Plinius Secondus (Pliny the Elder) - NATURALIS HISTORIÆ LIBRI XXXVII - 1525

Frumoasă ediție venețiană ilustrată, de începutul secolului al XVI-lea, a „cele mai populare istorii naturale vreodată scrise”.

TITLUL
NATURALIS HISTORIÆ LIBRI XXXVII E CASTIGATIONIBUS HERMOLAI BARBARI… ac codicis in Alemania impressi quam emendatissime editi, addito indice quam copiosissimo, figurisque ad singolorum librorum materiam aptissimis. Prima pars Plyniani indicis editi per Ioannem Camertem minoritanum, sacre theologie doc. in qua (tabelle picte instar) mira litterarum connexione dicuntur ea omnia, geographiam praeter (nam hanc amplectitur pars altera) quae toto Plyniano volumine continent. - (Excussum Venetiis : per Melchiorem Sessam, & Petrum Serenae socios, 1525 die XXIIII Aprilis).

COMENTARIU
Good illustrated edition and a nice genuine copy of the famous work by Pliny, here with commentary by the humanist Ermolao Barbaro and seductive illustrations, which made this edition published and printed by the Sessa family one of the most successful of the 16th century. Camers indexes are available with separate numbering to navigate the 20,000 facts collected from 200 books and over 100 selected authors covering cosmology, mathematics, geography, medicine, zoology, agriculture, botany, history, philosophy, anthropology, mineralogy, and the arts and literature. In fact, the authors consulted and cited are 473 (146 Romans and 327 Greeks).

DESCRIERE
2 parts in a folio volume, pars prima [72, Index by humanist Johannes Camers, 1447-1546)] cc. and pars seconda [14] cc., CCXIX cc., [1] p.; two framed red and black title pages, printer's device on the titlepage, graceful initials, 37 woodcuts (with two maps, Europe and Africa), one at the beginning of each book.

Old marginal repairs to initial leaves (incl. first title-page), some foxing at the edges, else in good state with crispy and think leaves. Only the first of 37 woodcuts with stains, the others well inked and with very good contrast. Bound in full soft somehow later vellum with ms title on spine. Collated complete.

Provenance: Purchase note at the end dated 10 December 1547 "praetio librarum quattuor cum dimidio imp[erialium]", and another dated 1616; unidentified heraldic bookplate on the counterplate; "Josephi...", inscription deleted from the upper margin of the title page and stamp of the "Mediolanum antiquarian bookshop"; Sotheby's, October 2022, lot. 186.

Referință: Edit16 30074; Sander 5764