[Prima Edizione] - Cepolla - Commentaria - 1550

MARKET AND CITY: BARTOLOMEO CEPOLLA AND THE LEGAL ORDER OF 15th-Century VENICE
Rare and significant early modern Venetian edition of Bartolomeo Cepolla's Commentaria, one of the most authoritative jurists of northern Italy in the 16th century. The work, devoted to interpreting the Roman edict on building, tackles central themes of economic and urban life – contracts, sales, liability, defects in goods – offering a systematic and up-to-date reading of civil law applied to mercantile reality. Printed in Venice in 1550, with the printer’s mark “at the sign of the fountain,” this edition testifies to the Serenissima’s role as a primary center of European legal culture and as an editorial hub for diffusing Roman law restyled in a modern key.
MARKET VALUE
Sixteenth-century editions of Bartolomeo Cepolla’s legal Commentaries, particularly the Venetian quarto editions in contemporary binding, are steadily present on the market of specialized antiquarian books on Roman law and legal history. For a complete copy like the present one, with the printer’s mark on the frontispiece and in an old parchment binding, a realistic estimate lies roughly between €1,200 and €2,000, varying according to state of conservation, binding sturdiness, and the freshness of the pages.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Contemporary parchment binding, soft, with handwritten title on the spine and lower edge; traces of the original cords present. Spots and slack binding. Frontispiece with the printer’s mark depicting a fountain. Pages with some browning and damp halos. Some pagination errors. In old books, with a centuries-long history, minor imperfections or defects not always noted in the description may be present. Pages (2); 334; (2); 66 nn; (4).
FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Commentaria in tit.ff.de aedilitio edicto nunc primum in lucem edita.
Venetiis, 1550.
Bartolomeo Cepolla.
CONTEXТ AND SIGNIFICANCE
The edict on building, one of the pillars of classical Roman law, regulated commercial transactions and protected the buyer against hidden defects in goods. Cepolla’s commentaries fit into a long tradition of applied jurisprudence, reinterpreting Roman law in light of Renaissance mercantile practices. In a city like Venice, founded on commerce and law, this work assumes central value, serving as a reference manual for jurists, notaries, and magistrates engaged in regulating urban trade.
BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Bartolomeo Cepolla was born in Verona in 1428 and died in 1476. A jurist of great prestige, he taught civil law and exerted a lasting influence through his commentaries, reprinted many times between the 15th and 16th centuries. His works represent a bridge between classical Roman law and the legal practice of Renaissance Italy, with particular attention to economic and contractual aspects.
PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The Venetian edition of 1550, identifiable by the fountain printer’s mark, belongs to the period of maximum printed diffusion of Cepolla’s works. Venice, the leading European printing center of the sixteenth century, guaranteed broad and durable circulation of these texts, intended for both university settings and daily forensic practice.
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
ICCU / OPAC SBN, Cepolla, Commentaria in titulum de aedilitio edicto
EDIT16, censimenti delle edizioni veneziane del XVI secolo
BnF, Bibliothèque nationale de France, fonds juridique ancien
WorldCat, records for Bartolomeo Cepolla, sixteenth-century editions