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Books, Autographs & Prints / Part I

Tuesday 30 March 2021, 03:00 PM • Rome

178

Vergilio, Polidoro

De inventoribus rerum libri VIII et de prodigiis libri III cum indicibus locupletissimis, 1671

Estimate

€ 150 - 200

Sold

€ 192

The price includes buyer's premium

Information

Leiden, Daniel Elzevier, 1671. In 12º. Chalcographic front door, brand on the title page, woodcut friezes and initials, two woodworm holes at the upper edge of the title page that touch the mirror of the engraving, water gorge at the lower edge, small woodworm hole at the outer white margin of the first cards, restoration at the lower corner of C12 with woodworm hole, coeval leather binding, author and title stamped in gold within the spine, small gaps in the spine, slight defects. Paper ex libris on the counterplate. § Together in the lot of the same author De inventoribus rerum libri VIII , s.l., Joannes Graphei, s.d .. In 16 °. & Nbsp;

Specialist Notes

The first edition of 1499 was enriched, reworked and expanded several times until five more were added to the three initial books in 1521. The various editions were repeatedly placed on the Index of prohibited books and many were the widespread publications expurgated . The encyclopedic work appears in the first three books as a true archive of inventions and discoveries on the birth of crafts, knowledge, beliefs and technologies. In the books subsequently added, the humanist from Urbino deals with the origins of fundamental Christian institutions by dissociating himself from practices such as the obligation of ecclesiastical celibacy and indulgences from an Erasmian perspective. Although censored and partially condemned, the work had an incredible circulation with more than one hundred reprints and translations in various languages.

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