BOCCACCIO (Giovanni) (1313-1375) Lot n° 39

Genealogiae Deorum gentilium [On the Genealogy of the Gods]. Venice, Vindelinus de Spira, 1472. In-folio, 295 pp. of 296 (last blank page missing), not folioed (later pagination in Roman numerals in ink in the upper corners). Text in Roman type in two columns of 41 lines. Lay paper, "scale" watermark [collation: 110 (table), 2-1210, 1312, 14-1810, 196, 20-2210, 23-258 (folio 25/8 bl.), 26-2710 (on fol. 27/7r end of Boccaccio's text, first colophon and beginning of thematic index on verso of this fol.), 28-2910, 20-3012, 2] (end of index and 31/2v: texts in Latin by Dominicus Silvester and Raphael Zovenzonius, corrector of Vindelinus, with second colophon). Four initials highlighted in red ink. With numerous handwritten annotations, in red or black ink, and more than 200 drawings in brown ink, in almost all the inner and outer margins (some margins trimmed at the binding with some damage to some drawings and comments). 18th century binding. Full marbled fawn calf, framed with cold fillets on the boards, spine with visible nerves underlined by a gilt roulette, boxes framed with a double fillet and decorated with a large floral fleuron in the center surrounded by a frieze of small flowers and dots, and corner garlands; red morocco title-piece with author's name, title and date, ownership mark (see Provenance below) in gilt letters on tail of spine; red edges, combed paper endpapers. Slight wear and rubbing. Small wormholes on the very first few leaves, light marginal browning on a few leaves. Very good condition inside. Dimensions : 327 x 232 mm. Exceptional and unique copy of the first edition, printed in Venice, of this great reference book which had an early publishing success. A true encyclopedia on the pagan gods, this work by Boccaccio represents a sum of erudition particularly appreciated by the humanists of the Renaissance who found in it an irreplaceable source of information on ancient mythology. Boccaccio, who worked on it for more than twenty years, from 1350 until his death in 1375, deals in fifteen books with the genealogy of the ancient gods, establishing one of the most complete anthologies of Greek mythology of which he gives an allegorical and philosophical interpretation, arguing for the intrinsic value of poetic invention, quoting abundantly Homer's Illiad. The Venetian printer Vindelinus de Spira, resumed the activity of his brother, deceased in 1470, by completing the edition of the Works of Saint Augustine and that of several works of Latin authors but also that of the present Genealogiae deorumen 1472, and of De Montibus of the same Boccaccio the following year. He seems to have gone bankrupt in 1473 and resumed his activity only in 1476, with notably an edition of Dante printed in 1477. ANNOTATIONS This copy is enriched by multiple comments in Latin, mostly in black ink, more rarely in red ink, by a hand almost contemporary to the edition in a beautiful cursive handwriting. These annotations consist either of a few words, but often of several lines. More than 200 drawings, figurative or abstract, and as many embellishments underlining the commented passages (ornate brackets, hands with pointed index fingers, small faces, stars, etc.) adorn the margins and complete the marginalia. There are drawings of animals, birds, towers, human faces, belts, crowns, bows with arrows, etc. Some of them, very elaborate, are in a humorous vein, even bawdy, quite remarkable: they reproduce some mythological episodes and feature famous heroes of mythology: Apollo, Hercules, the centaur Chiron, Pasiphae, Tantalus, Cerberus, Juno and his peacock, Castor and Pollux, Cassandra etc. PROVENANCE 1. Anonymous annotator. - 2. Richard François Philippe Brunck de Freundeck (1729-1803), philologist and hellenist from Strasbourg, his name "Brunck" pushed to the back. Between 1772 and 1776, he published an edition of the Greek Anthology Analecta veterum Poetarum Graecorum) and edited Latin and Greek authors. He was elected associate member of the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres in 1777. Following the Revolution, he was forced to sell most of his library. REFERENCES HC 3315; Pell. 2466; IGI 1796; BMC V 162; GW 4475; Goff B-749.