(120 x 85 mm). Bound together in half calf with marbled decorative papers.
FIRST TEXT:
DE BEZE, THEODORE, Poemata varia. Sylvae, Elegiae, Epitaphia, Epigramm., Icones, Emblemata, Cato Censorius, Abrahamus Sacrificans, Canticum Canticorum. Jacobus Stoer, [Geneva] 1599.
WANTING SEVERAL PAGES. ff. [8], I-VI, 1-85, 81, 87,85, 89-95, 87,97-120, [1], 113,115-121, 126, 128- 134, [1], 136-141, [1], 143-189, [1], 191-206. Signatures: *, **8, A, †O, P 7 (lacks piii), Q3 (lacks Qiii-v, Qviii)- Cc8. Wants ff. 114 (piii); 122-124 (qiii-vi), 127 (Qviii). Text in Latin, Greek, Hebrew.
This compendium of the works of Theodore de Beze was printed during his lifetime. The gem of the text is, perhaps, the Emblemata section, with each of the 40 emblems illustrated with a half-page panel woodblock displaying a visual representation of the motif written below it. The last four of these were printed with blank frames, however, the 17th century reader has endeavoured to fill in one of the motifs with his own pen-drawn rendition. Over the course of the book’s long life, 4 foliosof these emblems have called to a biblioclast—or maybe they spoke to someone in need of the brief council given—and they have been lost from the book, which is, otherwise in very good condition. Each text within the Poemata varia begins with its own title page, although the signatures are continuous. The Emblemata title page mistakenly provides the year of printing as 1598.
SECOND TEXT:
Marci Hieronymi Vidae Opera. Lugduni Batavorum Ex Officina Christophori Plantoni, 1585. Rectius Lugduni apud Hoeredes Seb. Gryphii, 1537.
COMPLETE. pp. [1], 3-573. Signatures: a9, b7, c-mm8, nn6. Manuscript title page as sole title.
This compilation of the works of Marco Girolamo Vida (1485- 1566) was likely printed within the bishop’s lifetime. Well-known for having charmed Pope Leo X with his poetry, Marco was given the Priory of Sal Silvestro so that he might compose a great Humanistic, Christian epic. He achieved this through the Virgil-derivative Christiados, not completed until the 1530s, well after the death of the supportive pope in 1521. Vida was appointed Pronotary Apostolic, a member of the highest non-episcopal college of prelates in the Roman Curia. He would not remain part of the non-episcopal college for long, as he was elevated to Bishop of Alba in 1533.
Among the Works presented in this little tome, Vida’s important Sacchia Ludus (The Game of Chess), a literary text which did much to spread the popularity of the game.
The exact printing of this book remains somewhat of a mystery. The historic owner has supplemented the lacking printed title page with a manuscript title page, with two separate printers and printing dates— neither of which seem to correspond precisely with the present work. It does seem to be similar to the 1566 Antonium Gryphium Lyonais printing, which is 575 pages; the present copy is 573 pages, and indeed, the text appears to follow behind the pagination of the 1566 by 2 pages. Other copies with 573 pages abbreviate Marci as Mar. instead of M. as the present copy does on the first page.
Throughout both books, the reader has underlined passages of interest, provided marginal annotations, and, in one instance, amended a simple O to be a face, in a tradition that sees witnesses back into the Middle Ages.
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