam Hebraice studiosis quàmhistoriographis & astronomiæ peritis subservire poterit. - Basel,Johann Froben, 1527.

4°; 4 leaves, 200 pp. (ll. C1-C2 and C3-C4 misplaced), 8 leaves, 2 woodcut fol-ding plates; text in Hebrew and Latin; several woodcut illustrations and astro-nomical tables within the text. Nice 20th century black morocco, gilt-tooledand lettered spine, double blind-tooled fillet on sides, gilt edges. Minor water-staining in the outer blank margin of few leaves, the gutter margin of the lastleaf slightly reinforced.

First edition of this collection of Hebrew treatises on the calendar il-lustrated by several astronomical woodcuts. The text deals with mea-surement of time and solar and lunar eclipses: at the end we can find il-lustrations and description of the eclipses of 1526-73 taken from Stof-fler’s Calendarium Romanum (1518).“In 1527, Muenster published a small book, Kalendarium Hebraicum,at Froben’s press. On the title page, Muenster announced that he hadtranslated the material himself into Latin. He intended the book to bea small compendium of useful information about the Jewish calendarand Jewish chronology, with primary sources in Hebrew, and Latintranslations on facing pages that should be useful for Christian huma-nist students and for theologians. It contained a brief introduction toJewish calendation, along with a pitch for its value to Christians… Heexplained the system of Jewish chronology and how to decipher thenumerical value of the Hebrew letters to extract the anno mundi…Pioneering as it may have been, Muenster did not print his Jewish com-putus for Jews but for Christians” (Carlbach).Adams M-1933. BMC German Books 633. E. Carlbach, Palaces of Ti-me, Harvard College Press, 2011, pp. 49-50. € 7.500

51. ODDI MUZIO. Dello squadro. - Milan, Bartolomeo Fo-bella, 1625. (Bound with:) Fabrica et uso del compasso polime-tro. - Milan, Francesco Fobella, 1633.

Two works in one 4° volume; 4 ll., 176 pp.; - 3 ll. (without the first blank), 124pp., 2 ll. with diagrams, 1 l. (errata), 1 blank leaf. Two large vignettes etched ontitle-pages. Several woodcuts and etchings (mostly full-page) throughout thetext. Contemporary full limp vellum, manuscript title on spine and edges (end-papers renewed, marginal soiling to the rear cover). A pale, negligible marginalstain on p. 10; a small portion of the upper blank margin of the first work sli-ghtly repaired.

First editions. A very scarce treatise dedicated to a new square instru-ment (“lo squadro”) for land surveying, bound here with a text devo-ted to the so-called “Galilean” compass. In the first work, Oddi describes in details the innovative system ofland surveying based on the equilateral triangle and the use of the newinstrument designed by himself. The text is illustrated by several, niceengravings. Riccardi underlines the rarity of this edition and highlightsthe quality of the print. Among the flourishing of interest in the compass aroused by the pu-blication of “Le operazioni del compasso geometrico e militare” byGalileo in 1606, the second work deals with the proportional compass– whose paternity remains controversial – providing a thorough de-scription of the instrument and its use. The so-called “Galilean” com-pass was widely used during the later 16th and earlier 17th centuries.Riccardi II, 211-212. € 5.600


52. (PAVESI CESARE). Cento, e cinquanta favole, tratte dadiversi autori antichi, e ridotte in versi, e rime, da M. Pietro Tar-ga. - Venice, Giovanni Chrieger, 1569. (Bound with): ARIO-STO LUDOVICO. Rime. Satire del medesimo con i suoi argo-menti di nuovo rivedute & emendate, per m. Lodouico Dolce -Venice, Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari, 1557.

Two works in one 12° volume: 88 leaves – 192 pp.; Pavesi’ title-page in elabo-rate woodcut border incorporating Chriegher’s typographic device (lion), a wo-odcut illustration preceding the text of each fable (150 woodcut illustrations inall), nice woodcut tail-pieces and initials. Full-page engraved portrait of Ariosto

on l. 3 verso of the first work. 18th century full vellum, red morocco label let-tered in gilt on spine. Old ownership inscriptions at the end of the first work.Light soiling to the lower corner of the first 4 leaves of Pavesi. Good copy.

Exceedingly rare edition of Pavesi’s fairy tales, illustrated by 150 wo-odcuts. This issue seems to be the earliest one, even though the title-page shows the caption “impression seconda”. Johann Chrieger, Ger-man typographer, has been working in Venice for only two years reali-zing a total of 5 or 6 editions; he was active as an engraver and it is qui-te likely that the credit for the woodcut vignettes illustrating the fablesis to be given to him. The text of the fables is taken from several sour-ces, first of all from Aesop. The edition of Rime and Satire by Ariosto, at the beginning of the vo-lume, is “extremely rare” (Agnelli-Ravegnani): this issue is the first oneto include Rime and Satire together and the only one to be quoted byCrusca Academy as a very correct one.Pavesi: BMC s.t. p. 496 (ed.1575). Graesse VII, p. 28. Melzi III, p. 125.Ascarelli-Menato, p. 417 (per lo stampatore). Ariosto: Agnelli-Rave-gnani II, p. 61. Bongi II, pp. 26-36. Mazzuchelli I, p. 1082. € 2.200

53. PAZ JUAN DE LA. Opusculum in quo ducenta, & sep-tuaginta quatuor quaesita, a RR. PP. missionarijs regni Tunkiniproposita, totidemque responsiones ad ipsa continentur. - Sevil-le, ex officina Thomae Lopez de Haro, (1682?).

4°; 12 leaves, 240 pp.; woodcut headings and end-pieces; two columns text.Contemporary full limp vellum, red edges. Pale water-staining to the outerblank margin of the first 4 leaves; small marginal worm-hole in few ll. in the lastpart of the volume. Good copy.

Second edition of this very rare account on Vietnam (unknown toCordier). We did not find any copy of the first edition, printed in Ma-nila in 1680 on risepaper, offered on sale; neither the first nor the se-cond edition in Maggs, Bibliotheca Asiatica et Africana Cat.Early work about the history of Vietnam by the Dominican Juan de la


Paz. The text deals with politics, religion, superstition, ritual ceremo-nies, economic organization, tax system, particularly focusing on theregion of Annam and providing a large amount of first-hand informa-tion about the country at that time.Palau (1926) VI, p. 53. Cordier, Indosinica, coll. 1942-1943 (Manilaed.). € 3.500

54. (PETITOT ENNEMOND ALEXANDRE, FRUGONICARLO INNOCENZO). Feste d’Apollo celebrate sul Teatrodi Corte nell’agosto del MDCCLXIX per le auguste seguitenozze tra il Reale Infante Don Ferdinando e la R. ArciduchessaMaria Amalia. - Parma, Stamperia Reale, (1769).

4°; frontispiece engraved by P. A. Martini, 15, 20, 27, 28 pp., 4 engraved plates,4 vignettes and 4 etched tail-pieces; contemporary half calf, label lettered in gilton gilt-tooled spine (slightly worn). Occasional pale marginal foxing; nice copy.

