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The Sixteenth Century
Part XXXI
GILHOFER & RANSCHBURG
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PART: 31
ASSOCIATION COPIES
1. ARNIGIO, Bartolomeo (1523-1577). Lettera, rime et oratione... in lode della bellis-
sima e gentilissima signora Ottauia Baiarda. 4to. 32, [8], 33-43, [1] pp. With the printer's
device on the title-page and verso of the last leaf verso. 18th century coloured wrappers,
tiny worm hole in upper inner margin of the first 30 leaves skilfully repaired, a very
good copy. A contemporary inscription on the title-page reads: “Dono di Angelo So-
spiri, et dell’Arnig[io] Di Antonio Beffa Neg.[rini]”, which shows that the work was gift-
ed by the editor Angelo Sospiri and the author, Arnigio, to Antonio Beffa Negrini
(1532-1602), poet, scholar and lawyer in Mantua, who not only was a close friend of
Arnigio, but also belonged to the same group of scholars and poets who gravitated
around the ‘Accademia degli Occulti’ in Brescia. Their names appear in several antholo-
gies published of the time.
[Brescia, Lodovico Britannico], 1558. – And:
(II:) - - -. Canzone a l'illus-
trissimo e reverendiss. mon-
signore il Cardinal di Gam-
bara. De l'Arnigio. 4to. [4]
leaves. With the printer's device
on the title page. Dedication
copy by Simone Sospiro to
Antonio Beffa Negrini.
Padua, Grazioso Percaci-
no, 1562.- Bound with:
(III:) - - -. Stanze de l'Arni-
gio al signor Gioan Battista
Gavardo. 4to. [8] leaves (the
last is a blank). Dedication
by the author to Antonio
Beffa Negrini. Title-page
slightly foxed.
Padova, Grazioso Percaci-
no, 1563. – And:
(IV:) - - -. Canzone all'Ac-
cademia Bresciana, nel suo nascimento. De l'Arnigio. 4to. [4] leaves. Donated by the au-
thor to Antonio Beffa Negrini.
N.pl., n.pr. [probably Brescia, Vincenzo Sabbio], (1564). – And:
(V:) - - -. Nelle nozze de l'illustre signor conte Paol'Emilio Martinengo, e la signora
Laura Gonzaga. 4to. Broadsheet printed on recto only. With a large woodcut initial. Traces
of folding.
N.pr., n.pl., n.d. [ca. 1560-65].
(VI:) - - -. Al reverendissimo, et illustrissimo signore il Cardinal di Lorena. 4to. Broad-
sheet printed on recto only. With a large woodcut initial. Traces of folding. With Arnigio's
autograph signature at the bottom. Gift of the author.
N.pr., n.pl., n.d. (1563?).
(VII:) - - -. In morte della S. Lucia (Albana Avogadro l’Arnigio). The title of the poem is not
fully readable as it has been partially cut off. Autograph manuscript poem written on
one page (recto) and signed by Arnigio. The title of the poem is not fully readable as it
has been partially cut off. Incipit: “Sparita è l'ALBA, di quella viva LUCE…”. There fol-
lows another poem addressed to one Fratre Jacomo da Montefalco predicator, signed
“L’Arnigio” at the bottom (party cut off). Works II-VII are bound together in modern
vellum and are preserved together with the first work in a cloth case.
[Venezia or Brescia, 1568].
(I:) RARE FIRST EDITION edited by Angelo Sospiri and dedicated by him to Giovan Battista Ga-
vardi. The book includes a letter to Ottavia Baiarda Beccaria, 32 poems (canzoni, sonnets, etc.), and
the Encomium Octaviae Baiardae, all by Arnigio. At the end is a sonnet by Adriano Mauro addressed to
the author. With this publication Arnigio obtained a reward of two hundred scudi and the esteem of
Gavardi, who was a fervent admirer of the praised gentlewoman, Ottavia Camilla Baiardi, from a
prominent family of Parma. She was the niece of Francesco Baiardi, one of the main patrons of Parmi-
gianino, and was portrayed by him in the painting known as Antea (cf. G. Bertini, Una proposta identifica-
zione dell’ “Antea” del Parmigianino: Ottavia Baiardi Beccaria, in: “Aurea Parma”, LXXX, 2002, pp. 361-
368).
