A Sammelband of Incunabula

Virgil [Virgilius Maro, Publius] (70-19 BCE)

Opera [Bucolica, Georgica, Aeneis, with argumenta (comm. Servius)]. Add: Maphaeus Vegius: Liber XIII Aeneidos. Additional texts

Venice: Damianus de Mediolano, de Gorgonzola, 15 June, 1494.

Price: $25,000.00

Folio: 31.5 x 22 cm. [4], 214 (recte 210) lvs. Collation: a8, b-z6, &6, cum6, rum6, a-h6, i8. Complete.

FOUR INCUNABULA BOUND IN ONE VOLUME, the Virgil bound first, followed by editions of the satirists Juvenal (60-130) and Persius (34-62), and the comic playwright Terence (ca. 195 – ca. 159 BCE). See below for full descriptions.

Bound in 16th c. blind-tooled quarter-pigskin over wooden boards with 2 clasps (one clasp slightly defective, binding soiled and stained, with scratches to the boards and loss to the pigskin at the foot of spine.) All four works annotated in Latin with some Greek by a 16th c. reader (slightly trimmed at outer margin), with headlines and occasional notes in red by a 15th c. reader. The 16th c. reader has also neatly added Antonio Mancinelli’s prefatory poems (argumenta) on the opening leaf of both the Juvenal and the Persius. Texts with scattered soiling and light foxing. Persistent damp-stain in the upper margin of the volume (generally mild but darker in places) and another dampstain in the lower margin of the second work, leaving a tideline in some gatherings. Other minor points as follows: in the first work (Virgil) there are a few wormholes in the opening gatherings and a hole in upper blank margin of leaf a2 (not affecting the text). Gatherings r and F with some browned leaves; 2 lvs. with light ink spots; other spots in lower margin of gatherings E-G. Second work: first leaf soiled, dampstain in the lower outer corner of some gatherings. Third work (Persius): minor ink stain to a7-8, a few leaves foxed. Fourth work (Terence): first leaf of text heavily foxed, last leaf foxed and soiled.

I. Virgil

In addition to Virgil’s works (Georgics, Eclogues, and Aeneid), the continuation of the Aeneid written by Maffeo Vegio (1407-1458), and the ancient commentary by Servius, this edition also contains the spurious poems referred to collectively as the “Appendix Virgiliana”, as well as the collection of obscene and explicit poems, addressed to or spoken by the phallic garden-god Priapus, known as the “Priapeia”.

ISTC iv00180400 (locating 13 copies, none in North America); Copinger (Incunabula Virgiliana) 66; Copinger (Hain supplement) 6058; Davies & Goldfinch 64; C(IVir) 66; Kallendorf (Early Printed Virgil Editions from 1500-1800) 33; Mambelli 76; IGI 10225; IBE 6128; Madsen 4113; Oates 2144; Pr 5518; BMC V 544; BSB-Ink V-130; GW M49838

II. BOUND WITH:

Juvenal [Juvenalis, Decimus Junius] (60-130)

Satyrae. Comm: Domitius Calderinus. Add: Domitius Calderinus: Defensio adversus Brotheum

Venice: Bartholomaeus de Zanis, 3 Oct. 1487

Folio: [62] lvs. Collation: a–i6, k8. Complete with the final blank.

The Satires of Juvenal, with a preface, commentary, and life of Juvenal by the Veronese humanist Domizio Calderini (1447-1478), as well as Calderini's attack on his fellow humanist N. Perotti, and his defense against charges of plagiarism leveled against him by Angelo Sani Sabino.

ISTC ij00652000; Goff J652; HC 9699*; Zehnacker 1375; IGI 5591; IBP 3317; SI 2337; CCIR J-85; Sajó-Soltész 1996; Madsen 2405; Sallander 1814; Ernst(Hildesheim) II,IV 37; Voull(B) 4244; Kind(Göttingen) 412; Walsh 2251; Bod-inc J-303; Sheppard 4159; Pr 5154; BMC V 430; BSB-Ink I-686; GW M15819

III. BOUND WITH:

Persius Flaccus, Aulus (34-62)

Satyrae. Comm: Johannes Britannicus and Bartholomaeus Fontius

Venice: Petrus de Quarengiis, Bergomensis, 13 Apr. 1495

Folio: [48] lvs. Collation: a8, b-h6, g4. Complete.

The satires of Persius with Renaissance commentaries by Giovanni Britannico and Bartolomeo Fonzio.

ISTC ip00357000; GW M 31404. BSB-Ink P 252. Schweiger II, 706. Hain/Cop. 12739

IV. BOUND WITH:

Terence [Terentius Afer, Publius ] (ca. 195 – ca. 159 BCE)

Comoediae. Prelim: Petrarca, Vita Terentii; Epitaphium Terentii

Parma: Genexius del Cerro, 31 July 1481

Folio: [72] lvs. Collation: a8, b6, c8, d6, e8, f6, g8, h6, i6, k6, l4. Complete.

The comedies of the African playwright and former slave Terence. It includes Petrarch’s life of the author and the ancient, first-person account of Terence’s life, the “Epitaphium Terentii.”.

ISTC it00079500 (recording only 7 copies, none of them in North America); R 1084; IGI 9437; IBE 5499; GW M45465