About this Item
July 13, 1496. Folio (311 x 215 mm). [4], 403 (i.e., 503), [1] leaves. Signatures: aa4 (a-g)8 h6 (i-s)8 t6 (u-x)8 y6 z8 &8 [cum]8 [rum]8 A8 (B-C)6 (D-N)8 O6 (P-OO)8 (PP-QQ)6. 44 lines and headline, types 135G, 110R; printer's device and colophon on QQ6r, leaf h6 blank, several pagination errors (page numbering jumps from 199 to 100). 351 woodcut diagrams in text, ornamental and historiated woodcut initials on black ground. Occasional rubrication in dark red with initial strokes and partly filled woodcut initials. Several deckle edges preserved. Copiously annotated in Latin and Greek in at least four different contemporary hands using red, brown and black ink. Bound in contemporary (original) calf over wooden boards, richly blind-stamped in a checked pattern with additional blind ruling, original brass clasps, catches and leather straps. Spine ends chipped, hinges partially cracked but bands holding firmly, leather rubbed, extremities worn. Paper somewhat browned, a few leaves stronger, occasional minor spotting, ink smudges and marginal soiling, final two leaves with light dampstain towards lower corner, first leaf with old paper repair at top margin, upper corner of leaf k1 torn not affecting text. Provenances: illegible ownership inscription on front pastedown dated MDL, partially cancelled inscription on first leaf recto dated 1554 and with motto "vinit post funera virtus" (wine after the funeral) added; Václav Perek* (original invoice with envelope by bookseller Gilhofer & Ranschburg Vienna dated Dec. 14, 1916 attached). An outstanding, broad-margined copy in original binding. ---- Klebs 82.7; Goff A-966; Hain 1659; Proctor 4552; British Museum Cat. V 349. - RARE FIRST AND ONLY EDITION IN THIS FORM. The only Opera Latina of Aristotle printed in the 15th century as a single, unified edition emerged from Gregorii's shop, for Benedetto Fontana on 13 July 1496 (see Goff A-966). This edition, for which Fontana held a ten-year privilege, included in one volume almost all of Aristotle's known or earlier attributed works on Natural Science, but omitted the traditional commentaries of Averroes, Johannes de Mechlinia, and others. It contains some texts which do not exist in early separate editions: de coloribus, de plantis, de vegetabilibus, de respiratione et inspiratione, de Nilo, de lineis insecabilibus, de causis. The translations were made by Argyropoulos, Georgius Valla, Leonardus Aretinus and others. Some other tracts, e.g. the Liber sex principiorum of Gilbert de la Porree, are added. It begins with a letter of Democritus to Fontana in praise of his enterprise in publishing Aristotle, followed by an address to the reader summarizing the ten years' exclusive privilege of printing and selling Aristotle's works granted to Fontana on 26 March, 1496. *Václav Perek (1859-1940) was a Bohemian lawyer and politician. - Visit our website for more images and information! Seller Inventory # 003281
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