[POST-INCUNABLE ~ 1517: ALDINE PRESS]. Epigrammata

Venice: Heirs of Aldus Manutius, 1517. Very good. Small 4to. Collation: A-Z &8, COMPLETE. 190, [1] pp. Title-page and verso of final leaf with Aldine dolphin and anchor device (text with staining, two inscriptions washed out, one below colophon, the other above the printer's device on verso of final leaf). Seventeenth-century sprinkled calf (possibly English), spine elaborately gilt, edges gilt and gauffered, "Dutch" gilt floral boards on pastedowns, five binder's blanks at the front and back (covers with abrasions, most pronounced on front cover, wear to extremities). An attractive copy. A LOVELY COPY PRINTED BY THE HEIRS OF ALDUS MANUTIUS, CLEARLY USED AS A VEHICLE FOR SCHOLARSHIP AS THERE NUMERICAL ANNOTATIONS THROUGHOUT, EVIDENTLY INDICATING EPIGRAM NUMBERINGS, WHICH AT A TIME THE BOOK WAS PRINTED HAD NOT YET BEEN UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTED. THE INSERTION OF THE SUPPLIED EPIGRAM TITLES OR NAMES OF THE RECIPIENTS SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN A RENAISSANCE INVENTION AND HAS SINCE BEEN ABANDONED, THEREBY INVITING FURTHER STUDY.

Printed mostly in Aldus Manutius's beautiful italic, this is in fact the second Aldine edition; it was first printed in 1501 and did not feature the immortal Aldine dolphin and anchor device on the title-page.

Martial's writings are of current interest to us on account of his gossip, bitter satire and excellent obscenity, although concerning the latter: "Martial introduced few themes not touched on by Catullus and Horace before him. Those epigrams that are obscene constitute perhaps ONE-TENTH of Martial's total output [emphasis ours]. His references to homosexuality, 'oral stimulation,' and masturbation are couched in a rich setting of wit, charm, linguistic subtlety, superb literary craftsmanship, evocative description, and deep human sympathy." (Britannica).

A NOTEWORTHY FORMER OWNER AND HER GIFT TO HARVARD. Concerning Mrs. Edward Brandegee of Brookline, Mass., the Nov. 21, 1908 issue of the Harvard Crimson explains: "Notable Gift to College Library: The College Library has received from Mrs. Edward Brandegee of Brookline the largest collection of books which has been presented since the Library's foundation. The collection is to be known as the Weld Memorial, in memory of Mrs. Brandegee's grandfather, William Fletcher Weld, the donor of Weld Hall. The collection, consisting of 11,880 volumes, is from the library of Richard H. Bowie of Philadelphia. There is no room in Gore Hall at present for such a great number of books, and they are stored temporarily in the basement of one of the College dormitories. Nearly half of the collection consists of the works of classical Greek and Latin authors, mainly in eighteenth century editions of great value. In the Bowie catalogue there were listed 433 books printed before 1500, the work of 160 different printers. This addition more than doubles the former collection of such books, and probably gives the College Library the largest number of these early works of any public library in the country."

PROVENANCE: Richard Ashhurst Bowie (?) -- Richard H. Bowie, his collection purchased en bloc by -- Mary Bryant Pratt Brandegee (Mrs. Edward Deshon, 1871-1956), her gift in 1908 to -- Harvard College Library (Bowie Collection), stamped in ink opposite title-page (with Harvard's release stamp) and pressure stamps on A1 (title) and A2. It seems there was a bookplate on the front pastedown, subsequently removed. Judging from other volumes with this provenance, the bookplate would have commemorated her gift in memory of her father, William Fletcher Weld (1800-1881), a great Harvard benefactor -- Jeffrey D. Mancevice. From the Farley Katz Collection of Post-Incunabula.

REFERENCES: UCLA 161. Renouard p. 81 no. 11. Adams M-694. EDIT16 37562. See the recent T. Kimball Brooker sale at Sotheby's New York, lot 972; interestingly lot 973, a Lyonnais piracy of the present edition, was likewise from the collection of Mary Brandegee who gave it to Harvard in 1908, as here.