Bernardo Granolachs - [Incunable] Summario de la Luna - 1499

The Hidden Book of the Moon and Its Influences: On the Time and Destiny of Men
A very rare astrological work incunabulum, published in Venice in 1499 by Giovanni Battista Sessa, the renowned printer who later used the woodcut mark of the cat with the mouse.
The Summary of the Moon by Bernardo Granolachs of Barcelona combines lunar calculation with divinatory knowledge, blending science, symbol, and prediction. A boundary text between practical astronomy and mystical astrology, it guides humans in understanding the celestial rhythms that govern matter, seasons, and the human soul. It is one of the oldest popular treatises on the moon printed in the vernacular, intended for those who wished to read the sky to decipher the coming year.
Market value
Very rare Venetian astrological incunabulum. The few known copies of lunar texts from the late 15th century printed by Sessa are among the most bibliographically rare. Depending on condition, provenance, and completeness, an intact copy can currently be worth between 10,000 and 15,000 euros on the international antique market. Copies with contemporary binding and fresh paper are extremely rare; the presence of plates, zodiac signs, or contemporary annotations significantly increases their value.

Physical description and condition
Venetian incunabulum, printed on January 10, 1499. The text does not show progressive numbering in the known copies. Venetian typography in Gothic characters, with ornate woodcut initials and rubricated in red, manuscript parchment rubricated in red and blue at the guards. Slight coloring of the typographic vignette on the title page, added later, with wide margins and full-page layout. Colophon bearing 'Printed in Venice by Io Baptista Sessa on the 9th of January, 1499.' Pages (2); 44; (2) unnumbered, the last leaf reproduced on old paper, marginal browning, and slight restorations at the inner margin that do not touch the text. Half-leather binding on wooden boards, with traces of metal clasps, renewed spine.

Full title and author
Summary of the Moon by Master Bernardo Granolachs of Barcelona: how the Moon appears to many. The advent, Septuagesima, Carnevale, Pascha, Ascension, Pentecost, the Four Seasons, Laurels, numbers, the Dominical letter, the Litanies: the notes with many beautiful reasons from astrology by various authors, which show through the Kalends what is to be for the year. And the unlucky days to watch out for, to do something, with the nature of the planets and elements and many other things added, which are not printed elsewhere.
[Al Colophon] Printed in Venice for Io Baptista Sessa in the year 1589, on the true day of January 11.
Bernardo Granolachs from Barcelona

Context and Significance
The Summarium of the Moon is an astrological-practical text that illustrates the lunar phases, their influences, and the consequences on the course of the year. Granolachs, a Catalan-trained astrologer, draws on classical and Arabic sources to show how the moon determines the cycles of nature and human predispositions, blending astronomy and natural philosophy. The work fits within the tradition of medieval lunar calendars but amplifies its theoretical scope: not just a calendar, but a guide to interpreting celestial will. Esoterically, the moon is the Queen of the shadow, the moist and mutable principle that governs birth and dissolution, time and memory. The 'rasone de Astrologia' that the author collects for the Kalende reveal a cosmic system based on the correspondence between sky and man, microcosm and macrocosm, where the motions of the moon become signs of order and omen. Printed in the magical Venice of the late Quattrocento, where printers disseminated horoscopes, calendars, and sacred texts together, the volume stands at the crossroads of natural science, alchemy, and Hermetic symbolism.

Biography of the Author
Bernardo Granolachs of Barcelona was an astrologer and calculator active in the second half of the 15th century, probably in the Catalan area. Little is certain about his life, but his name appears in lists of Iberian authors of practical astrology. He belongs to that generation of scholars who, trained in the Arab and scholastic traditions, sought to make the principles of natural astrology and lunar calculations accessible in the vernacular. His thought shows affinities with Catalan astrological alchemy and with doctrines of the lunar motion understood as a reflection of the universal soul.

Printing history and circulation
Printed in Venice on January 10, 1499, by Giovanni Battista Sessa, a renowned publisher and bookseller, famous for his typographic mark featuring the cat and the mouse. The edition, likely aimed at an audience of astrologers, apothecaries, and enthusiasts of predictions, was among the first works to combine astrology and popular dissemination in the vernacular language. Circulation was limited: lunar calendars had a fleeting life, and few copies survive. It is possible that the text derives from a Catalan or Latin original, translated in Venice for the merchant and maritime market, sensitive to lunar cycles. No subsequent reprints are documented, making this incunabulum a unique testament to popular astrological knowledge at the end of the 15th century.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
General Index of Incunables in Spanish Libraries (IGI).
British Library Incunabula Short Title Catalogue (ISTC no. ig00360000).
Reichling, Incunabula Typographica Veneziana.
Houzeau & Lancaster, General Bibliography of Ancient and Medieval Astronomy.
Thorndike, History of Magic and Experimental Science, vol. III, chapter on Iberian astrology.
Copies at the Marciana Library and the National Library of Spain.