Iamblichus, Venice, Aldus, 1497, later calf-backed marbled boards

IAMBLICHUS

De mysteriis Aegyptiorum, Chaldaeorum, Assyriorum [translated by Marsilius Ficinus]. Proclus: In Platonicum Alcibiadem; De sacrificio et magia. Porphyrius: De divinis et daemonibus [and other works]. Venice: Aldus Manutius, September 1497

Super-Chancery folio (300 x 208mm.), 186 leaves, a-i⁸ k⁴; L-M⁶; N-O p-q R-Z⁸ &¹⁰, 37 lines plus headline, roman type, leaf a2 correctly signed, incorrect catchword on K1v, last word on K2r "absente", erroneous headlines on N7-8 corrected in manuscript, early nineteenth-century calf-backed marbled boards, spine gilt in compartments with tan morocco lettering-pieces, early annotations washed, stain at upper corner of first few leaves and elsewhere

FIRST EDITION of this collection of Neoplatonic works, translated from the Greek by Marsilio Ficino, and probably financed by Girolamo Biondo, a Florentine merchant-printer working in Venice. Ficino's preface is addressed to the young Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici. The manuscript used by Aldus is now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (MS Suppl. Gr. 212).

LITERATURE:

ISTC ij00216000; Aldo Manuzio tipografo 17; Renouard 13/6; UCLA 17

PROVENANCE:

Giovanni Marchetti (1817-1876), of Turin, bookplate with motto "Constantia et labore", this edition not found in his 1876 Sotheby's sale catalogue (lot 1394 is the 1516 Aldine edition)

Please note: Condition 11 of the Conditions of Business for Buyers (Online Only) is not applicable to this lot.

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