Bartolomeo Arnigio, the son of a blacksmith from Brescia, showed an early preference for let-
ters over his father's trade. He graduated in medicine at the University of Padua, thinking that the
medical profession would allow him to live decorously and give him time to devote himself to poetry.
Soon after his return to Brescia he was accused of the death of numerous patients and was forced to
escape and definitively give up medicine. He returned to Brescia only a few years later, called by Abbot
Ascanio Martinengo, who appointed him as reader of philosophy. In Brescia he became a member of
the Academia of the Occulti under the name of Solingo. (cf. M. Maylender, Storia delle accademie d’Italia, Bo-
logna, 1929, IV, pp. 87-91). He died of plague in 1577. He is the author of numerous short composi-
tions as well as some more lengthy works such as Le diece veglie de gli ammendati costumi dell'humana vita
(1576) and the Dialogo della medicina d'amore (1566) (cf. E. Selmi, Bartolomeo Arnigio, in: “Mille anni di let-
teratura bresciana”, P. Gibellini & al., eds., Brescia, 2004, I, pp. 185-94).
Edit 16, CNCE 3069; Index Aureliensis 108.891; Universal STC, no. 811072.
(II:) A POEM dedicated to Gianfrancesco Gambara (1533-1587), who had obtained the cardinal’s hat
from Pope Pius IV in March 1561.
Edit 16, CNCE3070; Universal STC, no. 811073.
(III:) STANZAS dedicated to Giovan Battista Gavardo (1522-1564), a philanthropist and man of let-
ters from Brescia, a friend of Arnigio and an admirer of Ottavia Baiardi (cf. G. Caravale, Preaching and
Inquisition in Renaissance Italy, Boston, 2016, p. 141).
Edit 16, CNCE 3071; Universal STC, no. 811074.
(IV:) THIS POEM was written in occasion of the foundation, in 1563, of the famous Accademia degli
Occulti, of which Arnigio and Beffa Negrini were both members (cf. M. Maylender, Storia delle accade-
mie d'Italia, Bologna, 1926-30, IV, p. 90).
Apparently unrecorded.
(V:) POEM written between 1560 and 1566 for the marriage of the Brescian nobleman Paolo Emili
Martinengo, lord of Urago, Ozinuovi and Roccafranca, and Laura, daughter of Massimiliano Gonzaga,
Marquis of Luzzara.
Apparently unrecorded.
(VI:) POEM written to the Cardinal Charles of Lorraine (1524-1574) during the latter’s stay at the
Council of Trent or his visit to Pope Pius IV (September, 1563).
Apparently unrecorded.
(VII:) THIS POEM was written by Arnigio of the death of the poetess Lucia Albani Avogadro (1534-
1568), a renowned poetess from Brescia, some of whose verses were published by Girolamo Ruscelli
in Rime di diversi eccellenti autori bresciani (1553). The poem was also printed in the anthology of the Rime
de gli Academici Occulti con le loro imprese et discorsi (Brescia, 1568), p. 99.The ensuing poem addressed to
Jacomo da Montefalco seems to be unrecorded.
cf. Edit 16, CNCE 55.
€ 4,800.- /CHF 5,300.- / $ 5,300.-
ON PAINTING AND SCULPTURE
2. BORGHINI, Raffaello (1537?-1588). Il Riposo... in cui della Pittura, e della Scultu-
ra si favella, de’ piu illustri Pittori, e Scultori e delle piu famose opere loro si fa mentio-
ne; e le cose principali appartenenti à dette arti s’insegnano. 8vo. (24) prel. leaves, 648
pp. With the printer’s device on the title-page and an allegorical woodcut on the verso of the second leaf.