First rare edition, one of the earliest printing by Bodoni. Nice festivalbook including ballets and music, illustrated by the fine etchings by J.Ch. Baquoy and I. S. Helman after drawings by P. A. Martini under thesupervision of Petitot. The “festivals of Apollo” consists of a “festa teatrale”, such as a dra-ma with music divided into a prologue and three acts according to thecontemporary French model of the opera- ballet. The music was com-posed by C. W. Gluck and performed in 1769 on the occasion of thewedding between Ferdinand Duke of Parma and the Archduchess Ma-ria Amalia of Austria. This work is in fact an important document inthe history of music. A list of artists - scenic design (brothers Galliariand Francesco Grassi), choreography (Giuseppe Bianchi), costumes(Giovanni Betti) – is provided at the beginning of the volume.Brooks 8. Cohen 392. Ruggeri 860. Sartori 10079. Giani, Catalogo, p.83. € 1.800


55. PIATTOLI GIUSEPPE, LASINIO CARLO. ”Lo sposa-lizio di Marfisa, o sia raccolta di Caricature diverse inventate daGiuseppe Piattoli in Num. 10 mezzi fogli imperiali, ed espressea colori”. (Catalogo delle stampe incise in rame che si vendonoin Firenze da Niccolò Pagni e Giuseppe Bardi).

Ten copper engraved plates (300 x 375 mm), contemporary hand-coloured.Very nice copy (last plate with shorter margins, negligible marginal repairs).Modern box.

Exceedingly rare complete series of the ten plates devoted to weddingceremonies, engraved by Carlo Lasinio (1759-1838) after GiuseppePiattoli drawings (1743?-1823?) and contemporary hand-coloured.Piattoli and Lasinio worked together in the production of some deco-rative series for Pagni and Bardi, designed for a large public and quitepopular at that time. “These series included two collections of Prover-bi, o Motti Toscani”, comprising of up to eighty sheets; twenty-five en-gravings of Giuochi, Trattenimenti, e Feste annue che si consumano inToscana, e specialmente in Firenze”; and the Favole, drawn by the samePiattoli”. “It seems that Lasinio supervised the copper engraving pro-cess of the Piattoli’s original drawings…. (For the Marfisa series the set-tings and backgrounds of the scenes are vaguely delineated, and theirconstruction has been delegated to the engraver). The Marfisa serieswas engraved in copper plates measuring between 295 and 300 mm inheight and between 365 and 375 mm in width. As stated in the catalo-gue, these prints were sold by the publishers already coloured. The co-lours, painted by hand with a brush, play a major role with respect to thevalue of the series as a decorative item. It is interesting to note that Piat-toli indicated in his drawings (seven original drawings are located in theFitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge) the different colour fields with sui-table abbreviations… Every plate includes in the lower section a cente-red title and two couplets at its sides. The signature “Lasinio incise” oc-curs in Plate 3; “Lasinio f.” appears in six plates (1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 10), whileplate 4 includes “G. Piat. Inv. Lasinio f.”. The sequence of ten scenes

includes interesting details about the key moments of a marriage at theend of the 18th century… The focus is on the characters of the singlescenes, and their representation is strongly caricatural…”.The graphic sources of the Marfisa have to be connected to “a newthematic thread in caricatural prints started in 1718 with the publica-tion by Engelbrecht of the series “Callotto Resuscitato”, referring ex-plicitly to the renowned models of the Gobbi engraved by Callot andof the dwarves engraved by Florentine artists in the first half of the17th century. The fashion spread all over Europe rather quickly, la-sting for a few decades… In subsequent series, around the middle ofthe 18th century, the occurrence of less “ugly”, more “gracious” dwar-ves is noteworthy. It is most likely that these “embellished” characterswere considered by Gian Domenico Tiepolo in 1791, when he devisedan untitled series of six prints, published in Venice by Teodoro Vie-ro… it can be thought that the successful appearance on the market ofthe Venetian series directly inspired the Florentine one: the differentstyles chosen for the two series suggests that Tiepolo’s compositionprovided just the hint for the Florentine artists, who adapted the styleand themes of the Venetian prints to the same social context alreadyexplored with the Proverbi and Giuochi series”.“The Sposalizio della Marfisa series was produced with a decorativepurpose: the colouring, the format and the layered structure of textand pictures made them the perfect item for the wall of a room. Inde-ed, in the years between the 18th and the 19th century, it was fashio-nable to have rooms decorated just with prints, and those prints them-selves were used as conversation topics. In order to be displayed, theprints were often glued to a canvas, framed, and then hung, not neces-sarily with glass protection. In fact, most of the surviving copies ofthese prints suffer from light exposure and show the signs of time;most rare are prints in mint condition” (Alberto Milano).Alberto Milano, The Mariage of Marfisa. A Florentine Series of Printsfrom 1796, in SIGNS studies in graphic narratives, pp. 49-57.

€ 30.000






57. PLUTARCHUS. Vitae. - Venice, Giovanni Ragazzo perLucantonio Giunta, 7 December 1491.

Two parts in one folio-volume; 1 leaf (tabula), 145 leaves – 144 leaves (290 ll.total). Roman types. Two large engraved illustrations depicting Theseus and theMinotaur (l. a2 recto, I part) and Cimon riding a horse (l. A1 recto, II part) fra-med by an elaborate architectonic bordure. Contemporary half calf on woodenboards, original metallic clasps partially preserved (spine renewed). Printed bo-okplate on the front paste-down (Léon Dorez). Very nice, wide-margined copy.

Remarkable and rare first illustrated edition of Plutarch’s work sho-wing for the first time the magnificent woodcuts depicting Theseusand the Minotaur and Cimon riding a horse, ascribed to the so-called“Master of Malermi Bible” and considered as a great and early exam-ple of Italian Renaissance style. This edition is strictly connected withthe editio princeps of Malermi Bible, printed only one year before bythe same typographer, G. Ragazzo, and displaying for the first time thewoodcut marginal decoration included here as a frame for the illustra-tions. “One of the earliest, and yet most charming, examples of the kind, isfound in the Plutarch printed in 1491 by Giovanni Ragazzo di Monte-ferrato... It is quite the manner of the unknown artist who designed thevignettes of the Malermi Bible, and is evidently from his hand. Indeed,it ranks among the best conception of the subject, remind us to someextent of the work of Antonio Pollajuolo, in his known copper-engra-vings” (Lippmann). Furthermore, this copy shows two distinguished provenances: on thelast leaf (recto), autograph ownership inscriptions of Benedetto andLelio Capilupi whose manuscript annotations can be found in the mar-gins throughout the text: Benedetto (Mantua 1461-1518) was the pri-vate secretary of Isabella d’Este and connected with the court of Gon-zaga. He was a leading figure within the contemporary cultural lan-dscape and one of the most important collectors of rare books andmanuscript of his times. His son Lelio (Mantua, 1497-1560) was aswell at the service of Gonzaga, especially close to Eleonora Duchess

56. PLUTARCHUS. Vitae illustrium virorum. - Venice, NicolausJenson, 1478-1479.

Two volumes in one royal folio (41,5 x 27 cm.). I) 233 leaves (the first one blank: si-gnature b consists of 10+1 leaves, since a b7 blank leaf was originally misplaced wi-thin the text and was then removed by almost all the copies). II) 228 leaves (twoblanks: one at the beginning, one at the end. The position of these two blank ll. isnot always the same in the known copies).

