Beschreibung:

PLINIUS SECUNDUS, Gaius Caecilius (Pliny the younger, ca.61-ca.112). Epistolae . Edited by Ludovicus Carbo (1430-1485). [Venice: Christophorus Valdarfer], 1471. Royal half-sheet 4° (276 x 193mm). Collation: [1 2 2-3 10 4 8 5-6 10 7 8 8 1 2 9 8 10 10 11-12 8 13-14 10 ] (1/1 blank, 1/2r dedication to Duke Borso d'Este by Carbone, 2/1r Liber primus , 14/10v date .M.CCCC.Lxxi. ). 122 (of 124, without first quire of two leaves (also lacking in two British Library copies), the printed leaf 1/2 supplied in manuscript) leaves. 30 lines. Type 1:110R. First 4-line initial space filled with later initial in silver on black ground with gold frame, other 4- and 2-line initial spaces left blank, spaces for Greek. (Marginal annotations, probably contemporary Italian, washed from some leaves, small marginal tears repaired in fos.3, 67.) Gold-tooled red straight-grained morocco, sides with roll-tools and stamps, spine tooled in compartments, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, gilt edges, blue silk ribbon marker, by François Bozerian (Bozerian jeune) with his stamp at foot of spine. FIRST EDITION. Pliny's Epistolae chiefly comprise his private correspondence, although a book of letters to Trajan on the administration of Bithynia does survive. They represent a genuine correspondence, but the letters were either written or at least revised with publication in mind, and thus reflect Pliny's rhetorical skills, first practiced as a student of Quintilian, as much as they do his skills of observation. The description of his estate at Laurentium remains key to our knowledge of Roman domestic architecture. This edition stands in the eight-book tradition which was put into circulation by Guarino and his humanist circle. It is edited by Ludovico Carbone, student of Theodore Gaza. In his prefatory address to his patron Borso, duke of Modena, Reggio, and Ferrara, Carbone praises the art of printing, which makes available the works of the wisest authors. This is one of only about twelve books printed by Valdarfer at Venice. He established his press at Venice in the same year as Nicolaus Jenson, 1470, but only printed there briefly and left by 12 November 1471 to move his shop to Milan. THE VALDARFER PLINY IS OF CONSIDERABLE RARITY ON THE MARKET. The two blank leaves 6/8 and 8/10, which are not in any of the three British Library copies, are present here. H *13110; BMC V, 183 (IB. 19757-9); Goff P-804; Flodr, Plinius Minor 1; Botfield 131-132