da PHOTO GALLERY (10-11
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Rif.:
"Libri
antichi e di pregio a Milano"
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Cicero Marcus
Tullius
“Editio
Princeps: The Pembroke Copy
De finibus bonorum
et malorum. [Edited
with an introduction by Georgius Merula]”
Venice, [Vindelinus
de Spira] for Johannes de Colonia, 1471. 4to., 92 leaves, roman letter, two of the
five blanks cut away; some contemporary marginal annotations, most in a
reddish-brown ink in a bold humanist hand, some just shaved by the binder;
a fine copy, crisp and clean and with very wide margins, in English early
18th century red morocco gilt for Lord Pembroke (see below), gilt back and
edges.
“Apparently
the editio princeps” (BMC) of Cicero’s philosophical treatise On [the
different conceptions of] the Chief Good and Evil, in which he sets forth
and criticizes the ethical systems of the Epicurean and Stoic schools.
Edited with an introduction by the humanist scholar Georgius Merula, this
edition evidently precedes the undated edition printed at Cologne by Ulrich
Zel in the early 1470s, which has often been treated as though it was
printed earlier (cf. GW), but is in fact a reprint of Vindelinus de Spira’s
edition minus Merula’s introduction.
Merula was also responsible for editing the first editions of
Martial (c. 1470) and Plautus (1472), both likewise printed at Venice by
Vindelinus de Spira. In the
introduction to this Cicero he speaks of the benefits of the invention of
printing (“illud … nuper Germanorum, ut fertur, ingenio inventum … & in
Italiam delatum”), comparing it to Prometheus’ gift of fire to mankind. A
magnificent copy, from the library of Thomas, eighth Earl of Pembroke
(1656- 1733), lord high admiral, dedicatee of Locke’s Essay concerning
Human Understanding (1690), and one of the first English collectors of
incunables. “More important [than the Sunderland library], though rather by
its quality than by its size, was the Pembroke library. It hardly contained
anything but incunabula, selected with great judgement and an obvious
desire to combine the earliest monuments of typography with the first
editions of the classics. All the volumes were uniformly bound in dull red
morocco, with a heavily gilt back and a very narrow dentelle round the
sides, usually with small fleurons in the angles. Pembroke books are quite easy to tell from their shelf-mark
written in pale red ink on the upper right-hand corner of the first
fly-leaf and from the instructions to the binder which the collector has
pencilled in capitals on the first page of the book: these instructions
usually consist in the lettering he wished to see placed on the label of
the back. The choicer portion of
the Pembroke library was sold by Sotheby’s on 25 June 1914” (Seymour de
Ricci, English Collectors of Books & Manuscripts, pp. 40-41). This was
lot 52 in the sale (£40, Quaritch).
HCR 5328;
Pell 3789; IGI 2862; Pr 4036; .BMC V 157 (IB 19538); GW 6884; Goff C-565.
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Rif.:
"Libri
antichi e di pregio a Milano"
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Leopardi
Giacomo
“Manoscritto
poetico autografo firmato, Recanati 1810”
3 fogli in 8°
piccolo
PROVENIENZA:
il manoscritto faceva verosimilmente parte della piccola collezione del
sacerdote vicentino Giovanni Battista Dalla Vecchia, che svolse intorno al
1880 funzioni di istitutore e custode della biblioteca familiare del poeta
a Recanati, a servizio della contessa Teresa Teja, cognata di Giacomo. La
raccolta Dalla Vecchia è conservata oggi, per la maggior parte, nella
Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana di Venezia;
Venezia,
collezione privata (cfr. G.G. AMORETTI, «Resine», XXII, 84, aprile-giugno
2000, ove è pubblicato il testo della lirica);
Christie’s
Roma, Libri e autografi, 15 giugno 2006, n° 19.
Indirizzata
All’Illmo Sigre Don Sebastiano Sanchini, la lirica giovanile corrisponde a
quella intitolata, presso l’Indice d’autore delle Opere composte da Giacomo
Leopardi compilati da lui stesso, come Lettera bernesca ditirambica (tale
in effetti il modello del componimento, 40 versi polimetri suddivisi in
strofe di ineguale misura: ottonari, quinari e decasillabi, per lo più a
rima baciata) e sino ad oggi perduta.
MANOSCRITTI
POETICI AUTOGRAFI DI LEOPARDI NON SONO MAI COMPARSI SUL MERCATO.
Don
Sebastiano Sanchini, il destinatario della lirica, fu l’istitutore di
Giacomo e del fratello Carlo dal 1807 al 1812. L’occasione del
componimento, lieve e scherzoso, fu la decisione del precettore,
nell’ottobre 1810, di cambiare l’orario giornaliero di lezione, aggiungendo
tre ore serali in vista dell’annuale saggio d’esame, previsto per il
successivo mese di febbraio.
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