De Mundo Aristotelis Lib I. Philonis Lib I. Gulielmo Budaeo interprete, 1541.
[Bound with] Ocelli Lucani veteris Philosophi libellus, de universi natura, 1541.
[Bound with] Aristotle on the Cosmos, 1540.
[USTC 186303; NLA 1457075]
The first two stated works are written in Latin with the printer's device of Conrad Neobar but without attribution. The third work is written in the original Greek with the title page mentioning Conrad Neobar as the printer in Paris. Neobar was appointed royal printer of France in 1539, though he died shortly after in 1540, to be succeeded by Robert Estienne. His device of a snake twisted around a staff is similar to the one later used by Estienne for his Greek printings. Neobar's publications are rare as he was only printing for two years.
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De Mundo ['On the Universe'] is a theological and scientific treatise generally included within the Corpus Aristotelicum though its attribution to Aristotle is often doubted due to its attempt to "provide an explanation of the role of God in preserving and maintaining the cosmos while at the same time upholding the notion of his transcendence and independence" [Johan C. Thom]. The work is written in the Aristotelian Peripatetic style and Platonic and Stoic elements are present throughout the work. In the time of publication in the early to mid 16th century, it was generally universally regarded as attributed to Aristotle. The work discusses cosmological, geological, and meteorological subjects alongside a consideration of the role an independent god plays in maintaining the universe.
In totality, the volume contains Gulielmus Budaeus' [Guillaume Bude] interpretation of Aristotle's De Mundo [probably also contributed to by the Hellenist Jacques Toussain, his pupil]. Bude was a known correspondent of Erasmus and Thomas More. The volume also contains the astronomical and cosmological works of Philo Alexandrinus (a middle Platonist influenced by Pythagoreanism), a philosophical treatise on the nature of the Universe by Ocelli Lucani, and Aristotle's De Mundo in the original Greek published a year after the aforementioned works in 1540, completed by Conrad Neobar's widow following his death.
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Size: 90 x 135 x 17.5 mm (approx.)
Condition:
Binding rubbed with the leather dry. Some wear to extremities and shelf wear. Top joints of front board cracked with the remainder fragile, but with both boards attached. The binding is almost certainly 17th century and French. Page edges have been coloured red as common in the aforementioned period, this colouring is almost certainly contemporary to publication. Top page edge dulled as typical. Slight shelf lean. Binders waste used as pastedowns, probably Biblical leaves. Without any attached bookplates but with two ownership inscriptions to front free endpaper verso, one dated 1924 and the other 1967. Another ownership inscription to title page header dated to 1646 with an inscription to the title page reverso. Toning throughout text block and some staining affecting a small number of leaves but with the full text legible. The title page to the Greek de Mundo was erroneously printed with a date of 1560 but this has been hand corrected in ink to 1540 - this is a known misprint of this edition as stated in USTC. Collates as complete through the pagination and signatures though does not have a printers device to the verso of the title page of the Greek de Mundo which one assumes should probably be there.