The beginning of the first volume shows a large illuminated vignette withtwo “amorini” supporting an unidentified coat of arms; throughout thetext, more than 50 large initials illuminated in gold with colored interlacedpatterns and different backgrounds. The two amorini and the landscapebehind them are of really high quality and surely contemporary as the edi-tion; the coat of arms and the decorated initials seem to be later. The firstprinted leaf displays a stamp of the library of Discalced Carmelite Friarsof Venice (the Order was suppressed by Napoleon). Magnificent copy,printed with very large margins and on very good paper. Scattered smallwormholes, without any loss of text; few marginal waterstaining. Remarkable Italian full calf on wooden boards, blind tooling on sides: cen-tral lozenge with interlaced patterns and concentric frames. Other blind-tooled decoration on spine. Title and author’s name tooled in gilt on sides.Traces of the original metallic clasps. Repairs to the head and tail of spineand to a portion of the lower margin of the front side. Occasionally worn.Third edition and the first one to be printed in Venice by Jenson; togetherwith the Pliny (1472) this is one of the most beautiful products ever issuedby the Venetian typographer. The text is printed with his fine and famousroman type. The present copy represents a document of high quality hu-manistic culture in Venice and in Italy in the second half of 15th century,not only in the text and in the typographic achievement of this edition, butalso in the distinguished provenance and in its special decoration, and, notleast, in the beautiful contemporary binding.HC 13127. GW M34480. IGI 7922. BMC V, 178. Goff P-832.

€ 95.000


of Urbino. Moreover, it comes from the collection of Léon Dorez,French scholar and collector (1864-1922), librarian of the BibliothèqueNationale and curator, together with P. De Nolhac, of a very impor-tant collection of Renaissance books.HCR 13129. BMC V, 501. IGI 7923. Goff P-833. Essling 594. Sander5781. Lippmann, The art of wood-engraving in Italy, pp. 94 and ff.Hind, History of the Woodcut, II, p. 480. Walters, p. 328.

€ 15.000

58. POZZO ANDREA (1642-1709). Perspectiva pictorumet architectorum Andreae Putei e Societate Jesu. - Rome, typisJoannis Jacobi Komarek Bohemi apud s. Angelum custodem,1693-1700.

Two folio volumes: 2 ll. (Italian and Latin title-pages), engraved frontispiece, 2ll. (dedication to Leopold I of Austria in Italian and Latin), 1 l. (imprimatur andengraved plate on verso), 1 l. (preface and text explanation of the first plate onverso), 101 ll. including 101 engraved plates (numbered 1-100 and one unnum-bered between 53 and 54) with text explanation, 2 ll., 1 l. (index) – 2 ll. (Italianand Latin title-pages), engraved frontispiece, 4 ll. (dedication to Joseph I in Ita-lian and Latin), 1 unnumbered plate, 2 ll., 1 l. (imprimatur and explanation ofthe first plate on verso), 105 ll. including 118 engraved plates with text expla-nation, 2 ll. (index), 1 introductory plate and 8 ll. (short treatise about frescopainting). 18th century half calf, double label lettered in gilt on gilt-tooled spi-ne, red edges (minor repairs to spine and fore-edges). Some water-staining onmargin of few final leaves in the second volume, light browning on scatteredleaves and rare spotting. Nice copy.

First edition, rare. Pozzo’s perspective manual for painters and archi-tects represents one of the highest point of Roman and European Ba-roque. “This treatise was the last and the most widely studied work onperspective published in the seventeenth century. It was translated in-to several languages, including Chinese, and reprinted many times.”(Millard). As it provides a clear and thorough explanation of scientific


theories together with the resolution of practical problems and manyexamples of perspective drawing, this magnificently illustrated book,with more than 200 engraved plates, soon became the chief source forarchitects, painters, stage designers, decorators. Among the impressive engravings, partially executed by the pupil ofPozzo, Vincenzo Mariotti, we should mention those dedicated to theChurch of St. Ignatius and to the façade of San Giovanni in Laterano.Andrea Pozzo was a well-known designer of temporary festival appa-rati; he then was commissioned to decorate the church of St. Ignatiusin Rome: the illusionistic perspective he realized, illustrated in the pla-tes, is world-wide known as a paradigm of Jesuit Baroque. Thanks tothe several editions printed without interruption until 1793 (in Romesee De Rossi, Zempel and Giovanni Generoso Salomoni), Pozzo’s in-fluence on the development of Baroque style in Europe could hardlybe overestimated.Vagnetti EIIIb73 (mistakes in the description). Rossetti 8464. Kissner369. Comolli III, pp. 173-175. Riccardi I, 317-318. Berlin Katalog 4725(first edition of the first volume; other edition of the second volume)Millard, Italian and Spanish books n° 107 (other edition) and pp. 330-335. € 16.000


59. PROSE DE’ SIGNORI ACCADEMICI GELATI diBologna distinte né seguenti Trattati … colle loro imprese ante-poste a discorsi.pubblicate sotto il Principato Accademico delSig. Co: Valerio Zani. - Bologna, Manolessi, 1671.

4°; 8 leaves (including the frontispiece etched by L. Tinti after A. Carracci), 160pp., from 161 to 168 are numbered as leaves, 169-390 pp., 391 and 392 are 2leaves with full-page illustrations, 393-432 pp. (without the blank l. Ccc4). Lar-ge engraved vignettes and tail-pieces throughout the text. Good contemporarycalf, spine lettered and tooled in gilt, double gilt fillet on sides. Very nice copy.

First edition collecting 15 miscellaneous writings by members of theAccademia dei Gelati of Bologna. Among them, first of all we shouldmention the work by Geminiano Montanari “Sopra la sparizione di al-cune stelle …” describing the “lost stars” disappeared from the sky in1668 and the ones observed by Galileo in 1610, with two impressivefull-page illustrations printed on black.


The iconographic apparatus is particularly interesting as it contains thefine full-page frontispiece with the central emblem etched by LorenzoTinti after drawing by Agostino Carracci; 17 large emblems (corre-sponding to each text), several woodcuts, large engraved headings andtail-pieces, a number of figures, and the two full-page illustrations onblack. Further texts included in the edition deal with music (G.B. Sanuti Pel-licani, “Degli intervalli musicali”; G. Desideri, “Della musica”), thermalbaths and entertainment in ancient Rome (G.B. Capponi, “Delle termeantiche e dei giochi dei Romani”), tournaments (B. Gessi, “Delle gio-stre e tornei”). The Academy was founded in 1588 and its cultural activities lasted un-til the end of the 18th century.Riccardi II, 172. Frati 6477. Cicognara 1830. Praz 245. Levi-Gelli 134.Fetis III, 4 e VIII, 397. Vinciana 3509. Maylender III, pp. 81-88.

