948J Vanossi, Antal (1683–1757) Johann Baptist Mayr

Idea Sapientis Theo-Politici, seu Tripartita Morum Philosophia Ethica, Politica, Oeconomica, Summaria Methodo Comprehensa, Problematicis Quæsitis, et Emblematis Illustrata.

Viennæ Austriæ: Typis Mariæ Theresiæ Voigtin, Viduæ, 1728. Price $,2,200

Quarto.20x 16 cm. Signatures: π5, R-Z4, Aa-Rr4,Ss5 (o)2 Complete. Engraved frontispiece, engraved armorial dedication, title, [10], 332, [4] pp. Fifty-one engraved illustrations (engraved frontispiece, engraved armorial plate, and fifty engraved emblematic illustrations throughout the text). Bound in contemporary.decorated paper boards. The emblems are quite crisp.

“The Idea sapientis (1724) of Antal Vanossi;” a man of Italian origin who had worked for some time in Hungary, can be seen as one of the signal achievements of eighteenth-century Jesuit emblematics, continuing as it does the traditions of the previous century. The tripartite emblematic structure “develops the material of Aristotle’s ethics and politics … into a manual of Christian politics and moral philosophy, and does so in the spirit of Saavedra and with the technique of Hevenesi. ,,21 Aceording to the prologue addressed to the reader, the sources used here include Lipsius and Barclay. Vanossi summarizes the main religious and moral laws and rules governing human existence and groups them into ethics, questions of good social and political order, and family life. In each category, he asks a number of questions, and the answers he gives (“Doctrina”) are introduced by emblems consisting of motto, pictura, and four-line epigram. In addition to its emblematic frontispiece, the work contains a total of 51 emblems. The pictorial matter and the social views canvassed in this compilation reflect a characteristically seventeenth-century way of thinking. Yet this was one of the most popular emblem books of the eighteenth century. The Vienna editions of 1724, 1725, and 1727 were followed by its publication at Nagyszombat (Trnava), first in installments and then in its entirety, and of this latter, complete edition we have no fewer than three variants.” (The Emblem in Hungary ÉVA KNAPP and GÁBOR TÜSKÉS Budapest, Hungary)

This is the 1728 Viennese academic issue of Vanossi’s celebrated Idea sapientis theo-politici, produced for the public philosophical disputation of Joseph Matthias Preschern under the presidency of the Jesuit professor Johann Baptist Mayr, S.J.

Although the title page names neither Vanossi nor the original work, the text is, as Daly and Dimler observe, “in all respects the same as the Idea sapientis of which Vanossi is identified as author in other editions.” The volume therefore represents neither a new work nor a revised edition, but a special issue of Vanossi’s successful emblem book adapted for university use.

In eighteenth-century Jesuit education it was common practice for presses attached to universities and colleges to reuse successful theological and philosophical texts as the basis for public disputations. Rather than resetting an entire quarto volume of more than three hundred pages, printers retained standing type or previously printed sheets, supplying only a newly printed title page, dedicatory material, coats of arms, and other preliminaries identifying the candidate, the presiding professor (praeses), and the occasion of the defense. The resulting books simultaneously served as academic theses, ceremonial publications, and commercial books.

The bibliographical complexity of these issues has long been recognized. Because Vanossi’s name does not appear on the title page, De Backer–Sommervogel catalogued the work under Johann Baptist Mayr, the praeses named in the imprint. Daly and Dimler, after comparing the text and illustrations with the ordinary editions of the Idea sapientis, restored the work to Vanossi’s bibliography while noting that the relationship between these dissertation issues and the commercial editions “needs careful investigation with regard to authorship. Johann Baptist Mayr, S.J. (1693–1760), Jesuit philosopher and professor, served as praeses for the public defense. Although his name appears prominently on the title page, Daly and Dimler demonstrate that the underlying text is Vanossi’s Idea sapientis theo-politici, repurposed for an academic disputation. The prominence of the presiding professor led De Backer and Sommervogel to catalogue the work under Mayr rather than Vanossi.

Unlike ordinary dissertation pamphlets, this is therefore a substantial emblem book of more than 330 pages, preserving one of the most influential Jesuit manuals of Christian ethics and political philosophy in a form prepared for ceremonial academic use.

References: Daly & Dimler, Corpus Librorum Emblematum: The Jesuit Series, V, J.1448; De Backer–Sommervogel vol: V col: 819. Nº4. (under Mayr), 819.4; Praz 522.