Polydore Vergil - De rerum inventoribus libri octo - 1590

Of the inventors of things eight books - [Geneva], Jacob Stoer, 1590 - (32) 336 (16) 337-675 (61) pp - characteristic 16th-century Renaissance binding of blind-stamped pigskin leather over boards, richly decorated with roll stamps of portrait medallions and provided with a spine with four raised bands and a handwritten title.

Good. Inner hinge at bottom open, first quire detaching at the bottom - the book block firmly in the binding. Interior browned here and there with a spot. Front pastedown inscribed. Underlinings and/or notes in the margins of about 30 pp, appropriate to the age and historical use of the work. Some wormholes.

Written by the humanist Polydorus Vergilius and bound in a characteristic blind-stamped pigskin Renaissance binding, it is a substantial early-modern encyclopedia that, in eight books, examines the origin and history of human civilization. The work offers a chronological and thematic overview of the "first inventors" in the fields of language, science, culture, everyday technologies and law, with the author critically comparing classical myths with historical and biblical sources. Additionally, the book pays extensive attention to the roots of religious traditions, Christian institutions and church rites, which made it one of the most influential cultural-historical reference works of the Renaissance.

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