€ 3.300

60. REALINO FRANCESCO. Racconto dell’esequie fatte inCremona all’E.mo Cardinale Pietro Campori Vescovo d’essaCittà. - Cremona, Gio. Pietro Zanni, 1643.

4°; 3 leaves, 92 pp. and a large folding plate (44 x 29 cm) by Alberto Ronco af-ter Carlo Natali; engraved coat of arms of Cardinal Rinaldo d’Este, to whomthe work is dedicated, on title, framed by a bordure, and 17 half-page etchedemblems throughout the text. 18th century decorated paper (reused). Occasio-nal light spotting. Nice copy.

First and only edition, exceedingly rare. The volume is illustrated by 17half-page emblems, finely etched and surrounded by baroque-stylebordures decorated with angel’s heads and grotesque figures, and bythe large folding plate, often missing, depicting the catafalque insidethe Cathedral of Cremona. The book was printed on the occasion of the Cardinal Pietro Campo-ri’s funeral, celebrated in 1643. The funeral oration was held by Mar-

cantonio Bossi; the original ephemeral apparatus consisting in the ca-tafalque with decorations and the series of emblems are ascribed toCarlo Natali (1590c.-1683), painter and architect from Cremona,known as Guardolino. The etchings are by Alberto Ronco.This iconographic apparatus represents a relevant example of the in-fluence of the new Baroque-style even over the minor centres of Nor-thern Italy, as Cremona was at that time.Praz, p. 570. Lozzi 1406: “rare”. Michel VII, p. 14 recalls only the copyheld in Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Not in Berlin Katalog; not inVinciana.

€ 2.500


61. SAMBUCA ANTONIO. Memorie istorico-critiche intor-no all’antico stato de’ Cenomani ed i loro confini. - Brescia, Riz-zardi, 1750 (in fine: In Brescia, 1752. a’ XXX. di maggio).

Folio; 4 leaves (including title-page printed in red and black with a large engra-ved vignette by Zucchi after Fr. Savanni), XVI pp., 476 pp. (misnumbering), 1very large folding plate depicting a view of Brescia, 1 folding plate between pp.122 and 123 with an old inscription, 12 etchings by Zucchi after Francesco Bat-taglioli with other views of the town throughout the text. One large coat ofarms engraved by Zucchi, several engraved initials and 1 geographic map wi-thin the text. Contemporary full calf, morocco label lettered in gilt on gilt-too-led spine, marbled edges (light restorations). Nice copy.

First edition, rare. One of the most beautiful illustrated books devotedto Brescia and a very representative issue of the “Settecento Veneto”.

The iconographic apparatus includes a gorgeous, impressive view ofthe town, “Brixia Veronae mater amata meae” (1280 x 465 mm.), drawnby Francesco Battaglioli (1710 ca.-1722) and engraved by FrancescoZucchi (1692-1764). Furthermore, 12 engravings throughout the textdepict squares, palaces, churches, monuments; the large engraved ini-tials show as well small views with landscapes and figures. All the mostimportant places of Brescia are illustrated here: the Public Palace, Piaz-za Maggiore, The Clock, Piazza Duomo, Piazza del Gambaro, The Spe-dale Maggiore, the Theater, the New Market, the Queriniana Library. The volume contains a number of antiquarian writings dedicated toBrescia and surroundings by Scipione Maffei, Paolo Gagliardi, Dome-nico Lazzarini, Giulio Baitelli, Giuseppe Bartoli.Lozzi I, 967. T. Sinistri, Brescia nelle stampe, Brescia 1977, 119-132.

€ 14.000


62. (SARPI PAOLO). Historia del Concilio tridentino. Nellaquale si scoprono tutti gl’artificii della Corte di Roma, per impe-dire che né la verita di dogmi si palesasse, né la riforma del pa-pato, & della chiesa si trattasse. Di Pietro Soave Polano. - Lon-don, appresso Giovan. Billio. Regio stampatore, 1619.

Folio; 4 leaves, 806 pp., 5 leaves; large historiated initials. English contempora-ry full calf tooled and paneled in gilt and blind, with gilt corner-pieces and dou-ble gilt fillet, red morocco label lettered in gilt on tooled spine (spine renewed).Copy from the collection of Thomas Foley (printed bookplate on verso of ti-tle-page: “‘Thomas Foley of Great Witley Court in the County of WorcesterEsq.”). Thin worm-tracks and holes in the blank lower margin of some pages;occasional light water-staining.

First edition. The most important and influential work by Paolo Sarpi,dedicated to James I, published in London under the pseudonym ofPietro Soave Polano. “The Council of Trent, the turning point in theCounter-Reformation, created the modern Roman Catholic Church. Itrepresents not merely one of decisive moments of the sixteenth cen-tury, but a moment whose influence is still felt all over Europe… Thefull force of the acts of the Council was not lost either on those whodesired a reconciliation between the Church and the new schismaticsor on those who distrusted the centralization of power in Rome. It wasboth these motives which prompted the Venetian patriot, scientist,scholar and reformer, Paolo Sarpi, to compile his memorable ‘Historyof the Council of Trent’… Translated and reprinted over and overagain, the masterpiece of ‘Father Paul of Venice’, as he was known togenerations, is still read” (PMM).PMM 118. Caillet 9905 (sacra inquisizione). Gamba 2080.

€ 4.800

63. SOPHOCLES. Tragaediae septem cum commentariis. -Venice, Aldo Manuzio, August 1502.

8°; 196 leaves; early 18th century full vellum, morocco label on spine. Annota-tions on end-papers. Ownership inscription on the first leaf. Small worm-holeearly repaired in the lower margin of the last 8 ll., affecting very few letters.

First edition of the first book to be printed by Aldus in Greek withinthe popular series of Aldine pocket editions of classics. This copy be-longs to the very rare, earliest issue displaying the title printed on rectoof the first leaf, without the list of tragedies and with the blank verso(see Renouard). “The Aldine edition of these seven extant tragedies (Ajax, Electra, Oe-dipus Tyrannus, Antigone, Oedipus Coloneus, Trachiniae and Philoc-tetes) was the editio princeps of those plays and also Aldus’s first ven-ture into the field of tragic drama… There is a firm evidence thatMousouros used two manuscripts in preparing his edition of the plays.The colophon includes the phrase “Venetiis in Aldi Romani Acade-mia” for the first time. There are differences between copies, not onlyin the text but in the front matter too (see Renouard). The Sophocleswas the first book to be either edited or printed by a Greek in the six-teenth century…The humanists took Sophocles as a model, because he combined thewriting of tragedy with active participation in public affairs and was se-veral times elected to high office, where his qualities of leadership ca-me into their own” (Staikos). A masterpiece in the history of printingand philology, the Greek text of these tragedies served as a referenceuntil at least the 19th century.Renouard, pp. 34-35. Ahmanson-Murphy I, 48. Staikos, p. 342. DibdinII, 408. € 15.000


64. SORANZO LAZARO. L’Ottomanno… dove si dà pienoragguaglio non solamente della potenza del presente signor de’Turchi Mehemeto 3. … ma ancora di varij popoli, siti, città, eviaggi, con altri particolari di stato necessarij à sapersi nella pre-sente guerra d’Ongheria. - Ferrara, Vittorio Baldini, 1598.(Bound with:) Oratione ad Henrico Quarto nell’assolutione da-ta a Sua Maestà da Clemente VIII. - Bergamo, Comin Ventura,1596.

