Marrin's Bookshop

Synopsis

Tradotto per m. lodovico dolce. con la tavola. con privilegio.

Item Description

8vo. 4 x 6.25 inches. [xxxiv] + 176 pp. + [1] pp. *8, **8, A-Y8. (NB The ** gathering of eight leaves, including contents, register and colophon, is bound before the main text in this copy, rather than at the end as described by Adams. Illustrated by wood engraved printer's devices on title page, at end of ** gathering and at end of text, by printer's flowers, serving as headpieces and by wood engraved pictorial capitals. Text in Italian, printed in italic throughout. Bound in original vellum, with recent paper spine label. Extremities worn and some staining but otherwise a fine clean crisp copy. Early ink inscription on title page erased but the figures of some calculations remain. An Italian translation of Cicero's De Oratore (three books written for his brother, Quintus), published in Venice in 1547. Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 -43 BC) was a Roman philosopher and statesman, regarded as an impressive public orator and an outstanding prose stylist. The De Oratore was composed in 55 BC. The translator, Lodovico Dolce (1508/10- 1568) was a Venetian humanist and prolific author and editor best known for his Dialogue on Painting. He translated over fifty classical works into Italian and was associated with the Venetian printer, Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari (c.1508-78), one of the first publishers of literature in the Italian vernacular, including a famous edition of Dante's Divina Commedia in 1565. His well-known printer's device, of a phoenix arising from the flames, appears several times here, but most splendidly on **8 v. A handsome copy of this product from the golden age of Venetian printing and publishing.