Rufo Festo Avieno - Ruffi Festi Auieni V. C. Opera quae extant - 1634

Excellent and very rare example of one of the best-printed books in Madrid throughout the 17th century. This edition, edited by Pedro Melián, gathers all the known or attributed works to Avieno that have been preserved, being the first to do so in the history of world printing.

Rufo Festo Avieno was a Latin poet and translator from the 4th century AD, mainly known for two texts on geographical subjects. In the 'Descriptio Orbis Terrae', which Melián attributes to him, he seems to actually translate a popular Greek poem that outlined the habitable world from the perspective of Alexandria; in the 'Orae Maritimae', a very important verse description of the European coasts from Britain to the Black Sea, of which only fragments remain, he provides the oldest known information about the pre-Roman Iberian Peninsula, sourced from texts a millennium older than Avieno himself.

The rest of the works included in this book are the Latin translation of the 'Phenomena' by the Greek Aratus of Samos, the 'Fables' by Aesop, and a final chapter that gathers several epigrams attributed to Avienus.

Highlights of this edition, in addition to the neat typesetting and the very thick high-quality paper used, include the beautiful lithographic cover (somewhat muted at the bottom margin) engraved by Juan de Noort, a Flemish-born engraver established in Madrid, one of the most prolific and sought-after for the finest printed editions during the Spanish Golden Age. Also notable is the coat of arms representing the patron of the work, the scholar and bibliophile Lorenzo Ramírez de Prado, engraved by the other great court resident engraver, Juan de Courbes, of French origin.

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Avieno, Rufus Festus (4th century)

Ruffi Festi Auieni V. C. Works remaining / Don Petrus Melian in the Guatemalan convent gathered; from the library of D. Laurentius Ramirez de Prado.— Madrid: from the workshop of Francisco Martinez, year 1634. — [1] leaf in front, [12], 91, [1] leaf, [1] leaf of plates; 4.º.

Citations: [ ]1, ¶2, A-Z4, Aa-Bb4, Cc2 (reviewed and complete).

The height of the plate is the engraved cover, engraved by Juan de Noort. In ¶2v, an engraved coat of arms of the dedicatee, Lorenzo Ramírez de Prado, engraved by I. de Courbes.

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Modern binding from the 20th-21st century, in brown leather; boards framed by a gold roll; spine with four nerves, two endpapers with author and title in red leather and gold tooling; water-painted paper endpapers.

Copy in excellent condition, probably restored by a very skilled hand. New, solid binding, without scuffs and with a beautiful shine on the leather. High-quality paper, thick, very white, and clean. On some pages, faint shadows of humidity or rust are barely noticeable (perhaps washed). The frontispiece is quite cropped, mainly at the lower margin, with the engraver's name and the printing details at the foot lost.