Martialis, Epigrammata, Venice, Aldo, 1501, contemporary Venetian brown goatskin, printed on fine paper

Martialis, Marcus Valerius. Martialis. (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, December 1501)

First Aldine edition of Martial's Epigrammata, one of the early entries in Aldo's program of pocket editions of classical authors.

Martial, certainly a Spaniard and probably a Basque, spent his working life in Rome carefully observing his fellow man and recording them in these exquisite vignettes. The Epigrams—Martial’s most important work—are short poems, each pointedly and satirically expressing a single idea. Martial describes with realistic detail the vices of his age: the fortune hunters, gluttons, drunkards, debauchers, hypocrites of various kinds, and stingy patrons come back to life in his verses. He also incorporates the occasional plea for a gift or a loan, thanks to a faithful friend or honest critic, or a simple hello or farewell. Many epigrams offer vivid glimpses of the contemporary Roman scene, the hot sausage vendor on his round, the tiresome guest who arrives too late for breakfast and too early for lunch, others are simply obscene. Beneath the humor, however, lies the serious pursuit of exposing the frailties of humanity, albeit more with amusement than indignation.

Martial himself argued that his epigrams were far more earnest than most other authors' tragedies. Perhaps because of allegations of obscenity that were leveled against him—though this elements of Martial's work was not a dramatic flourish, but rather an accurate rendering of his observations—the Epigrammata were relatively neglected in the first century of printing.

8vo (162 x 101 mm). Italic types, 30 lines plus headline. Printed on fine paper. collation: A-Z⁸ &⁸: 191 (of 192) leaves (lacking blank &8). 6- and 7-line initial spaces with guide-letters (a few guide-letters artlessly decorated), colophon (&7r) includes printer's warning against piracy. (Some soiling and spotting throughout, minor marginal worming to final quire touching three characters of colophon.)

binding: Contemporary Venetian brown goatskin (169 x 105 mm), covers paneled with border and frame of multiple blind fillets with blind floral tools between, within frame a central panel of gilt foliate tools enclosing knotwork tools and gilt circles, traces of four pairs of ties, edges gilt and gauffered. (Extremities and rather worn and restored, spine restored.)

provenance: Unidentified owner(s), sixteenth-century inscription, "ex libris Caietani Colelli (?)," on title-page, early marginalia. acquisition: Purchased from William P. Wreden, Palo Alto, 1976. references: UCLA 47; Adams M689; Aldo Manuzio tipografo 49; Edit16 36108; Renouard 30/7; USTC 841150