(NATURAL PHILOSOPHY; COSMOLOGY; ASTRONOMY;ILLUSTRATED) Paulus Venetus (Paolo NICOLETTI) (1369-1429) Liber de compositione mundi. Excellentissimi Pauli VenetTheologi insignis. Philosophi summmi: ac Astronomi maximi opus aureu de compositione Mu[n]di quod Astronomie ianua a nuncupari potest: in quo omnium celestium signorum, segmentorumque omnium figuratio & quasi typus quidam perspicitur nuperrime diligenter recognitum. (Colophon: Lugduni impressum in edibus honesti viri Antonii du Ry calcographi ...), 1525 § 4to (245 x 175); [36] pp., (last page blank), sign: A-C4, D6 , large woodcut printer’s device on title page, repeated on last leaf; title within woodcut border, woodcut initials, 53 fascinating woodcut illustrations depicting astronomical symbols, signs of the zodiac, planets, etc., nice copy on crisp paper. First published in 1498. The work is an abridged Latin version of an Italian treatise, Della composizione del mondo, written in 1282 by Ristoro d’Arezzo. Divided in 29 chapters, it includes sections on cosmography, astronomy, meteorology, geology, physics, tides, springs and rivers. Paul of Venice was a Catholic philosopher, theologian, logician and metaphysician of the Order of Hermits of Saint Augustine. Conti considers him “one of the most prominent personalities in Italian university culture of the 15th century and one of the most acute and interesting logicians of the entire Middle Ages.” (translated). He spent three years in Oxford, where he developed a clear rejection of nominalism and an adherence to what can be defined as ‘Oxonian realism’, which characterised his entire philosophical production. He taught at the University of Padua, became provincial of the Order in Venice in 1409, and was head of some diplomatic missions (at the court of Hungary, in Ulm and in Krakow) on behalf of the Serenissima. “His philosophical theses, ... are not only intrinsically but also historically significant for anyone who wishes to account for the peculiarity and topicality of late medieval and humanistic Aristotelianism.” (Conti, translated).  ALESSANDRO D. CONTI Paolo Veneto In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani; GABRIELLE MARCHAND La philosophie naturelle de Paul de Venise In: Interfaces/Fonds Anciens BU Lyon Publié 24 Février 2013, mis à jour 7 janvier 2015 https://bibulyon.hypotheses.org/3081#identifier_0_3081