LUCRETIUS CARUS, Titus.

£4,750 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

De rerum natura. First Aldine edition in octavo. The last book printed by Aldus before his death on 6 February 1515, this edition was greatly improved from the earlier quarto of 1500 with corrections by Aldus's son-in-law Andrea Navagero.The present octavo is regarded by scholars as a superior edition and provided the model for seven subsequent editions printed in Basel, Lyon, and Paris. Aldus, in the introductory letter addressed to the prince of Carpi, proudly acknowledges the textual improvements, noting that "Lucretius is at length made readable and intelligible". The quarto edition is now rare. The letter to Pius attests to Aldus's open-minded approach to Epicurean philosophy, deemed by most early modern Christian readers as heterodox. Aldus admits that Lucretius's teachings are "full of lies", but suggests that they should be read nonetheless, as "the more truth is investigated, the more splendid and venerable it appears". Despite Aldus's pledge, this work was "the last Italian edition of the poet published for almost 150 years, as Lucretius's doctrines, amidst the strife of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, proved to be too potent and provocative for publication" (Butterfield, p. 55).Provenance: Diego Gil de Bernabé, with his 17th-century ownership inscription on title page and verso of *2 (in this second instance cancelled by the subsequent owner). The Gil de Bernabé family was a noble lineage of Aragonese origins, with branches extending to the Villafeliche an

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