La Coltivazione, del sig. Lvigi Alamanni, et le Api, del s. Giovanni Rvcellai,... Con aggiunta delli epigrammi del medesimo Alamanni, et di alcune brevi annotazioni soprà le Api (da Roberto Titi)

Florence: Filippo Giunti, 1590. Paperback. Very Good. 8vo (155 x 100mm). [8], 1-308pp., [4], register and printer’s mark of putti flanking fleur-de-lis on final verso. Signatures: *4; A-T8; V4. Text in italic. Woodcut chapter initials. Contemporary limp vellum, manuscript title to spine “La colvi-vazion-de Luigi Alamani,” (some intermittent browning and few wormholes not severe, a minor early cancelled inscription on front flyleaf; a solid copy of this rare Florentine printing). Letter receipt of 1950 from antiquarian booksellers Davis & Orioli in London. This Alamanni was brought from them by Avery Architecture Library (Columbia) curator James van der Pool. Rare 16th-century Giunta edition of Alamanni’s epigrammatic Renaissance work on agricultural matters, with a didactic poem on beekeeping by Giovanni Rucellai. Luigi Alamanni was a fiery Florentine poet and statesman and was involved in many of the political and papal affairs of his time. Banished by his country, Alamanni sought refuge in Paris and was a member of the French court from at least 1531. The Coltivazione was first published at Paris by Robert Estienne in 1546 by order of the king. This was Estienne’s only publication in Italian and was widely regarded as his most artistic book. When Alamanni returned to Florence in 1527, several more printings persisted, even after his death, as in this edition by Giunti. This edition was dedicated to Cristina di Lorena, wife of Ferdinando I de Medici, suggesting a renewal of Alamanni’s Tuscan roots. Directly following Alamanni’s work on agricultural matters is a Georgic poem based on Virgil titled Le Api, or “the Bee,” by Giovanni Rucellai. The didactic poem details much period first-hand knowledge of bees and beekeeping, including the variety of hives and moveable combs used in Italian apiculture. Roberto Titi added his commentary as short annotations, “for the convenience of scholars.” Rucellai’s work also included some superstitions and unusual charms of the period, one that bees could not bear to smell the breath of an unchaste person. Le Api was first published in 1539, but it was virtually unknown until its inclusion with the Coltivazione.

Rare 16th-century Giunta edition of Alamanni’s epigrammatic Renaissance work on agricultural matters, with a didactic poem on beekeeping by Giovanni Rucellai. Luigi Alamanni was a fiery Florentine poet and statesman and was involved in many of the political and papal affairs of his time. Banished by his country, Alamanni sought refuge in Paris and was a member of the French court from at least 1531. The Coltivazione was first published at Paris by Robert Estienne in 1546 by order of the king. This was Estienne’s only publication in Italian and was widely regarded as his most artistic book. When Alamanni returned to Florence in 1527, several more printings persisted, even after his death, as in this edition by Giunti. This edition was dedicated to Cristina di Lorena, wife of Ferdinando I de Medici, suggesting a renewal of Alamanni’s Tuscan roots. Directly following Alamanni’s work on agricultural matters is a Georgic poem based on Virgil titled Le Api, or “the Bee,” by Giovanni Rucellai. The didactic poem details much period first-hand knowledge of bees and beekeeping, including the variety of hives and moveable combs used in Italian apiculture. Roberto Titi added his commentary as short annotations, “for the convenience of scholars.” Rucellai’s work also included some superstitions and unusual charms of the period, one that bees could not bear to smell the breath of an unchaste person. Le Api was first published in 1539, but it was virtually unknown until its inclusion with the Coltivazione.