[CATO, Marcus Porcius]

£4,250 · Offered by Sokol Books

A handsome copy of this interesting compendium on Roman agriculture and country life, edited by Giovanni Giocondo from Verona, with dedication by Pietro Bembo. The conjunction of these texts can be found from the Middle Ages. The texts of Cato the Censor and Varro were transmitted together in numerous manuscripts, that of Columella previously lost, was rediscovered by Poggio Bracciolini in the early 15th century, in a 9th century manuscript from Fulda. They were first jointly published in 1472 in Venice by Nicolas Jenson and formed the principal source of information on aspects of Roman rural life, such as wine and olive production, farming, bookkeeping and the breeding and grazing of livestock. The authors, Marcus Porcius (234-149 BC), Marcus Terentius Varro (116-27BC) and Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (4-c.70 AD), were Roman gentlemen, farmers and landowners. The edition was based on the manuscripts found in Paris by Giovanni Giocondo (c. 1433 1515) which contained a more correct version of the Roman texts. Giovanni Giocondo was one of the main representatives of Renaissance Humanism, editor of other Aldine texts and known for his annotated and illustrated edition (1511) of Vitruvius De architectura. This edition includes a papal privilege, a dedicatory letter by Bembo to Leo X (November 1513), Giovanni Giocondo s preface to Leo (1514), two addresses by Aldo to the reader, errata, another preface from the philologist Giorgio Merula (1430-1494) to Pietro Priuli, an exten

• Binding: Hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.