An early - and uncommon - Basle edition of this hugely popular work on invention by the cleric, diplomat and historian Polydore Vergil (1470-1555).
Polydore Vergil’s curious and valuable book on the invention of the arts and technical processes is described by J.R. Hale as, “a pioneering handbook on the origins of things as disparate as religion, gunpowder, art and prostitution”. It also includes the earliest history of medicine. It was written at the request of the Duke of Urbino and first published in Venice in 1499; the preface here is dated 1499, from that edition. The early editions contained three books, but five more appeared in editions from 1521. Polydore Vergil showed a tendency to rationalism and his remarks on religion offended the clergy so that the work was placed in the Index.
Many of the larger woodcut initials here use the blocks designed by Hans Holbein for his Dance of Death alphabet. By the time of their use here the blocks, cut by Hans Lützeberger, had been in use for around six years, but the impressions here are still impressively crisp. “Prior to the Images of Death, Holbein designed a Latin alphabet for Lu¨tzelburger that showcased the latter’s dexterity at woodcutting. … [The single-sheet print of the initials] was produced as an advertisement for Lu¨tzelburger, and the letters themselves appeared only in a few books published in Basel during the 1520s and ’30s” (Latin Capital Letter Alphabet in ‘Holbein: Capturing Character’, Online exhibition catalogue, Morgan Library & Museum [open access]).
Provenance: Contemporary purchase inscription on front fly-leaf. Small blue stamp on verso of title of the Donaueschingen Court Library of the Fürstenbergs.
A few wormholes scattered at beginning and end.
Adams, V428. VD16 V749. OCLC: BL, Oxford, Cambridge, Liverpool, Glasgow. US: Oklahoma, Trinity College.
