Items in the Exhibition:
1477
Domini Justiniani . . . iuris enucleati ex o_ veteri iure collecti digestor_ seu p_decta[rum]. [Venetiis: Nicolai Jenson Gallici, 1477]
Gift of Richard T. Merrick (Georgetown LLD 1873), who achieved some notoriety as a defender of a number of the Lincoln assassination conspirators.
1478
Aquinas, Saint Thomas. Prima pars secunde partis s_me theologie. [Venetiis: Franciscus de Hailbrun et Petrum de Bartua, 1478]
First edition of this portion of Aquinas’ masterwork, from the distinguished library of the German collector Georg Kloss. Gift of Rev. A. M. Paresce.
1482
Euclid. Preclarissimus liber elementorum Euclidis perspicacissimi: in artem Geometrie. [Venetiis: Erhardus Ratdolt Augustensis impressor, 1482]
The first printed Euclid.
1496
Catullus. Catullus una c_ commentariis Eruditi Viri Palladii Fusci Patavini. [Venetiis: per Ioannem Tacuinum de Tridino, 1496]
1499
Plautus. Plautinæ viginti comediæ emendatissimæ cum accuratissima ac luculentissima interprætatione doctissimorum virorum Petri Vallæ placentini ac & Bernardi saraceni Veneti. [Venetiis: Impressum per Simonem Papiensem dictum Bivilaqua, 1499]
Acquired with the rare book collection of the University of Detroit Library.
1502
Ovid. Ovidii metamorphoseΩn libri quindecim. [Venetiis: In Aedib. Aldi, 1502]
The first Aldine edition of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Beukenkamp.
1508
Pliny, the Younger. C. Plinii Secundi Novocomensis epistolar_ libri decem [etc.] [Venetiis: In Aedib. Aldi, et Andreæ Asulani soceri, 1508.
The first Aldine edition of Pliny. Gift of Mrs. Katherine Bowie.
1511
[Cicero. M. T. Cic[ero] Epistolae familiares: c_ cômêto Hubertini Crescentinatis: [et] Martini Philetici . . . Venetijs: Opere & impensa Georgij de Rusconibus Mediolanensis, 1511]
A “school” edition of Cicero’s text, the original spaced out to accommodate interlinear annotation. First in a volume of eight similar items by Cicero, the others printed in Leipzig by Melchior Lotther or his associates. Lacking the first three leaves.
1516
Psalterium, Hebr_um, Gr_c_, Arabic_, & Chald__, c_ tribus latinis _terp[re]tatôibus & glossis. [Genoa: Impressit miro ingenio, Petrus Paulus Porrus, 1516]
The first published polyglot Psalter. Showing the famous reference to the Genoese Christopher Columbus and his recent discovery of “regiones postremo ante hac incognitas” in the annotation to Psalm 19:4. Acquired with the library of John Gilmary Shea.
1518
Brusoni, Lucio Domitio. L. Domitii Brusonii con Tursini Lucani facetiarum exemplorumq. Libri VII. [Romæ: Impressum per Iacob_ Mazochi_, 1518]
Not a monument of careful printing: the volume’s list of errata at the end extends to three full pages. Gift of Dr. Warrington W. Evans.
1525
Bembo, Pietro. Prose di M. Pietro Bembo nellequali si ragiona della volgar lingua. [In Vinegia: per Giovan Tacuino, 1525]
First edition of this important humanist correspondence on the Italian language. Gift of Mrs. Katherine Bowie.
1543
Piccolomini, Alessandro. De la institutione di tutta la vita de l’homo nato nobile e in citta libera. Libri X. in lingua Toscana. Venetijs: Apud Hieronymum Scotum, 1543.
Written for the instruction of a young nobleman.
1547
Petrarch. Il Petrarca con l’espositione d’Alessandro Vellutello di novo ristampato con le figure a i triomphi, et con piu cose utili in varii luoghi aggiunte. In Vinegia: Appresso Gabriel Giolito de Ferrari, 1547.
Gift of Mrs. Katherine Bowie.
1556
Plato. Omnia divini Platonis opera tralatione Marsilii Ficini. Venetiis: Apud Ioannem Mariam Bonellum, 1556.
1558
Ordine de cavalieri del tosone. [Venice] Nell’Academia Venetiana, 1558.
Sometimes attributed to Francesco Sansovino, who signed the dedicatory epistle. Gift of Marcel A. Viti.
1562
Pole, Reginald. De concilio liber Reginaldi Poli cardinalis. Romae: Apud Paulum Manutium Aldi F., 1562.
Bound with the same author’s Reformatio angliae (1562).
1566
Constitutiones et decreta condita in provinciali synodo Mediolanensi. Sub Ill.mo & R.mo D. D. Carolo Borrhomaeo . . . Archiepiscopo Mediolani. Venetiis: Aldus, 1566.
First edition, with a version of the familiar Aldine dolphin and anchor on the title. Gift of Prof. John Pilch.
