POLIZIANO, Angelo. Omnia opera … et alia quædam lectu digna …
Venice, Aldus Manutius, July 1498
Two parts in a folio volume. Antique quarter sow leather binding with blind-stamped borders and rules, corners, green covers decorated with blind-stamped crosses and lozenges. Handwritten title on the five-ribbed spine. On the front cover, initials and date “M*E*C*P*L / 1608,” printed in black; on the back cover, initials and date “G*C*G* / 1638,” printed in black. Modern slipcase. Leaves [452]. Collation: [232 leaves], a-p8 q-r¹° s-t8 A-I8 K4; [220 leaves] L-P8 Q-R¹° S8 T¹° V6 X-Y¹° Z8 &¹° 2a¹° iterum 2a-iterum 2b8 2b-2h8 2i6 2k¹° (K4 and L1r blank). Colophon on 2k8v leaf. Blank spaces for Initials with guide letters, Hebrew, Greek, Roman types. Good condition, copy with wide margins.
A rare first collective edition of Poliziano's works, featuring Aldus's first use of Hebrew type. Renouard: "... rare edition, one of the finest that are the result of Aldus's printing." This edition of Poliziano's complete works, the most reliable, albeit posthumous, was prepared by Giovanni Francesco Pico with the assistance of Mainardi da Ferrara, Zanobi Acciaioli, and Pietro Baldi del Riccio, known as Pietro Crinito, a faithful disciple of Poliziano, and revised by Alessandro Sarti and other humanists. The second part, after his works, contains Poliziano's translations of Heriodianus's Historia de Imperio post Marcum; Epictetus's Enchiridion; Pseudo-Alexander of Aphrodisias's Problemata; Plutarch's Narrationes amatoriæ; and St. Athanasius's Stilus et personaggi psalmorum.
Angelo Ambrogini, 1454-1494, known as Angelo Poliziano, was born in Montepulciano. He was tutor of the sons of Lorenzo de' Medici before becoming professor of Latin and Greek at the University of Florence, and was renowned for his mastery of Greek and Latin. He began organizing his numerous writings into a corpus in the year of his untimely death, planning to begin with an edition of his letters. The project was continued by his friend Alessandro Sarti of Bologna, who arranged for printing by Franciscus Plato de Benedictis, but Plato de Benedictis died in August 1496. Aldo, a longtime admirer of Poliziano's studies, stepped in and completed the edition.
In his introductory letter, Aldus mentions some of the difficulties in sourcing original material: he was certain that some Florentines preserved authentic writings by Poliziano, intending to enhance their reputation through plagiarism.
A magnificent example in a rare and valuable ancient binding. This is an elegant Central European monastic binding, probably made in Bohemia between the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
IGI 7952; BMC V 559; Renouard 17.4; Goff, P-886; PMM, n°3; Aldo Manuzio tipografo 1494-1515, n. 27; The Aldine Press, 2001, n. 26.