DEL BENE Bartolommeo (b. 1514). Civitas veri sive morum . Edited by Theodorus Marcilius. Paris: Ambroise and Jérôme Drouart, 1609.
DEL BENE, Bartolommeo (b. 1514). Civitas veri sive morum . Edited by Theodorus Marcilius. Paris: Ambroise and Jérôme Drouart, 1609. 2 o (330 x 204 mm). Engraved title-page and 33 engraved plates by Thomas de Leu (one double-page). (Tear on lower margin of G3, pale dampstain in some fore-margins.) 17th-century French calf gilt (some wear to joints). Provenance : Claude Bérain (ca 1645-1729), ornamentalist and engraver to the King (engraved bookplate); acquired from Marlborough Rare Books, 1970. FIRST EDITION of this work on the utopian ideal state, a poetic meditation in Latin hexameters which plays a Moral Progress on the basis of the 'Nicomachean Ethics.' The work is divided into thirty days, starting from the canonical description of the five senses, and browsing the vices and virtues corresponding runs through the various degrees of elevation of the philosopher to end coll'altrettanto canonical praise of wisdom. Dedicated to Henry III, the work was published in Paris in 1609 by Alfonso Del Bene and with a Latin commentary of Theodore Marcilio. The wonderful series of engravings have been described as an anticipation of Surrealism. Praz, p. 314; Updike I, 206.
DEL BENE Bartolommeo (b. 1514). Civitas veri sive morum . Edited by Theodorus Marcilius. Paris: Ambroise and Jérôme Drouart, 1609.
DEL BENE, Bartolommeo (b. 1514). Civitas veri sive morum . Edited by Theodorus Marcilius. Paris: Ambroise and Jérôme Drouart, 1609. 2 o (330 x 204 mm). Engraved title-page and 33 engraved plates by Thomas de Leu (one double-page). (Tear on lower margin of G3, pale dampstain in some fore-margins.) 17th-century French calf gilt (some wear to joints). Provenance : Claude Bérain (ca 1645-1729), ornamentalist and engraver to the King (engraved bookplate); acquired from Marlborough Rare Books, 1970. FIRST EDITION of this work on the utopian ideal state, a poetic meditation in Latin hexameters which plays a Moral Progress on the basis of the 'Nicomachean Ethics.' The work is divided into thirty days, starting from the canonical description of the five senses, and browsing the vices and virtues corresponding runs through the various degrees of elevation of the philosopher to end coll'altrettanto canonical praise of wisdom. Dedicated to Henry III, the work was published in Paris in 1609 by Alfonso Del Bene and with a Latin commentary of Theodore Marcilio. The wonderful series of engravings have been described as an anticipation of Surrealism. Praz, p. 314; Updike I, 206.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
