Beschreibung:

BOCCACCIO, Giovanni (1313-75). Genealogiae deorum , with additions by Dominicus Silvester and Raphael Zovenzonius. Venice: Vindelius de Spira, 1472. [ Bound with :] BOCCACCIO. De montibus, silvis, fontibus . Venice: [Vindelinus de Spira], 13 January 1473.
BOCCACCIO, Giovanni (1313-75). Genealogiae deorum , with additions by Dominicus Silvester and Raphael Zovenzonius. Venice: Vindelius de Spira, 1472. [ Bound with :] BOCCACCIO. De montibus, silvis, fontibus . Venice: [Vindelinus de Spira], 13 January 1473. 2 works in one volume, median 2° (330 x 229mm). Collation: I: [1-12 1 0 13 1 2 14-18 1 0 19 6 20-22 1 0 23-25 8 26-29 1 0 30 1 2 (11+1)]. 296 leaves, with blank 25/8 and a blank outer sheet added to the first quire, making 298 leaves. II: [1-5 1 0 6 8 7 1 0 8 8 ]. 76 leaves, with final blank. Type: 1:110R. 41 lines, headline in second work, first two initials in blue, other spaces blank but for printed guide-letter. (Light worming at beginning and end, occasional small spot.) CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN CALF over wooden boards, tooled in blind with frames of palmette and floral tools and crosses in the central panel, remains of four fore-edge catches, spine diapered (somewhat worn and lightly restored); modern morocco-backed box. Provenance : a few early annotations -- Edward J. Bullrich (booklabel; sale Sotheby's 17 March 1952, lot 57, £135 to Quaritch). FIRST EDITION OF BOTH TEXTS, and first issue of the Genealogiae . The Genealogiae serves as an encyclopedia of classical mythology - the first to be printed - and a sourcebook on classical and later authors, referring frequently to Boccaccio's contemporary Petrarch and giving a life of Dante. It is the first printed edition to contain any of the works of Homer; it has 110 quotations from Leontius Pilatus's translation into Latin prose, undertaken at the behest of Boccaccio. It was an indispensable work for all subsequent generations of poets and artists. It also contains Boccaccio's important defence of poetry, a cornerstone of literary study for Renaissance humanists; and its concepts and arguments remain relavent today. A LARGE, FRESH COPY with pinholes and early ms. quiring frequently visible. Only two other copies of this edition have been sold at auction in over 35 years. The final quire of the Genealogiae deorum has been variously described. Although bibliographically distinct, the two works form one whole, as evident in their shared lay-out and frequent survival as companion pieces. I: HC *3315; GW 4475; BMC V, 162 (IB.19555); CIBN B-542; BSB-Ink B-583; Bod-Inc B-369; Goff B-749. II: HC *2236; GW 4482; BMC V, 162 (IB.19560-1); CIBN B-549; BSB-Ink B-564; Bod-Inc B-375; Klebs 189.1; Goff B-756.