Filippo Picinelli - Mondo Simbolico - 1669

Il Mondo simbolico by Filippo Picinelli, printed in Milan by Francesco Vigone in 1669. It is the second edition, markedly expanded compared to the first of 1653. The date on the frontispiece, MDCLXIX, corresponds to 1669.

[32] ,854,230

Book in good condition, parchment cover worn on the front board which is slightly detached, the first fascicle slightly loose, interior pages with some signs of humidity and small stains not invasive; most of the pages are clean and fresh.

It is a large encyclopedia of Baroque emblematic symbolism: it gathers images, mottos and symbolic interpretations to be used in sermons, in discourses and in poetry. Here the word imprese (or “emprises”) indicates figures accompanied by a motto, capable of expressing a moral, religious or personal idea.

The subjects include stars, animals, plants, precious stones, religious objects, nautical, military and musical tools and instruments. The volume thus documents how 17th-century culture attributed symbolic meanings to the natural world and to everyday objects.

Filippo Picinelli, born in Milan on November 21, 1604, was a member of the Regular Canons of the Lateran, a theologian, preacher and writer. He studied philosophy in Cremona and theology in Piacenza; he later became prior and abbot of Santa Maria della Passione in Milan. Information about his life comes mainly from the autobiography included in the Ateneo dei letterati milanesi. The date of death is not unanimously established: several catalogs record 1678.

His central idea was that creation could be read as a great book of symbols. Il Mondo simbolico, his most known work, also achieved European diffusion through the Latin translation by Augustinus Erath, entitled Mundus symbolicus. Among his other writings are Lumi riflessi, the Ateneo dei letterati milanesi and le Fatiche apostoliche.