Two works in one 4° volume; 14 ll., 127 pp., 6 ll. – 4 ll., 32 ll.; large woodcutarms of Pope Clement VII on title-page; contemporary full limp vellum, giltedges (minor repair to spine). Negligible worm-track on the upper blank mar-gin in the first work’s index, a worm-hole repaired in the last three leaves (withloss of one letter).

First edition, extremely rare, of these two works, remarkable historicaldocuments about the Ottoman Empire and the politic strategy of Eu-ropean countries at the end of 16th century. In the first one, Lazaro Soranzo, poet and literary man from Venezia,describes the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the kingdom ofMohammed I, who reached the power in 1595. The text provides a lar-ge amount of information and first-hand observations regarding theeconomic and social system of the Ottoman countries, the habits ofTurkish people and their neighbours. The second work contains an interesting oration referring to the stra-tegic alliance, opposed by Spain, between France and Pope Aldobran-dini; it is very rare.Ottomanno: Turcica 2452. Atabey 1157. Blackmer 1575. Oratione: Bo-logna II, 31 (copy missing the Advise to reader by Comin Ventura).BMC (s.t.), p. 634. € 4.000


65. STÖFFLER JOHANN. Elucidatiofabricae ususque astrolabii nuper ingenio-se concinnata atque in lucem edita. - Op-penheim, 1513 (Colophon: impressumOppenheym, per Iacobum Köbel, 1512).

4°; XII, LXXVIII leaves; title-page within a largewoodcut architectural border, nice typographic de-vice at end, 19 large woodcut diagrams, movable pa-per slips to diagrams on l. B3v, C4v and D3r (wi-thout the one on l. A6v), 15 woodcuts illustratingmeasurement and perspective, 6 smaller woodcuts,5 astrological maps; nice decorated white on blackinitials. 16th century full vellum (reused), manu-script title on spine. Ownership inscription on thefirst end-paper (Francesco Cavalli, 1880). Few mar-ginal notes by a contemporary hand. A negligibleportion of the lower blank margin of the first 4 lea-ves slightly reinforced, very light spotting at the ini-tial ll., minor water-staining in the last ll.

First edition. The most remarkable Renaissan-ce treatise on astrolabes and the first Germanwork on astrolabes. Stoeffler’s text, illustratedby a large a thorough iconographic apparatus,was exceedingly influential, with editions ex-tending from 1513 into the seventeenth centu-ry.Divided into two parts, the Elucidatio is theprimary source of information on both designand use of astrolabes in the Renaissance. The text was intended to beuseful to astronomers, sailors, astrologers, and students: the instru-ment could locate the position of planets and stars, calculate distancesfor land-surveying, casting horoscopes. In the second section of thevolume, the author deals with measurement and perspective. Johann

Stoeffler (1452-1531) was a mathematician, astronomer and instru-ment-maker appointed to the chair of mathematics and astronomy atthe University of Tuebingen.Adams S-1886. Houzeau & Lancaster 3256. Stillwell 892. Wellcome6099. Zinner 991. € 12.000



66. STRABO. Rerum geographicarum libri septemdecim. -Basel, Ex Officina Hernicpetrina, (August 1571).

Folio; 58 leaves, 978 pp., 1 leaf with printer’s device; Latin and Greek text ontwo columns; 27 double-page woodcut maps and 7 smaller woodcut maps wi-thin the text. Nice contemporary full vellum, msc. title on spine. Occasionalbrowning and foxing due to the quality of paper.

First illustrated edition of this landmark in the history of geography ofall times; first edition with the commentary by G. Xylander (pseudo-nym for W. Holtzman, 1532-1576), distinguished scholar, well-knownfor his translation of Euclid’s Elementa. The nice series of large woodcut maps are by S. Muester; the blockswere used earlier in the edition of Ptolemy’s Geographia. Amongthem, we can mention the ones dedicated to Italy, Sicily, Greece, Ara-bia, Asia. The smaller maps depict Cyprus, Rhodes, Euboea, Crete,Cephalonia, Lesbos, Africa.Schweiger I, 304. Adams S-1907. Phillips 3390. Nordenskiold, 30, 21.€ 9.000

67. TAGLIENTE GIOVANNANTONIO. Il presente libroinsegna la vera arte delo excellente scrivere di diverse varie sortide litere. - (Venice, Pietro di Nicolini da Sabbio, 1550).

4°; 28 leaves; Roman, Italic, Gothic types; several woodcuts within the text: al-phabets, 4 full-page woodcuts depicting every-day life and bucolic scenes, toolsof writing, allegoric figures, an astronomer. 20th century full red morocco, spi-ne lettered in gilt, blind tooled double fillet on sides, gilt dentelle. Small wormtrack repaired to the lower blank corner of the last leaves, not touching the text;scattered leaves with margins a little worn.

One of the most important 16th century treatises of calligraphy, whichmet a great success and went through several editions (all of them ve-ry rare). Some of the woodcuts are by Ugo da Carpi and Eustachio Ce-lebrino; more in general, the work was influenced by the well-knowncalligrapher and typographer Ludovico degli Arrighi (1480-1527).

Tagliente provides a large amount of specimens of various cursivescripts (lettera cancelleresca, francesca, antiqua tonda, fiorentina, bol-latica, imperiale…), alphabets (Hebrew, Persian, Chaldee…), decorati-ve and exotic types showing complicated ligatures and involutions. Thelarge woodcuts on black ground are particularly interesting, as well asthe plate with the writing tools and the one divided into four squaresdisplaying bucolic scenes.Bonacina 1834. A.F. Johnsohn, “A catalogue of italian writing-booksof the Sixteenth Century”, “Signature” 10, 1950, p. 29. € 4.000


68. TETI GIROLAMO. Aedes Barberinae ad Quirinalem...Eminentissimo Iulio Mazarino S.R.E. cardinali dicatae. - Rome,sumptibus Philippi De Rubeis typis Vitalis Mascardi, 1647.

Folio; engraved frontispiece by C. Congio after G.A. Tiferna, 223 pp. (includingthe full-page engraved portrait of Urban VIII by F. Greuter after A. Camasi),double-fillet surrounding the text, several etched vignettes, headings and end-pieces; 12 etchings depicting frescos; 12 full-page and 2 double-page etchingsillustrating sculptures and a view of the building; 8 ll., 36 pp. including red title,engraved dedication, 15 etchings after Ph. Gagliardo; 1 l. with an etched vi-gnette by C. Bloemaert after P. Berretino, 12 pp. (index), 1 final l. with emblem.

