Two Rare--and Unforgettable--Works on Artificial Memory

[Title in Greek]: EISAG G , SEU, INTRODUCTIO FACILIS IN PRAXIM ARTIFICIOSAE MEMORIAE. [and] ARTIFICIOSAE MEMORIAE FUNDAMENTA, EX ARISTOTELE, CICERONE, THOMA AQUINATE ALIISQUE.

(MEMORY - METHODS OF IMPROVEMENT). PAËPP, JOANNES.

(Lugduni [Lyon]: Sumptibus auctoris & venundantur apud Bartholomeuum Vincentium, 1618). 140 x 80 mm. (5 1/2 x 3 1/8"). 12 p.l., 40, [41-46], 47-48, [49-50], 51-102 pp.; 12 p.l., 120 pp. Two separately published but related works in two volumes. FIRST EDITIONS.

Perfectly nice 20th century brown morocco, covers with blind-ruled borders, raised bands with gilt Greek key roll, gilt lettering. First work with eight plates showing stylized capital letters (these glued back-to-back and hand-numbered as pages 41-41 and 49-50); second work with two full-page engraved coats of arms, one engraved vignette in the text, and numerous diagrams in the text. Verso of title pages in both works stamped in red ink: "Duplicate / ex-libris Bernard Zufall." First work with pencilled lists of words in margins in four pages. Wellcome I, 4692 and 4694 (1619 ed.); USTC 6902432, 6902434. Trivial rubbing to extremities, isolated minor browning, a couple plates in first work with small marginal repairs, but fine, fresh copies in bindings with very little wear.

This is a pleasing set of two rare works on mnemonics by Joannes Paëpp, with titles that translate as: "Easy Introduction to the Practice of Artificial Memory" and "Fundamentals of Artificial Memory, from Aristotle, Cicero, Thomas Aquinas, and others." As is obviouis from the second title, Paëpp derived his theories and techniques from thinkers of antiquity, but he borrowed from other sources. He was most directly a disciple of Louvain memory teacher Lambert Schenkel (1547 - ca. 1603), whose feats of recollection were so formidable that he was declared a sorcerer, but whose "De Memoria" of 1593 was influential in a new refinement in the understanding of mnemonic methods. Like those who preceded him, Paëpp (d. ca. 1613) used memory techniques that employed the matching of information to be recalled with objects or places or scenes, the more concrete the better. Consequently, the first work has illustrations of a bucket, a saw, a snail, a crozier, and so on. The second work shows the figures of men with several of their body parts numbered; and there is a 16-page chart containing the names of important historical personages, each accompanied by brief but striking, often fanciful--and always memorable--scenes in which they appear ("Tiberius scatters gold, holding a scepter and crown"); and there are numerous charts, all to aid in memorization and recollection. In addition to our two books, Paëpp authored two other similar mnemonic works that are normally found singly but sometimes bound together. The books are sought after, bringing substantial prices at auction, both because of content and scarcity: Bassenge sold three of the works for €1,625 in 2011, and the Macclesfield copy of our second work (dated 1619) fetched £1,440 in 2005. OCLC locates six copies of our first work in North America and 12 of the second. The present copies come from the library of magician and memory expert Bernard Zufall (1894-1971), known as the "Human Encyclopedia." Zufall amassed the largest known collection of books on mnemonics, in excess of 1,000 titles, which (except for duplicates like the present volumes) he donated to Yale. University. (ST19432a)

Price: $2,500.00