VERGIL Polydore
£580
Auction: 1 February 2005 at 11:00 GMT
Description
De inventoribus rerum ... ab ipso autore recognita ... cui editoni adglutinavit Instituta omnia nostrae Christianae religionis ... ff. 141, [xxvii], f. 61 misprinted as 63, printer's device on the titlepage, capitals blank with guide letters, 16th century calf, the covers ruled with a double gilt border, gilt central fleuron lozenge and fleuron corners, gilt gauffred edges, backstrip repaired, endpapers renewed, small wormhole in text through a few signatures no loss), and at lower inner margin through another couple of signatures, 4to., Paris: ex off. Roberti Stephani, 1528 [in fine: 1529]
Note: Adams V 427; Schreiber 38. Early edition of a work first published in 1499. It covers geometry, arithmetic, tragedy & comedy, grammar, language, the pyramids, agriculture, law, measurement, etc. Because of its tendency to rationalism and some statements which offended the clergy it was placed on the index. This copy is inscribed in an early hand on the titlepage "Liber prohibitus". Vergil (c. 1470-1555) became a naturalised Englishman and enjoyed a number of benefices including a prebendal stall at St. Paul's Cathedral, London