Contemporary full vellum, msc. title on spine, red edges. Occasional foxing andnegligible browning in scattered leaves. Nice, unsophisticated copy from thecollections Landau and Galletti (printed bookplate on the front paste-down).

A magnificent example of the Roman Baroque taste, this item is con-sidered as “one of the most beautiful art books of the seventeenthcentury. […] This lavish, illustrated book was produced for the cele-bration of the family house of Maffeo Barberini, who, as Pope UrbanVIII, reigned from 1624 to 1644…” (Millard). Second edition, consi-stently enlarged and substantially improved if compared with the firstone, printed in few copies in 1642.


The work contains extremely fine etchings illustrating the interiorof the Cardinal Francesco Barberini’s new palace on the Quirinal atRome, one of the most luxurious residences in the city. The buil-ding was begun in 1627 by Maderno, assisted by his nephew Fran-cesco Borromini. In 1629, after Maderno’s death, the commissionwas awarded to the young Bernini, who completed works in 1633.The text, describing the interior of Barberini’s palace, is by Girola-mo Teti; the outstanding plates by Camillo Cungi, Johann FriedrichGreuter, Cornelis Bloemaert, Michele Natalis depict the fresco de-coration of various rooms and especially the famous ceiling of Sa-lone, painted by Pietro da Cortona, a landmark in the history ofart; some engravings are dedicated to the gorgeous collection ofantiquities and to the suite of cardinals’ portraits (often missing inextant copies: see Millard).Rossetti 10891 (ed. 1642). Schudt 1086. Millard, Italian and Spanishbooks n° 134, pp. 421-425. Cicognara 3463 (ed. 1642). Berlin Ka-talog 2662 (ed. 1642). Schlosser Magnino, p. 603. Vinciana 4418.Brunet V, 765. € 7.500

69. THEOCRITUS. Idyllia. Add: Theognis; DionysiusCato: Disticha (Tr: Maximus Planudes); Sententiae Septemsapientium; De invidia; Hesiodus: Opera et dies, Theogonia.- Venice, Aldus Manutius, February 1495.

Folio; 140 leaves; 18th century full calf, spine lettered and tooled in gilt, giltframe on sides (joints reinforced, new end-papers); modern half red mo-rocco case. Old ownership stamp on the lower margin of the first leaf (Ia-cobus Iacobellus). Small wormhole wisely restored on the blank guttermargin of the first 4 ll.

First issue of the first complete edition of Theocritus’ Idyllia andfirst literary work to be printed by Aldus. This volume represents alandmark in the dissemination of knowledge of Greek languageand literature, and in the history of European Renaissance. It in-


cludes the original editions of Theocritus’ twelve Idyllia, Hesiod’sTheogony, the works by other important Greek authors. The “Goldenverses” by Pythagoras were printed one year before together with theGrammar by Laskaris. “Hesiod’s Theogony was never published separately under its own titlein the incunabular period, either in Greek or even in Latin… Besidesthe Idyllia and the Theogony, the book also contains a number ofshort prose works in Greek” (Staikos). In the preface, addressed to histeacher, Battista Guarino, son of the famous philologist and humanistGuarino from Verona, Aldus speaks about his attempt to print a cor-rect text showing his really remarkable and modern philological attitu-de.Renouard, p. 5. Ahmanson-Murphy I, 7. H 15477. GW M45831. IGI9497. BMC V, 554. Goff T-144. Sander 7235. Essling 888. Staikos, pp.336-337. € 45.000

70. (TRICKS) DE’ GIUOCHI ARITMETICI trattato di n.n.al nob. signor Leonardo Rizzoni gentiluomo veronese. - Bre-scia, Jacopo Turlini, 1761.

8°; XII pp., 216 pp.; contemporary cartonnage. Nice, full-margined copy.

Pretty rare first edition. Anonymous treatise about tricks (math, magic,card tricks). Each game is introduced by a general description and di-sclosed in details. The text often provides also a scientific explanationof the most complex tricks. Particularly interesting the riddles basedon series of numbers and the tricks using more than one pack of pla-ying cards.Riccardi 400. One copy held in Conjuring Arts Research Center, NewYork. € 2.500


71. VANNEO STEFANO. Recanetum de musica aurea. -Rome, Valerio Dorico, 15 March 1533.

Small folio; 4 leaves, 93 leaves (without the final blank); a number of full-pagewoodcut illustrations and several woodcut diagrams within the text, manyexamples of music scores and staves. Contemporary full limp vellum (end-pa-pers renewed). Nice copy.

First edition, extremely rare, illustrated by a magnificent iconographicapparatus, of this very important work in the history and practice ofmusic in Renaissance. The most interesting and distinguishing featureof Vanneo’s treatise is to be devoted specifically to the practice of mu-sic rather than to a theorical speculation. The text is divided into threebooks providing pupils with an introduction to plainsong, notationand counterpoint, with innumerous examples of music scores. The beautiful full-page woodcuts respectively depict a scene showingApollo surrounded by the Muses and, in the lower section, Vanneohimself instructing his pupils; the “music hand”; the “modulus modo-rum”; the “proportiones”.Fetis VIII, p. 307: “Cet ouvrage, un des plus rares de son espèce, estaussi un des meilleurs traités de musique de l’époque ou il parut”. Ga-spari I, p. 263. Gregory p. 278. Eitner X, 34. Sander 7484.

€ 25.000


72. VERGILIUS PUBLIUS MARO, PULCI BERNARDO.Bucoliche elegantissimamente composte da Bernardo Pulci fio-rentino, et da Francesco de Arsochi senese, et da HieronymoBenivieni fiorentino, et da Iacopo Fiorino de Boninsegni senese.- Florence, Antonio Miscomini, 19 April 1494.

4°; 98 leaves; woodcut illustration on title-page depicting a poet reading a book,initials printed white on black. 18th century full stiff vellum (recased?). Ow-nership inscription on title-page (“Marchesi di Petrella”).

Very rare first illustrated edition (second edition of the text), of Vergi-l’s Bucolics translated in 1481 into Italian verses by Bernardo Pulci,who signed the preface addressing his work to Lorenzo de’ Medici.The eclogues are followed by other verses by Pulci, dedicated to mem-bers of Medici’s court. The nice woodcut on title-page was used byMiscomini here and, one year before, in the edition of Cessolis’s “Li-bro degli scacchi”: it represents one of the most beautiful xylographicFlorentine illustrations of the 15th century. The second part of the edition includes the translation of Vergil’s Bu-colics and other writings by the most distinguished humanists and po-ets from Tuscany. Among them, Francesco degli Arsocchi from Siena,Geronimo Benivieni, Fiorino de’Buoninsegni. This volume representsa really important document in the revival of Virgilian text supportedby Medici’s court and in the development of the Renaissance literarygenre of pastoral: the work of Pulci will inspire later fifteenth centurypoets like Boiardo and Sannazaro.Copinger 6139. GW M50070. IGI 10242. BMC VI, 643. Goff V-217.Kristeller, Flor., p. 71. Sander 7640. Martini 394. Mambelli 994. Paito-ni IV, p. 216. Gamba 1170 n. € 20.000


73. VERGILIUS PUBLIUS MARO. Contenta Publii VirgiliiMaronis opera. Mauri Servii Honorati grammatici in eademcommentarii... Cum Probi grammatici insignis adnotationibus...Castigationes et varietates virgilianae lectionis, per Io. PieriumValerianum. - Venice, (Aurelio Pincio, March 1534).

