Asulanus 1513 (1 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. No Jacket. 2nd Edition. Urania, sive de stellis libri quinque. Meteorum liber unus. De Hortis hesperidum libri duo. Lepidina sive postorales pompeae septem. Item Meliseum Maeon Acon. Hendecasyllaborum libri duo. Tumulorum Liber unus. Neniae duodecim. Epigrammata duodecim. Venice, Aldus & Asulanus, 1513. 8vo (160 x 103mm) 255 + [1]f. Last leaf with Aldine device. Bound in contemporary brown Italian morocco over wooden boards with gilt fillets around a central Star of David and the lettering PONTANI URANIA on sides. Edges gilt and gauffered with a knotwork pattern; two clasps and catches intact; edges gauffered; gilding faded; top of spine skilfully restored. The augmented second Aldine edition of the moral poems, with the text corrected from the first 1505 edition and with an additional 27 pages of text at the end. Pontanus (1426-1503), humanist and politician, a friend of Aldus Manutius, was tutor at the court of Alfonso and Ferdinand of Naples. One of the most typical Latin poets of the Renaissance, he exerted a powerful influence, especially on the poets of the Pléiade. In Urania the author pronounced his immortality as a poet. An exceptionally fine copy preserved in a rare Italian morocco binding of the period decorated with a hexagram including a clover leaf. Provenance: With early ink ownership signature Cesare Serai on title. References: Adams P-1858; Censimento 16; Isaac 12831; Renouard 63/7; Texas 104; UCLA 91.