De philosophia volumen primum, in quo haec continentur. Academicarum quaestionum. Editionis primae liber secundus. Editionis secundae liber primus. De finibus bonorum et malorum libri V. Tusculanarum quaestionum libri V. Editionis secundae liber primus. De finibus bonorum & malorum libri V. Tusculanarum quaestionum libri V.
Venice: In aedibus Aldi et Andreae Asulani soceri [Aldine Press], 1523.
First of two volumes of Cicero's philosophy. Small octavo, *8 a-z8 A-I8. Paginated per spread, [xiii], 251, [5] pp. (54 '56', 56 '54', 171 '161'). Laid paper, text in Latin, Aldine device to title page, colophon and second Aldine device at rear.
Recased in old vellum, later morocco title label to spine, all edges speckled red. Near Fine with typical discoloration and slight splaying to vellum, light scattered foxing to textblock edges and contents, and faint dampstaining to postlims and lower margins of first and last few gatherings. Light soiling to prelims, annotations to title page, faded ink inscription and tiny hole to final page with printer's device. Very minimal ink marginalia predating binding (cut short by trimming) and intermittent pencil marginalia conforming to present margins, both in Latin and in old hand. A sound complete copy, in excellent condition for its age. UCLA Aldine Press 222, USTC 822117.
Aldus Manutius (1450-1515) founded what was to become the most important Renaissance printing press in Venice around 1490. His first dated publication was a book of Greek grammar, to which Aldus added his own Latin translations. He had been an independent scholar and a tutor to the young princes of Capri, and he saw a need for a new kind of book: a pocket-sized volume of classical literature, something relatively affordable and very portable that a gentleman could take with him on his travels. With support from the two princes and financial backing from Andrea Torresani d’Asola, whose daughter he married in 1505, Aldus set out to democratize the classics. When he died in 1515, the Torresani family took over the press until Aldus’ young son Paulus came of age in 1533. This book was published during that intermediate period in May 1523; the second volume of Cicero was printed in August.
To make ends meet, Aldus and his successors had to print in large runs of a thousand copies instead of the usual 250 or fewer. They also had to fit as much text on the page as possible. Aldus commissioned the punch-cutter Francesco Griffo to create a slanting font modeled on the handwriting of papal chancery scribes. This condensed typeface, first used in an edition of Virgil in 1501, became known as italics after it spread through Europe. The newness of the font is evident in this book: the lowercase letters are italics, but the uppercase letters are still, somewhat jarringly, roman type. The trick of italicizing capital letters was yet to come, but Aldus’ and Griffo’s innovation was a landmark in the history of typography.
Price: $3,000