Homerus, Ilias, Andrea Divo interprete, Venice, 1537, contemporary brown morocco for Pier Paolo Vergerio
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December 10, 04:10 PM GMT
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HOMER. Homeri poetarum omnium principis Ilias, Andrea Divo Iustinopolitano interprete, ad verbum translata. Venice: (Giacomo Pocatela), 1537 [bound with:]
Homeri poetae clarissimi Odyssea, Andrea Divo Iustinopolitano interprete, ad verbum translata. Venice: (Giacomo Pocatela), 1537
First editions of Andrea Divo's Latin prose translations of Homer, designed to be used with the Greek text of the Aldine Homer, to whose pages it corresponded. A humanist born at Capodistria, who published a translation of Aristophanes in 1538 and of Theocritus in 1539, Divo dedicates his work to the gifted scholar Pier Paolo Vergerio the younger (ca 1498-1565), a fellow-citizen, appointed on 6 September 1536 Bishop of Capodistria. This copy was bound as a gift from the translator to the dedicatee, lettered on its upper cover "And. Divi. Munus" (Gift of Andrea Divo), with Vergerio's family insignia accompanied by a bishop's mitre and initials "P.P." (Pier Paolo) on lower cover. In 1544 Vergerio was denounced to the Inquisition for Protestant sympathies, and in 1549 he was convicted of heresy, and never set foot again in Italy. The erasure of his armorial on the binding may have been the deliberate removal of the insignia of an acknowledged heretic.
2 works in one volume, 8vo (156 x 100mm). Roman and italic types, 30 lines plus headline. (1) collation: A*8 **8 a–z8 aa–mm8: 296 leaves. Title within allegorical woodcut border. (Three small wormholes on title, repair at gutter with minor restoration of woodcut.) (2) Roman and italic types, 30 lines plus headline. collation: +8 A–Z8 AA–GG8 HH10: 258 leaves. Title within allegorical woodcut border.
binding: Contemporary brown Italian (probably Venetian) morocco (167 x 119 mm), frame formed by 2 gilt fillets flanked by multiple blind fillets, inner rectangle with exedrae and gilt leaf at outer angle, gilt floral cornerpieces, in centre of upper cover gilt roundel containing "AND.DIVI.MV/NVS" and lettered "HOMERVS" above, centre of lower cover the letters "P.P" and a gilt shield enclosing a tree, surmounted by a painted bishop's mitre, traces of 4 pairs of fabric ties, spine with 3 full and 4 half bands, compartments decorated with blind rolls, edges gilt and gauffered to a knotwork pattern. (Joints and spine ends repaired, armorial rubbed away.)
provenance: Andrea Divo, the translator, presentation lettering on covers to the dedicatee, Pier Paolo Vergerio (1498-1565), bishop of Capodistria (1536-1549), on upper cover "And. Divi. Munus" (Gift of Andrea Divo), and on lower cover the initials "P.P." (Pier Paolo) with a bishops' mitre and his family blason of "la verza" (a cabbage, a "simbolo parlante" of the surname Verzier or Verziero, i.e. Vergerio) — seventeenth-century inscription “Petri Leonardi de Rio, Archip(re)tri San. Syri [—]" on lower pastedown — sale, Lyon & Turnbull, Edinburgh, 16 January 2008, lot 85 — Librairie Thomas-Scheler, Livres précieux du XVe au XIXe siècle: XXIVe Biennale des Antiquaires, Paris - Grand Palais (Paris 2008), item 36. acquisition: Purchased in 2011 from Librairie Thomas-Scheler, Paris. references: USTC 835812, 835807; Edit 16 22955, 22865