Mirami - Specularia [Bound w:] Tavole - 1582

2 RENAISSANCE TREATISES ON MIRRORS AND THE REFLECTION OF LIGHT - 2 COMPLETE WORKS
NO SECOND PART PRINTED
Rarissima first and only edition of the only known works by Rafael Mirami, enigmatic Ferrara-born Jewish physician and mathematician: the Compendiosa introduttione alla prima parte della specularia and the complementare Tavole della prima parte della specularia, both published in Ferrara in 1582 by the heirs of Francesco Rossi and Paolo Tortorino. Although the title explicitly announces a “first part,” bibliographically there is no record of any second part of the Specularia having been published: major catalogs and preserved copies record only these two texts from 1582, defined by modern antiquarian bibliography as the only known publications of Mirami.
The work represents one of the most unusual Italian scientific treatises of the late Renaissance, devoted to the theory of mirrors, the reflection of light, and geometric catotric geometry. Mirami studies flat, concave, and convex mirrors through diagrams and mathematical arguments, surprisingly weaving scientific treatment with poetic citations from Dante, Petrarch, and Horace.
The Tavole possess independent title pages and collation and are cataloged separately by EDIT16, while other bibliographies consider them part of the treatise; in any case they constitute the complement of the “first part” and not a second part of the work.

WHY TO BUY
FIRST AND ONLY EDITION – FERRARA 1582! The only known works of the enigmatic Rafael Mirami.
NO KNOWN SECOND PART! The “first part” announced in the title appears, as documented, to be the only part of the Specularia brought to print.
THE SCIENCE OF MIRRORS IN THE RENAISSANCE! A very rare treatise on geometric optics, reflection, concave, convex, and flat mirrors.
MATHEMATICS + DANTE + PETRARCA + HORACE! An extraordinary fusion of science and humanistic culture.

MARKET VALUE
The bibliographic rarity of the work is notable: the market sporadically records the set of the Compendiosa introduttione and Tavole, i.e., the entire known corpus of the Specularia; the absence of a “second part” does not constitute an incompleteness of the exemplar, since no continuation is known or cataloged. An exemplar was estimated at $4,000-6,000 in 2018.
For a good exemplar like this, complete with the two 1582 publications, a realistic retail value is in the range of €3,000-4,000, with potential for higher offers for copies in contemporary binding, in excellent condition, or with important scientific provenance.

PHYSICAL / CONDITION
Two complementary works bound in one volume. Compendiosa introduttione alla prima parte della specularia, followed by Tavole della prima parte della specularia. The reference to the “first part” does not indicate lack of a second part: no continuation appears published, and these two publications constitute the entire known corpus of Mirami’s Specularia.
Later half-binding in black maple with a manuscript title on the spine. Variant with white I4 paper. Title page with a woodcut printer’s mark; numerous woodcut diagrams in the text; paper [Latin cross]2 bound at the end. Bound with Tavole della prima parte della specularia, i.e., della scienza de gli specchi, Ferrara, 1582, with its own title page and final leaf bearing a woodcut printer’s mark. The last two leaves have minor marginal losses affecting a few letters of the text and of the imprint, restored with handwritten insertions. Woodcut drop caps. Professional restoration to the white lower corner of the first title page and to some additional leaves. Uniform browning. Pp. (2); 8nn; 70; (2); 28nn; (2). As with all antique volumes, minor defects or restorations not explicitly mentioned are possible.

FULL TITLES & AUTHORS
Rafael Mirami, “Hebreo Fisico, e Matematico”.
Compendiosa introduttione alla prima parte della specularia, cioè della scienza de gli specchi. Opera nova, nella quale brevemente, e con facil modo si discorre intorno agli specchi e si rende la cagione di tutti i loro miracolosi effetti.
Ferrara: appresso gli Heredi di Francesco Rossi, & Paolo Tortorino, Compagni, 1582.
Legato con:
Rafael Mirami.
Tavole della prima parte della specularia, cioè della scienza de gli specchi.
Ferrara: appresso gli Heredi di Francesco Rossi, & Paolo Tortorino, Compagni, 1582.
PRIMA E UNICA EDIZIONE. Le Tavole possiedono frontespizio e collazione autonomi e sono trattate come opera distinta da EDIT16, ma costituiscono materialmente e concettualmente il complemento della Compendiosa introduttione. Nessuna seconda parte della Specularia risulta pubblicata.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Very little is known about Rafael Mirami outside of what he himself states in the work, where he presents himself as “Hebreo Fisico, e Matematico” linked to the Ferrara environment. The scarcity of biographical documentation has even led to the hypothesis that Rafael Mirami may be a pseudonym. Christie’s defines the Compendiosa introduttione and Tavole as the author’s only known publications.
No other works by him are known, nor, above all, has a second part of the Specularia been traced: the proposed structure suggested by the words “first part” did not, as catalogues show, have a printed continuation. Mirami’s uniqueness lies also in his ability to fuse mathematical culture and humanistic training: his arguments on reflection and mirrors are accompanied by verses of Dante, Petrarch, and Horace, up to a concluding original poetic composition.

RARITY
The rarity of Mirami’s Specularia is exceptional in several respects. It is the first and only edition, published in Ferrara in 1582, and at the same time the only known works of the author. ([Christie’s][1]) Even more significant is the fact that, despite the title announcing a “first part,” no “second part of the Specularia” is documented today in the catalogs or collections consulted: this makes the present set not a fragment of a materially incomplete work, but the entire known corpus of Mirami’s scientific project. The Compendiosa and Tavole are both attested in 1582 and appear together in copies described by major collections and specialty sales.
The specialized character of the subject, the presence of scientific diagrams, the asserted Jewish identity of the author, and the unusual fusion of optics and poetry confer on the volume an exceptional cross-disciplinary interest for the history of science, Italian Jewish history, mathematics, and Renaissance culture.

HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE
In the late Renaissance the study of mirrors belonged to a broader reflection on geometric optics, perspective, and the propagation and reflection of light. Mirami’s Specularia represents a particularly original testimony to this Italian scientific culture: diagrams and figures illustrate phenomena related to flat, concave, and convex mirrors, while the mathematical discourse is placed within a fully humanistic cultural horizon.
That the “first part” remained the only known part increases the work’s historical charm: we are faced with the surviving trace of a scientific project that the title would seem to conceive as more expansive, but for which no printed continuation is known. This conclusion is consistent with catalogs that record only the two Ferrara texts of 1582 and with the definition of the set as first and only edition.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
EDIT16, CNCE 28773, Rafael Mirami, Compendiosa introduttione alla prima parte della specularia, Ferrara, 1582.
EDIT16, CNCE 38369, Rafael Mirami, Tavole della prima parte della specularia, Ferrara, 1582. The two independent registrations explain why bibliographically they can be described as two works, though they form a strictly dependent whole.
Riccardi, Biblioteca matematica italiana, I, II, p. 162.
Wellcome, I, 4341; the catalog considers the Tavole within the main work.
Folger Shakespeare Library, Compendiosa introduttionealla prima parte della specularia, Ferrara, 1582.
Universidad de Granada, digitized copies of the Compendiosa introduttione and Tavole della prima parte della specularia, both Ferrara 1582.
Christie's, The Giancarlo Beltrame Library of Scientific Books, description of the set as “first and only edition” and as the only known publications by Rafael Mirami.
Sotheby’s, The Library of the Earls of Macclesfield, collection of the two 1582 texts as two parts of the Specularia