Publicius | Ars oratoria. Ars epistolandi. Ars memorativa, Venice, 1482, containing the first printed illustration of a chess board

Publicius

Artes orandi, epistolandi, memorandi. Venice: Erhard Ratdolt, 30 November 1482

4to (214 x 151 mm). Collation: A–D⁸ E⁶ a⁸ b⁶ c–d⁸: 68 leaves, gothic type, 31 lines, full-page woodcut diagram depicting the tree of oratory, 42 woodcut roundels on 7 pages, full-page woodcut of a mnemonic device, full-page astronomical diagram, full-page woodcut chessboard, woodcut initials, rubrications and marginal glosses in an early modern hand, modern brown velvet binding, lacking A1 preliminary blank and snake volvelle on d3v, some marginal soiling

FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE OF THE FIRST PRINTED TREATISE ON MEMORY, CONTAINING THE FIRST PRINTED ILLUSTRATION OF A CHESS BOARD. Playing chess had been praised as a means of improving the memory as far back as Cessolis, and the game was widely praised in works on the art of memory. The chessboard was also a useful device for the "method of loci"—a famous classical mnemonic technique, whereby you trained your memory by imagining yourself moving through a series of spaces.

A wide-margined copy with extensive early modern annotations. Rare at auction.

PROVENANCE:

"1699 | Fr. Georgius Weigharof... | Natione Glacensis.", ownership inscription to upper margin of A8r

LITERATURE:

USTC 991733; ISTC ip01096000; GW M36431; BMC V 287; Goff P1096