Opera

1^b ‘AD HORATIVM FLACCVM ODE DICOLOS TETRASTROPHOS ANGELI POLITIANI.’ 6^b,

col. 4. SPECIAL COLOPHON: ‘Christophori Landini … iterpretationum finis. Diuino auxilio Fœlix. die xvii. rnaii. M.cccc.lxxxiii.’ 2o6^a. GENERAL COLOPHON: ‘Impressum Venetiis per loannem de forliuio & socios. Anno salutis. M.CCCC.LXXXIII. FINIS.’

Folio. [A6]; a-z & ʔ⁸. 206 leaves. 2^b: 54 lines and headline, 223 (231) x 145 mm. Types: III R.; 83 R^a.; 83 Gk. Capital spaces, with guide letters. Hain *8883 (from a copy signed A on 2^a).

1^a, blank; 1^b, Politian's verses; 2^a, Landinus's poem; 3^a, list of words explained in the notes; 6^a, lists of emendations; 6^b, register, colophon; 7^a-2o6^a, text enclosed in commentary; 206^b, blank.

Full red morocco, border decorated with roulette, central framing of small golden chains with corner

fleurons, and a decorated spine; 17th-century provincial binding.

291 x 204 mm.

HORATIUS FLACCUS, QUINTUS. ‘Opera.’ [Edited with a commentary by Christophorus Landinus.] 17 May 1483.

First Venetian edition of the Works of Horace, with the commentaries of Christophe Landino, printed in 1483 and the second edition after the Florentine edition printed in 1482.

Printed in Roman characters, in two parts, with the commentary around the text.

COPY ORNAMENTED WITH FINE RUBRICS, red or blue lettrines, and red rubrics.

COPY of ETIENNE BALUZE, whose signature, Stephanus Baluzius Tutelensis, features in the lower margin on the first leaf of the text.

‘To this time I have not had the same artistic delight from any poet that an ode of Horace gave me from the beginning […] This mosaic of words, where every word as sound, as position, as concept radiates its power to the right, to the left and over the whole, this minimum in the extent and number of the signs, this maximum in the energy of the sign achieved thereby—all that is Roman and, believe me, elegant par excellence.’ (Nietzsche)

The precious copy of Etienne Baluze, with his autograph signature in the lower margin on the first leaf of the text.

Etienne BALUZE, the famous scholar and medievalist born in Tulle in 1630 (d. in Paris in 1718), was Colbert’s librarian and taught canon law at the Collège de France, where he was appointed inspector by Louis XlV. It was on his instigation that the minister’s library acquired the vast majority of the literary treasures that made it so famous amongst the erudite. Having hurt the king’s feelings in one of his works, by proving that Bouillon was descended from the ancient dukes of Guyenne, the Counts of Auvergne, he was stripped of his position and pensions and exiled from Paris, where he ultimately returned in 1713. In addition to many manuscripts, he wrote forty-five published works, the most important of which were: Regum Francorum Capitularia, a rich collection of capitularies enriched with scholarly notes (1677 and 1780); Conciliorum nova Collectio, of which he only published one volume (1683); and Histoire Généalogique de la Maison d'Auvergne; Vie des Papes d’Avignon (1693), which is one of his finest works; he also collated the works of St Cyprian, Salvian, Loup de Ferrières, and so on, as well as a large number of scholarly dissertations.

Baluze is one of those men who made the greatest contribution to learning and literature, both through his works and his quest to collect all kinds of books, manuscripts, and documents, and by his liberal manner of transmitting them to writers and scholars.

In his will, he left directions that his library should be sold, to ensure that as many writers and collectors as possible would have the opportunity to consult the rare works it contained. His own manuscripts, extracts, books, and other articles annotated by his hand—a total of fifteen hundred items—were acquired by the king and are now held in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.