Epistolae ad Atticum, ad M. Brutum, ad Quintum fratrem, multorum locorum correctione illustratae, cum suis commentariis separatim impressis, auctore Paulo Manutio Aldi filio.
Venice: Apud Aldi Filius [Aldine Press], 1548 [1551].
Early edition of Cicero's letters, published by the legendary Aldine Press in Venice. Small octavo, A-Z8 AA-VV8 X4. Paginated per spread, [ii], 333, [13], (21 '12', 89 '83'). Laid paper, text in Latin and Greek, Aldine device to title page, colophon and Aldine device at rear. Recased circa early 19th century in older vellum, gilt tooling added to spine, marbled endpapers, ribbon marker. Near Fine with typical discoloration and light soiling to vellum, bookworm damage to spine not affecting contents, and rubbing to spine gilt with title wholly effaced. Faint scattered foxing and minimal staining throughout, bookseller notation to fly-leaf verso, ink inscription in old hand to title page, and occasional marginalia, trimmed short. Small hole to upper margin corner of second leaf, repaired chip to p. 190 with text slightly affected. UCLA Aldine Press 408, USTC 822342.
A 1551 reprint of a title first published three years previous, hence the date 1548 on the title page. The publisher was “Aldi’s son,” as the colophon states – Paulus Manutius, son and heir of Aldus Manutius. The elder Manutius founded the press around 1490, produced his first dated book in 1495, and changed the course of printing in the Western world by the time he died in 1515. Aldus saw the need for a new kind of book: a pocket-sized, portable volume that could be read anywhere rather than a stately tome requiring a bookstand. He commissioned the punch-cutter Francesco Griffo to create a slanting font modeled on the Vatican’s chancery hand that allowed him to squeeze more words on each page. This condensed font, first used in an edition of Virgil in 1501, became known as italics.
Paulus Manutius continued to use his father’s landmark typeface and to publish the classical texts his father loved, though the younger Manutius favored Latin over Greek. He also chose to embellish the Aldine Press device: the anchor and dolphin, representing meticulous work produced at rapid speed, is surrounded in this book with cherubim and cornucopia. It is a lovely little volume, well preserved.
Price: $3,500