Cicero - [Incunable] Epistolae - 1499

IN FOLIO - COMPLETELY RUBRICATED IN RED AND BLUE INK - THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC
FIRST COLLECTIVE EDITION OF 1499
Elegant manual rubrication in red and blue made at the time along the entire text.
Extraordinary incunabulum belonging to the first collective edition of Cicero's works, one of the greatest typographic and philological enterprises of Italian Humanism. The present volume contains the Epistolae, the most intimate and historically valuable part of the entire Cicero corpus: an exceptional political diary in which the last years of the Roman Republic take shape through the events of Caesar, Pompey, Brutus, Antony, and Octavian. Curated by the great humanist Alessandro Minuziano and printed in Milan in 1499, the edition represents a milestone in the rebirth of classical studies. The wide margins, the refined manual rubrication in red and blue, and the typographic elegance testify to a production intended for the libraries of the most important humanists of the Renaissance.
WHY TO BUY
First collective edition of Cicero's works.
Elegant manual rubrication in red and blue made at the time along the entire text - gold interventions.
Important incunabulum curated by the great humanist Alessandro Minuziano.
Contains the Epistolae, the most important source on the crisis of the Roman Republic.
Large margins and high-quality typography.

MARKET VALUE
Volumes of the first collective edition of Cicero's works edited by Alessandro Minuziano are rare on the antiquarian market, especially when preserved individually with wide margins and original rubrication. The Epistolae constitute one of the most sought-after sections of the entire collection, both for their historical value and for literary importance. A genuine copy like the present one can reasonably be valued between €8,000 and €12,000.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Elegant manual rubrication in red and blue made at the time along the entire text - gold interventions.
Volume III of the first collective edition of Cicero's works. Splendid binding produced with a sheet of medieval parchment, entirely handwritten in red and blue. Text set in 52 lines per page with running titles. Roman type with occasional use of Greek characters. Initials and paragraph marks rubricated by hand in red and blue. Some marginal wear, more evident on the first leaves, occasional browning, signs of use and sporadic stains. Collation: AA-II⁸ KK⁶ LL-XX⁸ YY¹⁰. Present 175 leaves - title page reproduced on antique paper, from another edition. A specimen of pleasant appearance. In old books with a long history there may be some imperfections not always noted in the description.

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Marcus Tullius Cicero.
Opera. Volumen III: Epistolae.
Milan, Guillermus Le Signerre, at the expense of Alessandro Minuziano, after October 15, 1499.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The Epistolae constitute one of the most extraordinary documents to have survived from ancient Rome. No other work allows observing the collapse of the Republic from within its own ruling circle with such immediacy. The letters to Atticus, to Quintus, to Brutus, and to friends follow almost day-by-day the civil wars, political alliances, assassinations, fears, and hopes that accompanied the end of republican liberty and the rise of imperial power. Through this correspondence emerges not only the greatest orator of Rome, but also a man forced to confront the rapid dissolution of the political order in which he had believed all his life. For the humanists of the Quattrocento these letters represented the absolute model of Latin style and political reflection, so much so that they became one of the fundamental texts of European education.

A MONUMENT OF RENAISSANCE HUMANISM
The Milanese edition of 1499 constitutes one of the most ambitious editorial enterprises of Italian Humanism. Alessandro Minuziano, among the leading philologists of his time, conceived a collection designed to restore the Cicero corpus in its entirety according to the most advanced philological criteria of the era. The quality of typographic composition, the careful textual revision, occasional use of Greek types, and the rubrication testimony to an editorial level destined for the most refined university and humanist circles. This work marks one of the high moments of the revival of Latin classics on the eve of the sixteenth century.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Marco Tullio Cicerone (106-43 B.C.) was an orator, advocate, philosopher, politician, and Roman writer. Considered the greatest master of Latin prose, he exerted unparalleled influence on European culture from the Middle Ages to the modern era. His rhetorical, philosophical, political, and epistolary works formed the foundation of humanistic education and continued to represent the unmatched model of Latin eloquence for over fifteen centuries.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE EDITOR
Alessandro Minuziano (ca. 1450-1522), also known as Alexander Minutianus, was a humanist, teacher, editor, and printer active in Milan. A central figure of Italian philology between the Quattrocento and the sixteenth century, he dedicated his activity to the critical publication of the great classical authors, contributing decisively to the diffusion of Latin texts in universities and the courts of Renaissance Italy. His editions are today considered among the most important achievements of Italian humanistic typography.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Completed in 1499, this monumental collection constitutes the first great collective edition of Cicero's works published in Milan. Printed by Guillermus Le Signerre at the expense of Alessandro Minuziano, it was structured in four volumes intended to collect the entire corpus of the author. Over the centuries many copies were dismembered and the individual volumes scattered, making it increasingly difficult today to obtain each part separately. The typographic quality, the high philological standard, and the presence of the original rubrication place this edition among the highest monuments of Italian humanistic publishing of the XV century.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
ISTC ic00498000.
GW 6708.
Goff C-498.
Hain-Copinger 5056.
BMC VI, p. 790.
Bodleian Library, Bod-inc C-208.
BSB-Ink C-377.
IGI 2925.
Polain(B) 1148.
Proctor 5825.
ICCU / OPAC SBN, exemplars cataloged of the Milanese edition of 1499.
Kristeller, Iter Italicum, references to Alessandro Minuziano.
Renouard, Annales de l'Imprimerie des Alde, for the contemporary editorial humanistic context.