[ 1 Edition] I. Sadoleti - Epistolarum - 1550

First edition.

Jacopo Sadoleto, Bishop of Carpentoras, S.R.E. Cardinal, Epistolarum Libri Sexdecim.
Lyon, at Seb. Gryphium, 1550.

In-8° (mm 170 × 110); pp. 1134, (10).
Binding in contemporary stiff parchment, with handwritten title on the spine.

Complete collection of the letters of Cardinal Jacopo Sadoleto (Modena 1487 – Rome 1547), one of the most refined humanists of the sixteenth century, bishop of Carpentras and a protagonist of the cultural and religious dialogue between Rome and the reforming Europe.

The edition includes the sixteen books of epistles, the liber unus addressed to his nephew Paolo Sadoleto, and the Life of the author written by Antonio Florebello.

Sadoleto’s correspondence, addressed to figures such as Erasmus of Rotterdam, Pietro Bembo, Reginald Pole, Gasparo Contarini, and many other protagonists of European culture and politics, constitutes a primary source for the history of Christian humanism and the pre-Tridentine Catholic reform efforts.

First complete edition of Epistolae, printed in Lyon by Sébastien Gryphe, one of the most important printers of the sixteenth century. Complete copies bound in contemporary binding are not frequently seen on the market.

Conditions: burn mark at p. 690; some leaves crumbly; traces of moisture; the final part loose.

An exceptionally historically and literary significant exemplar, representative of the epistolary production of one of the greatest cardinal-humanists of the Renaissance.