Virgil Translated d by Annibal Caro . and Polydore Virgil translated by Francesco Baldelli.

742J. Virgil. born October 15, 70 BCE, Translated d by Annibal Caro 1507-1566.

L’Eneide di Virgilio, del commendatore Annibal Caro. Col Privilegio di N.S. & della Ser.ma Sig.ria di Venetia.

Venetia : Bernardo. Giunti & fratelli, M.D. LXXXI.1581

                                                                                                                             Price $2,500

Quarto  20 x 14.5 Cm. Signatures: π⁴ A-Z⁸, Aa-Ll⁸ Mm⁶ +². First edition.  printer’s device of the Giunta brothers, Filippo and Jacopo (Medici coat of arms, below which is a cat holding an olive branch in his mouth, with motto “Amat victoria curam”) Bound in early limp vellum lacking ties with an interesting ownership stamp S.E.G. with a cathedral and three fleur-de-lys in an oval . 

This is the first edition of Caro’s canonical  translation of the Aenid, this translation came to dominate the market for Virgil in Italian, and thus becoming a  treasure of Italian literature.   Annibale’s nephew Lepido Caro wrote the dedication to Cardinal Farnese.  This translation of Virgil’s epic poem ‘Aeneid’ into Italian, is must-have for lovers of Italian epic poetry. His other translated works include Aristotle’s Rhetoric and Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe.

BM STC Italian, 1465-1600, p. 732; CCBE S. XVI; V, 1167; EDIT16; CNCE28541

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812J Vergil, Polydore, 1470?-1555.  tr Baldelli, Francesco,; active 16th century. 

Di Polidoro Virgilio da Urbino De gli Inventori delle cose. Libri Otto. Tradotti per Francesco Baldelli, con due Tavole, una de’ Capitoli, e l’altra delle cose più notabili. Consagrati al Merito de Nobilissimi Virtuosa di questa Patria.

In Brescia : Per Domenico Gromi, 1680   Price $.2,300

Quarto  21 x 15 cm. Signatures: π⁴ a⁴ ²a⁴ b-e⁴, A-3B⁴./ Title in red and black. Engraved frontispiece. allegorical frontispiece engraved in copper by the famous artist Isabella Piccini.  Woodcut printer’s device on title page .; decorated and historiated initials, tailpieces./ Includes index

Bound in a beautiful contemporary binding in rigid parchment with title stamped in gold on the spine. Small coat of arms on the title page. Some slight foxing on the outer edges of the first and last 4 leaves, irrelevant and overall in good to excellent condition. 

This translation is of great intellectual originally from Cortona, Francesco Baldelli, of the most famous work of the great naturalized English humanist from Urbino, Polidoro Virgili (Urbino, 1470 – Urbino, 18 April 1555). Polidoro Virgili (or Virgilio, also known as Polydore Virgile or Polydore Vergil ) was an Italian naturalized English priest, historian and humanist. He is also known as PV Castellensis or Castellesi. A forerunner of scientific historiography, he is particularly known for having published, commissioned first by King Henry VII and then by Henry VIII, the history of the British Isles as well as a history of inventions. William Shakespeare uses his works to historically frame his theatrical plays set in England. De Inventoribus (Paris, 1499). Written in just three months it deals with the origin of everything. An authentic encyclopedic work, in it the author develops numerous anecdotes on the origins of science, astrology, music, divination, games, sport, religion, heresies. One part concerns agriculture, wheat, fruit, foods, game, the discovery of grapes and the art of producing wine, etc. It originally consisted of seven volumes, increasing to 8 in 1521. This second book is dedicated to Guido’s tutor, Lodovico Odasio, of Urbino. This work becomes very popular and is soon translated into French (1521), German (1537), English (1546) and Spanish (1551). All editions, however, except those that follow the text sanctioned by Gregory XIII in 1576, are placed on the index of prohibited books. In the first book he deals with the origin of the gods and investigates the meaning of the word “god”. He also discusses topics such as creation, marriage and religion. The second book covers, among other things, law and military science, but also money and precious metals. The third book proceeds to discuss trade in agriculture, architecture and other activities. Since this book gained great popularity, Virgili added five further books dedicated to the initia institorum rei Christianae. This book also serves an important purpose: it is a concession to the Church which had declared his work heretical and depraved, not criticizing it but analyzing it with a scientific method. Virgili, thus, was well ahead of his time. He himself considered Inventoribus and Adagia to be his masterpieces. It is these, rather than the Anglica Historia that make Virgil a celebrity, both in England and on the continent. His later fame is also based on these works. Rare edition in beautiful contemporary binding.

Brian P. Copehaver wrote an exemplary work on De Inventoribus Rerum, The Historiography of Discovery in the Renaissance…, his argument being that De Inventoribus Rerum was an important and influential work of the Renaissance.  He wrote:

“Polydore’s effort to display a number of points of view on the origin of music is typical of the first three books of De Inventoribus, which contain chapters on cosmology, human origins, philosophy, astrology, geometry, weights and measures, numbers, medicine, pharmacy, magic, divination, time-keeping, books and writing, memory, the horse, metallurgy, coining, unguents, glass, sculpture, painting, agriculture, arboriculture, viniculture, animals, textiles, architecture, towns, monuments, and many other topics of interest to students of the historiography of science, technology, and medicine in the Renaissance. For all of them Polydore used essentially the same method: he tried to list and to sort out the various priority claims to be found in a most impressive range of sources, 155 titles by 88 classical, patristic, and early medieval writers.”

Polydore deals with a large number of interesting subjects, including: literary genres, astrology, magical arts, divination, the origin of laws, the calendar, printing, mnemonics, military art, games, metals, coins, glass and amber. The third book, dedicated to agriculture, deals with subjects such as: the cultivation of trees and vines; the art of producing wine; hunting and fishing; linen, silk, carpets and textile arts; architecture, construction of labyrinths, pyramids and obelisks; theatre, commerce.

Elisabetta Piccini, or rather Sister Isabella Piccini, is one of the rare and very little-known female engravers. She was born in 1644 in Venice to a family of Venetian engravers. In 1666, in her early twenties, she entered the Franciscan convent of Santa Croce in Venice where she could practice her art in complete tranquility. Her works were much sought after by the publishers of the time and appreciated by the public.