PAULUS VENETUS.

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Expositio in libros Posteriorum Aristotelis. Third incunable edition of Paulus Venetus's commentary on Aristotle's Posterior Analytics, the first book printed independently by Anima Mia. Paulus Venetus (Paul of Venice, 1369-1429), an Augustinian hermit and a foremost authority on Aristotle, was "the most important Italian thinker of his times, and one of the most prominent and interesting logicians of the Middle Ages" (Stanford). He produced seven expositions on the philosopher's works. His commentary on Aristotle's Posterior Analytics was first printed in 1477, also in Venice.The Posterior Analytics is the second part of Organon, Aristotle's corpus on logic, in which he argues that scientific knowledge (epistēmē) consists in demonstrative understanding. The work sets out an ideal of a tightly ordered science in which truths are deduced from self-evident principles and anchored in real causal structures. By the late medieval period, it was a central text in the university curriculum.The printer, William of Trino, referred to himself as Anima Mia, and is identified as such by Goff and BMC. He was active from 1485 to 1499 and first worked as the partner of Antonello di Barasconi. This is the first publication under his own imprint. He produced over 30 works mostly on his own, including works of theology, grammar, logic, scholasticism, the classics, and science.

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