1566
Sansovino, Francesco. Origine de cavalieri . . . et con la discrittione dell’Isole di Malta & dell’Elba. In Venetia: Appresso Camillo, & Rutilio Borgomineri fratelli, 1566.
Gift of Marcel A. Viti.
1567
Vitruvius. M. Vitruvii Pollionis de architectura libri decem, cum commentariis Danielis Barbari. Venetiis: Apud Franciscum Franciscium Senensem, & Ioan. Crugher, Germanum, 1567.
The first Barberi edition, copiously illustrated.
1576
Porcacchi, Thomaso. L’Isole piu famose del mondo . . . e intagliate da Girolamo Porro. In Venetia: Appresso Simon Galignani & Girolamo Porro, 1576.
A wide-ranging geographical work best known today for its maps and accounts of a number of islands in the Caribbean. Acquired with the library of John Gilmary Shea.
1592
Biblia sacra vulgatae editionis. Romæ: Ex Typographia Apostolica Vaticana, 1592.
First printing of the authoritative (“Clementine”) edition of the Vulgate, produced to correct a mass of errors which had been introduced two years earlier in the “Sixtine” edition of the same text. Acquired with the library of John Gilmary Shea.
1620 [1642]
Magini, Gio Ant. Italia di Gio: Ant. Magini data in luce da Fabio suo figliuolo. Bononiæ: Impensis ipsius auctoris, 1620 [i.e., Bononiæ: Typis Nicolai Tebaldini, 1642]
Later printing of an influential and large-scale Italian atlas.
1621
Alciati, Andrea. Andreæ Alciati emblemata cum commentariis Claudii Minois I. C. Francisci Sanctii Brocensis, & notis Laurentii Pignorii Patavini. Patavij: Apud Petrum Paulum Tozzium, 1621.
This edition extends to some 212 emblems, most with extensive commentary. From the library of Rev. Thomas C. Levins.
1646
Ferrari, Giovanni Battista. Hesperides sive de malorum aureorum cultura et usu libri quatuor. Romæ: Sumptibus Hermanni Scheus, 1646.
First edition of a work esteemed today perhaps more for its illustrations than for its Jesuit author’s scientific contributions, which at the time were considerable.
1654
Inscriptiones antiquæ Basilicæ S. Pauli ad Viam Ostiensem. Romæ: Excudebat Franciscus Moneta, 1654.
An important collection of Christian inscriptions, supplemented at the end (with separate pagination), and in fact surpassed in importance by the exceptionally rare first printing of the diary of Cyriacus of Ancona, which includes many ancient inscriptions from Greece. Gift of Giles Constable in honor of Fr. Edward Bodnar, S.J.
1672
Moscardo, Lodovico. Note overo memorie del museo del conte Lodovico Moscardo nobile Veronese . . . Dal medesimo descritte in Trè Libri. In Verona: Per Andrea Rossi, 1672.
The second part contains a contribution on Egyptian hieroglyphics by the noted Jesuit polymath Athanasius Kircher.
1696
Ortiz, Lorenzo. El Maestro de escrivir, la theorica, y la practica para aprender. Venecia: Presso Paolo Baglioni, 1696.
The Jesuit brother Ortiz’s unusual Spanish-language Venetian imprint, licensed in Padua.
1722
Ruggieri, Ferdinando. Studio d’architettura civile. Firenze: Nella Stamperia Reale presso Gio: Gaetano Tartini, e Santi Franchi, 1722 [–1724, –1728]
Three volumes bound in one. A collection of some 237 architectural plates, but with a small amount of rather grand typography. Acquired with the rare book collection of the University of Detroit Library.
1730
Faerno, Gabriello. Gabrielis Faerni Cremonensis fabulæ centum ex antiquis auctoribus delectæ, carminibusque explicatæ. Patavii: Excudebat Josephus Cominus, 1730.
One of a (probably) limited number of copies on fine paper. Gift of Mrs. Katherine Bowie.
1751
Galeotti, Niccolò. Imagines præpositorum generalium Societatis Jesu delineatæ, & æreis formis expressæ ab Arnoldo van Westherhout addita perbrevi uniuscujusque vitæ descriptione. Romæ: Sumptibus Venantii Monaldini, ex Typographia Bernabò, et Lazzarini, 1751.
Text in Latin and (with its own title leaf) in Italian. This copy has portraits of the first 16 generals; others are known with all 18 of those who served before the suppression in 1773.
1775
Santorini, Giovanni Domenico. Io. Dominici Santorini anatomici summi septemdecim tabulae quas nunc primum edit atque explicat. Parmae: Ex Regia Typographia, 1775.
The only scientific work printed by Bodoni. Gift of Mrs. G. William Schlindwein
1793
Gray, Thomas. Poems by Mr. Gray. Parma: Printed by Bodoni, 1793.
One of 100 copies on large paper. Gift of Mrs. Katherine Bowie.
1793
Horace. Q. Horatii Flacci opera. Parmae: In Aedibus Palatinis typis Bodonianis, 1793.
A copy on fine paper. Gift of Mrs. Katherine Bowie.