Polydori Vergilii Urbinatas de Rerum Inventoribus Libri Octo. Eiusdem in orationem Dominicam Commentariolum. Cum Indice & rerum verborum locupletisimo. Basileae, MDLXX, 16mo, 675pp.
De Inventoribus Rerum by Polydore Vergil of Urbino. Printed in 1570 in Basel by Thomas Guarin, with his printer's device reading 'Palma Guar' to title page and written at the colophon.
THE INCREDIBLY RARE WORK BY POLYDORE VIRGIL FOCUSSING ON THE ORIGIN OF HUMAN ACTIVITY AND INVENTIONS. A BOOK WHICH WAS BANNED IN 1564 AND MANY COPIES OF WHICH WERE BURNT.
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Polydore Vergil is an infamous humanist writer. The book offered here for sale was added to the list of Papal banned books in the mid 1500s and is therefore a rather rare work to find in commerce. De Rerum Inventoribus is a history of invention and origins of human activity, part of the humanist enterprise to trace ideas to their origins. It also contains a brief history of magic and some other occult subjects.
In continental Europe, Vergil is principally remembered for the De Inventoribus Rerum and the Adagia: these are the works which secured his reputation before he ever came to England, and which he himself regarded as his masterpieces, writing "I, Polydore, was the first of the Romans to treat of these two matters". The De Inventoribus receives a mention, for example, in Cervantes' Don Quixote (1605–15).
Vergil's De Inventoribus Rerum was first published in 1499, having been written in only three months. It was a history of origins and inventions, describing in three books the "first begetters" of all human activities. Book I investigated the origin of the gods and the word "God", along with such matters as the creation, marriage, religion and learning. Book II covered, among other topics, the origins of law, time, military science, money, precious metals and art. Book III covered, again among other topics, the origins of agriculture, architecture, towns, theatres, tools and materials, maritime navigation, commerce and prostitution.
For the edition of 1521, Vergil added five more books, devoted to the initia institorum rei Christianae, i.e. the origins of Christian rites and institutions. He probably thought that this addition would be a popular one, but it was also a concession towards critics who had labelled the De Inventoribus a work of heretics and depravity. The work nonetheless included criticisms of monks, priestly celibacy, indulgences, and of the policies and constitutional status of the papacy. As a consequence, it was placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (papal list of prohibited books) in 1564.
Size: 75 x 125 x 60 mm (approx.)
Condition:
Spine with some loss to the leather at the head, rubbed with the leather dry. Blindstamped design to both boards with wear to extremities, notably to the bottom corner of the front board where there is loss. Both boards are attached with some slight rubbing to joints. The binding is contemporary full calf. Page edges very good with top edge dulled as typical. Several ownership inscriptions of the Lorimer family showing a long genealogy of ownership within the same family, with the last ownership inscription dated as recent as 1967. Given where we acquired this book from, it is highly likely that this book was with the Lorimer family since at least the 1700s. Some marginalia in an early hand through the first 100pp or so, written in Latin. The book is collated as complete through the text block, though lacks the preliminary blanks. Top right of title page cut out to remove an ownership inscription for which all that remains is 'Tho'. This edition contains books one through to eight of this work (the complete work). Text block very clean throughout with some very mild toning and occasional stains affecting only a few leaves sporadically throughout with the majority of the text block being very good.