Folio; 4 leaves, 472 pp., 22 leaves; 14 large woodcuts within the text; red andblack title-page with a large typographic device printed in red; the text of Ver-gil in the centre of the page surrounded by commentaries (on two columns).18th century cartonnage, msc. title on spine (the tail of spine slighlty chipped).Interesting manuscript marginal notes by old hands. Ownership inscription ontitle (“Prosperi Cropelli, die 9a Maii 1592”).

Venetian illustrated edition, pretty rare, of the opera omnia of Vergil,with commentaries. The beautiful iconographic apparatus consists of14 large woodcuts, nice and well-impressed, derived – even though tosome extent transposed into an “Italian atmosphere” – from the fa-mous issue printed in Strasbourg in 1502. The magnificent illustrationsintroduce each part of the volume (respectively Bucolics, Georgics andbooks of Eneid) showing figures wearing contemporary 16th centuryclothes, landscapes with country-side scenes, ships, gentlemen, ladies,fortifications, castles, little towns, gothic architectures, animals, musi-cians, soldiers.Essling 68. Sander 7669. Kallendorf 64. Mambelli 172.

€ 5.600


74. VICO GIAMBATTISTA. Cinque libri de’ principj d’unascienza nuova. - Naples, a spese di Felice Mosca, 1730.

12°; frontispiece engraved by A. Baldi after A.D. Vaccaro, 12, 480 pp. (1 foldingleaf), 12 pp. A number of marginal annotations by an old hand on scattered lea-ves. Nice contemporary full calf with a blind-tooled bordure on sides (spine sli-ghtly reinforced). Very nice copy.

Original edition of the “Scienza Nuova Seconda”, one of the most in-fluential texts in the history of European philosophy and culture, in aspecial copy showing three short autograph corrections by Vico him-self (pp. 127, 132 and 168) and an additional section at the end consi-sting of 12 pages of further corrections. As it is well-known, the first version of the work was published in1725; five years later Vico produced a new, enlarged text, which wassubmitted to the typographer in July in order to be published, eventhough Vico still kept introducing corrections, new sections and chan-ges. This work “has been justly called the ‘vehicle’ by which the concept ofhistorical development at last entered the thought of western Euro-pe… Many twentieth-century notions of anthropology, comparativelaw, literature, religion and linguistic philosophy can be found in the pa-ges of this book” (PMM). The additional 12 pages at the end of this volume are very rare: as so-on as it was printed in 1730, Vico sent to his friend Francesco Spinellione copy of the work; few days later, Spinelli informed him of threemistakes he found within the text. As a kind of “errata”, Vico decidedto have these 12 additional pages printed in Naples in 1731, withoutany typographical indication, under the title “Lettera dell’autore all’Ec-cellentissimo Principe di Scalea”. Only very few copies have this fur-ther addition.PMM 184 (first edition). Croce, Bibliografia Vichiana, I, pp. 45 e ss.

€ 15.000

75. VIGO GIAN BERNARDO. Tubera terrae Carmen. -Turin, Stamperia Reale, 1776. (Bound with:) I Tartufi poemetto.- Turin, Stamperia Reale, 1776.

Two works in one 8° volume; 3 leaves, 47 pp. with a nice etched vignette – LVpp. Contemporary cartonnage (end-papers renewed, minor stain on the frontcover, spine a little worn). Light marginal water-staining in 2 initial ll., occasio-nal light browining. Unsophisticated, wide-margined copy.

First edition of the earliest monographic work on the white trufflefrom Piemonte (tuber magnatum) bound together with the Italiantranslation: the two versions, printed in Turin by the Stamperia Reale inthe same year, are actually considered (and registered by bibliogra-phies) as two different issues, both really rare.Poem entirely dedicated to the truffle by the Italian poet Gian Bernar-do Vigo. The text describes all the varieties of truffles (black and whi-te, French and Italian), the area where they can be found, the right


conditions of the soil, how to train dog to find truffles, the season forgathering them, their nutritional virtues, how to preserve, prepare andeat them, and so on.BING 2042-2043. Vicaire 864. Westbury, p. 223. Paleari, p. 757. Vol-bracht, MykiLibri 2190: “rarissimum”. € 5.000

76. ZOMPINI GAETANO. Le arti che vanno per via nellacittà di Venezia inventate ed intagliate da Gaetano Zompini. -(Venice), 1753.

Folio; engraved title-page, 1 leaf including the list of plates, 60 etched plates.Contemporary Venetian full marbled calf, spine tooled in gilt, decorative gilt-tooled borders round sides with rich corner-pieces and a large gilt-tooledrhomb in the centre, gilt edges (some restorations). Very nice copy.

Absolutely rare first edition, printed in 30-40 copies (see Bozzolato1978). In this work, a masterpiece of the “Settecento Veneto”, the ar-tist and engraver Gaetano Zompini, under the supervision of AntonMaria Zanetta, provides drawings and etchings for a set of 60 illustra-tions depicting workers and craftsmen in the scenery of contempora-ry Venice. Each plate comes with verses in Venetian dialect, composedby D. Questini, canon of S. Maria Mater Domini, a friend of Zompini. ”La prima edizione de Le Arti uscì in due tempi: nel 1753 fu pubblica-ta una parte comprendente quaranta stampe precedute da un fronte-spizio calcografico con la scritta Le arti che vanno per via nella Città diVenezia, inventate ed intagliate da Gaetano Zompini. Segue l’indice re-cante, dietro una cornice incisa, il titolo Catalogo delle XL Arti, chevanno ripposte nella prima parte della Opera. Nello stesso anno, o piùprobabilmente in quello successivo, vennero pubblicate le altre ventitavole con un indice intitolato Catalogo delle altre XX Arti, che com-pongono la seconda ed ultima Parte di quest’Opera. Le due parti ven-nero in seguito riunite in un unico volume in cui, dopo il frontespizio,compaiono i due indici” (Succi).Succi, Da Carlevariis ai Tiepolo, pp. 454-455. € 40.000



77. ZONCA VITTORIO. Nuovo teatro di machine et edifi-cii per varie e sicure operationi opera necessaria ad Architetti eta quelli che di tale studio si dilettano. - Padua, Bertelli, 1607.

