Description

Cato (Marcus Porcius) Varro, Coulmella & Palladius. Scriptores rei rusticae ("Opera Agricolationum"), collation: aa10 a-s8 t-u6 x-z8 &8 [con] 8 [rum] 8 A-C8 D6, 244 leaves, text in single column, 44 lines, fol. a1r title and nine-line woodcut initial and 2 smaller initials printed in red, numerous decorated initials on black ground in different sizes, woodcut printer's device at end, first leaf possibly from another copy, early annotations on recto of front flyleaf, marginalia and reading marks in the same hand, a few slightly trimmed at time of rebinding, some marginal staining, final leaf with marginal repairs and restoration, modern calf, blind tooled in antique style, folio (304 x 195mm.), Reggio Emilia, Franciscus de Mazalibus, 20 November 1499.

⁂ The last Italian edition of the Scriptores rei rusticae printed in the 15th century, after those which appeared in Venice in 1472 (see lot 5), in Reggio Emilia in 1482 (see lot 8), in Bologna in 1494, and again in Reggio Emilia in 1496 (see previous lot). "This is a good example of the rivalry between the prototypographers, five Italian incunabula of the Scriptores rei rusticae, by five different printers, in three cities; three editions by three different printers in one of them, Reggio Emilia [...] After that the tradition of the four Scriptores was common" (G. Sarton, Hellenistic Science and Culture in the Last Three Centuries B.C., Cambridge, MA, 1959, p.388).

The 1499 edition was issued from the press of Francesco Mazzali, active as a printer in Reggio Emilia between 1494 and 1504, and closely follows the 1496 Bertocchi edition.

Provenance: the Milanese lawyer, politician, and art collector Michele Cavaleri (1813-1890; his stamp 'Museo Cavaleri' on fol. aa2r).

Rothamsted acquisition date 1930.

Literature: ISTC is00350000; HC(+Add) 14570*; GW M41062; BMC VII 1089; Bod-inc S-126; Goff S-350; Klebs 902.5; B.IN.G 1798; Simon Bibliotheca Bacchica 1.45.

Lot 16

Cato (Marcus Porcius) Varro, Coulmella & Palladius. Scriptores rei rusticae ("Opera Agricolationum"), Reggio Emilia, Franciscus de Mazalibus, 20 November 1499.  

Hammer Price: £3,000

Description

Cato (Marcus Porcius) Varro, Coulmella & Palladius. Scriptores rei rusticae ("Opera Agricolationum"), collation: aa10 a-s8 t-u6 x-z8 &8 [con] 8 [rum] 8 A-C8 D6, 244 leaves, text in single column, 44 lines, fol. a1r title and nine-line woodcut initial and 2 smaller initials printed in red, numerous decorated initials on black ground in different sizes, woodcut printer's device at end, first leaf possibly from another copy, early annotations on recto of front flyleaf, marginalia and reading marks in the same hand, a few slightly trimmed at time of rebinding, some marginal staining, final leaf with marginal repairs and restoration, modern calf, blind tooled in antique style, folio (304 x 195mm.), Reggio Emilia, Franciscus de Mazalibus, 20 November 1499.

⁂ The last Italian edition of the Scriptores rei rusticae printed in the 15th century, after those which appeared in Venice in 1472 (see lot 5), in Reggio Emilia in 1482 (see lot 8), in Bologna in 1494, and again in Reggio Emilia in 1496 (see previous lot). "This is a good example of the rivalry between the prototypographers, five Italian incunabula of the Scriptores rei rusticae, by five different printers, in three cities; three editions by three different printers in one of them, Reggio Emilia [...] After that the tradition of the four Scriptores was common" (G. Sarton, Hellenistic Science and Culture in the Last Three Centuries B.C., Cambridge, MA, 1959, p.388).

The 1499 edition was issued from the press of Francesco Mazzali, active as a printer in Reggio Emilia between 1494 and 1504, and closely follows the 1496 Bertocchi edition.

Provenance: the Milanese lawyer, politician, and art collector Michele Cavaleri (1813-1890; his stamp 'Museo Cavaleri' on fol. aa2r).

Rothamsted acquisition date 1930.

Literature: ISTC is00350000; HC(+Add) 14570*; GW M41062; BMC VII 1089; Bod-inc S-126; Goff S-350; Klebs 902.5; B.IN.G 1798; Simon Bibliotheca Bacchica 1.45.

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