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DECLAMATIO LEPIDISSIMA EBRIOSI SCORTATORIS ALEATORIS DE VITIOSITATE DISCEPTANTIUM.
(Bologna: Benedictus Hectoris, 1499). 208 x 146 mm. (8 1/8 x 5 3/4"). [20] leaves. COMPLETE. Single column, 27 lines in roman type. FIRST EDITION ("Argumentum" printed in majuscules on fo. 3; colophon as in BMC).
Later (19th century?) retrospective calf decorated in the style of the Mendoza Binder, covers with mitered frame formed by gilt and blind fillets, central panel with gilt knotwork centerpiece flanked by four blind-stamped stars, gilt stars at corners, outer frame with eight gilt flowers, raised bands, spine panels with small quatrefoil ornament. Printer's device B in colophon. Frequent neat ink marginalia in an early hand, often identifying references from Classical writers. Goff B-471; BMC VI, 845; ISTC ib00471000. See: Severi, "'The Golden Ass under the Lens of the 'Bolognese Commentator': Lucius Apuleius and Filippo Beroaldo" in "The Afterlife of Apuleius" (2021) and Ugolini, P., "Satire in Renaissance Literature." In: Sgarbi, M. (eds) "Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy" (2022), pp. 2882-2901. Text probably washed and lightly pressed, a handful of leaves with minor thumbing or smudges, but still a very pleasing copy, the sympathetic binding scarcely worn, and the text fresh and printed within very comfortable margins.
This is an especially pleasing copy of a most unusual 15th century book in which a famed humanist stages a satirical debate over which vice is worse: drunkenness, promiscuity, or compulsive gambling. The father of three reprobate sons has died, leaving behind a will directing that the most wicked of them be disinherited and the estate split between the other two. In this debate, the libertine and the gambler gang up against the drunkard who, impaired by alcohol, is doing most of the talking but making little sense. All three bolster their arguments with references to biblical and Classical authorities, many helpfully identified here in the annotations by an early reader. Beroaldo wittily sets forth the arguments against all of these vices, but in making the drinker the loser, emphasizes that impairing one's reason is always a mistake. The Oxford Companion describes Filippo Beroaldo (1453-1505) as "the most important exponent of humanism" in Renaissance Bologna, then at the height of its power as a city-state. Beroaldo is known for his commentary on Classical satirists, and Severi notes in his discussion of Beroaldo and Apuleius that our author reaches "the apex of his humoristic writing in 1499" with the present work, noting with appreciation "the Apuleian wit and humour that permeate the text." In addition to Apuleius, the incunabular period saw the printing of dozens of editions of Roman satirists Horace, Juvenal, and Persius Flaccus, but few examples of satires by contemporary authors. In addition to the "Declamatio," we find Poggio Bracciolini's "Facetiae" (1470), a collection of more than 200 bawdy and scatological jokes; the 1476 "Satyrae" of Francesco Filelfo, a vituperative takedown of the court of Cosimo de' Medici; the "Dialogus" of Salomon and Marcolphus (ca. 1480), a witty but crude conversation between the wise King Solomon and the "fool" Marcolf, based on the riddles put to the king by the Queen of Sheba; Piovano Arlotto's "Motti e Facezie" ("Witty Remarks and Anecdotes," printed ca. 1490), a series of jokes told by a parish priest, each with a moral lesson; and of course Sebastian Brant's 1494 "Narrenschiff" ("Ship of Fools"), an early bestseller highlighting the foolish and often immoral behaviors common in society, such as procrastination, valuing wealth over wisdom, marrying for money, and collecting books without reading them. Most of these works are either collections of rather rude jokes or texts of a didactic nature, aimed at persuading the reader to lead a more Christian life. Beroaldo's work stands out from these in its urbanity, wit, and Classical scholarship. It genuinely is a 15th century text like no other. Our copy has the bonus of a pleasing retrospective binding reminiscent of the work of the 16th century Venetian artisan known as the "Mendoza Binder," named for the work he did for collector Diego Mendoza. The use of a knotwork tool as centerpiece, decorative tools at corners, and flower tool in the frame here are similar to the Mendoza Binder's work pictured in Foot, Henry Davis Gift III, 262. . (ST20900)
Price: $11,500.00