Folio; engraved title-page, 2 leaves (dedication and index of plates), 1 engravedplate depicting the first “machina”, 115 pp., 3 engraved plates between pp. 88and 89. A total of 42 full-page etchings. Nice and well-preserved contempora-ry full limp vellum. Really nice, unsophisticated copy from the collection ofG.U. Lanfranchi (printed bookplate on the front paste-down) with finely exe-cuted and particularly bright etchings.

First edition, complete with all the plates. A remarkable text in the hi-story of machinery, richly illustrated by 42 figures depicting mills, prin-ting presses, a smoke-jack for roasting, siphons and so on. Among theplates, “three are signed: FV (i.e. monogram Francesco Valesio, bornca. 1560); Ben W sc (i.e. Benjamin Wright); and AH (or AHI or AI;monogram). The source for Zonca’s designs is believed to be a manu-script by the Sienese painter Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439-1501),which includes illustrations of various fifteenth-century machines”(Melby).“This is the latest of the machine books of the late Renaissance/Man-nerist era to appear… Zonca was the first to use these books of me-chanical inventions to explore … the workshop as it existed ratherthan the inventor’s fantasy. His book opens with two devices for liftingbuilding materials, one a small windlass with worm gear, the other asimple two-way whim that, Zonca claimed, had recently replaces thefirst… While older books had only captions to their pictures or at mosta bald description of the sequence of operations, Zonca tried to showhow his machines worked” (Keller). ”Zonca seems to be the first to remark that, when running against ste-el, any sort of metal other than brass is consumed; he illustrates sepa-rate bearing-blocks in his little mill for rolling lead strips for win-dows...he describes applications of the rolling mill on a small scale togold, silver, copper and lead...(for textile machinery): in the raising ma-



chines employed throughout this period... a teasel-covered roller rota-tes while the cloth passes under it in the opposite directions. This prin-ciple was first illustrated by Zonca” (Singer).Riccardi I, 668: “Rare”. Cicognara 970. Berlin Katalog 1775. Cat. LibriIV, p. 58. Singer, History of tecnology III, 172 ff. A. Keller, Review ofNovo Teatro di Machine et Edificii 1607 by Vittorio Zonca (ed. C. Po-ni), in “Technology and Culture” 29, 2 (April 1988), pp. 285-287. J.L.Mellby, New Technogoly of 1607, Princeton Graphic Arts Collection,2009. € 12.000

78. ZORZI FRANCESCO. De harmonia mundi totius canti-ca tria. - Venice, Bernardino de Vitali, September 1525.

Folio; 14 ll., CCCXXXVIII, CXXXVI leaves. Title surrounded by a nice triplefillet bordure; historiated woodcut initials, diagrams and figures within the text(among them, the famous Vitruvian man). Full old vellum (spine reinforced).Small tear reinforced on the lower blank margin of l. XCI (first part), browningto 4 ll. in the second part. Good copy.

First edition, rare. “The work of Francesco Giorgio Veneto almost re-presents the summa of the Hermetic, Neo-platonic and cabbalistic tra-dition of the Italian Renaissance” (Diemling). Connected with the wri-tings of Pico della Mirandola and Marsilio Ficino, the masterpiece ofthe Franciscan friar Francesco Giorgio (or Zorzi) originally “combinesHermetic, Platonic and cabalistic ideas on astrology, musical theory,psychology and cosmology; depicts universe as a musical harmony go-verned by numerical laws” (Cambridge Hist. of Renaissance Philoso-phy). It is to Zorzi’s credit that he theorized and described the strict con-nections between mathematics, music and architecture; he was the firstto introduce into Italian culture the Hebrew thought and Cabala. Hisstudies had a great influence about Italian architecture, especially as itconcerns proportions and mathematic relations. His ideas inspired hisfamous contribution to the Church and Convent of S. Francesco dellaVigna in Venice, where he worked together with Jacopo Sansovino in

order to enlarge the former building.”Giorgi’s De harmonia mundi was not the work of a fantastic eccen-tric. It belonged to the centre of Renaissance thought at its most pro-ductive ... De harmonia mundi was a dominant philosophy in the Eli-zabethan age, and so likely to have been passed on, perhaps by subter-ranean routes, to Robert Fludd and the Jacobean age” (Yates). Even though the work by Zorzi was placed on the Index and stronglycensured for their hermetic, Neo-platonic, cabbalistic religiousness, sothat the circulating copies were really rare, it soon became a landmarkin the history of European philosophy.Govi, I Classici che hanno fatto l’Italia, n° 62. Thorndike VI, pp. 450-451. Schlosser Magnino, pp. 255-258. Bibl. Magica 534. CambridgeHist. of Renaissance Philosophy, p. 821. F. A. Yates, The occult philo-sophy in the Elizabethan age, London 1979, p. 29ff. € 18.000


ALDINES 10, 21, 24, 40, 43, 48, 63, 69AMERICANA 49ART-ARCHITECTURE 7-8, 19, 31, 35, 54, 55, 58-61, 68, 76-78ASTRONOMY 3, 4, 9, 20, 32, 50, 59, 65ATLASES-MAPS 11, 14, 30, 45, 66BALLET 7-8, 19, 35, 54BIBLES 12BINDINGS 10, 21, 29, 48BODONI 13, 54BOTANY 22CALLIGRAPHY 57COLLECTIONS-MUSEUMS 2, 68ECONOMY 16EMBLEMS 59, 60FAIRY TALES 1, 52FAR EAST 28, 53FESTIVAL BOOKS 54, 60GALILEIANA 3, 9, 33, 36, 47, 51GASTRONOMY 17, 38, 75GREEK 5, 40, 63, 69ICHTHYOLOGY 17INCUNABULA 4, 5, 6, 12, 25, 26, 27, 29, 56, 57, 69, 72JAPAN 28JUDAICA 49, 50

MAGIC-HERMETICISM 4, 34, 42, 50, 70, 78MEDICINE 26, 40MINERALOGY 2MICROSCOPE-TELESCOPE 9, 20, 32, 37MUSIC 54, 71NATURAL HISTORY 2, 17, 22, 37OPTICS-PERSPECTIVE 9, 20, 32, 37, 46, 58OTTOMAN WORLD 14, 23, 64PMM 15, 22, 33, 40, 62POLITICS 16, 44ROME 46, 58, 68RUSSIA 7, 8, 23SCIENCE 3, 4, 9, 15, 17, 20, 27, 32, 33, 36, 37, 39, 40, 47, 50, 51,65, 70, 77

SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS 4, 20, 37, 39, 46, 47, 51, 65SETTECENTO VENETO 31, 61, 76SPAIN 26, 49SPORTS 26THEATER 7, 8, 18, 19, 38, 54TRAVELS 23TRICKS 70TYPOGRAPHY 13, 31VENICE 76VIETNAM 53

INDEX

Tipografia Campi s.r.l. - Rozzano - Milano - Italy


Documents

LIBRERIA ANTIQUARIA MEDIOLANUM Ptolemaei; ingenio, & labore. ... the first few pages with rubric ti- ... (and later papal librarian), direc-