Old vellum, some light browning and spots, sparcely a few inkstains, but a fine copy.
Firenze, Giorgio Marescotti, 1584.
FIRST EDITION of what is generally regarded as the best source for the biographies of the later
Florentine Mannerists and the first Italian art treatise aimed specifically at the nonspecialist connois-
seur. “Whereas Vasari had written his Vite for both artists and non-artists, Raffaele Borghini’s pub-
lished his Riposo explicitly for those who do not practice either painting or sculpture. His book enables
such laymen to talk about art in an informed way. Borghini considers talking about art to be an art
form in its own right, and he maintains that through their verbal endeavours all laymen may become
immortal artists. His Risposo will allow them to attain this goal” (T. Frangenberg, The Art of Taking about
Sculpture: Vasari, Borghini and Bocchi, in: “Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes”, 58, 1995, p.
118).
The work is dedicated to Giovanni de’ Medici, natural son of Cosimo I and Eleonora degli Albizzi.
The work is written as an imaginary conversation between four members of the Florentine society
(among them Borghini) during a visit to a villa near Florence, named Il Riposo, which belonged to the
collector Bernardo Vecchietti, one of the interlocutors (cf. M. Bury, Bernardo Vecchietti: Patron of Giam-
bologna, in: “I Tatti Studies”, 1, 1985, pp. 13-56). The others were two Florentine noblemen, Baccio
Valori and Girolamo Michelozzo and the sculptor Ridolfo Sirigatti (cf. D. Pegazzano, Lorenzo Sirigatti:
Gli svaghi eruditi di un dilettante del Cinquecento, in: “Mitteilungen des kunstistorischen Institutes in
Florenz”, 42/1, 1998, pp. 144-175). The volume opens with a poem by Piero di Gherardo Capponi
and on the verso an allegorical woodcut. Then follow a comprehensive index of the painters, sculp-
tors and other names mentioned in the book as well a long subject index pointing to Borghini’s mar-
ginal subheadings.
“Raffaello Borghini’s Il Riposo is, to an extent, a continuation of Vasari’s Vite of 1568. This in-
tent is testified to, not so much by the verses composed by Piero di Gherardo Capponi and addressed
“A’ pittori, et a gli scultori fiorentini”, which follow immediately the title page (where the book is ex-
plicitly dedicated to “il Sig. Don Giovanni Medici”), as by the verso of this page, which bears the
same woodcut of Eternal Fame with the Arts of Design and the Artists of the Past that served as an
emblem for the first edition of Vasari’s Vite (1550). But Borghini’s book was primarily addressed to
collectors and amateurs of art, an educated lay audience. Borghini writes, “I have written for those
who do not practise these precepts, but, either for use or delight, are seized with pleasure in knowing
them” (pp. 127-128). The first two books contain dialogues which treat, not the artists’s vite, but more
general questions relating to the arts. Thus the book is of a composite nature... Borghini’s conception
of the ‘vita’ also differs significantly from Vasa-
ri’s, as well as from a humanist conception of
biography. And, as opposed to Vasari’s often
discursive and anecdotal vite, which offer ample
biographical detail, Borghini provides, as he
says, only a brief summary of the vite of the
modern painters and sculptors (pp. 249f.), ex-
plicitly referring the reader to the fuller exposi-
tions found in Vasari. Borghini’s vite are consti-
tuted largely by lists of works by the artists. But,
again as he writes, he includes many artists of
the present, many treated for the first time. The
vite begin in Book III, where accounts of artists
from Cimabue to Giulio Romano are found.
Following a brief introduction, Book I contains
vite of artists beginning with Baccio Bandinelli.
In addition to very many Florentine artists too
late for Vasari, many artists active in Venice and
Rome are included, as well as ones from Bolo-
gna, Milan, Urbino, and elsewhere. The dia-
logues treat disparate subjects. Religious deco-
rum is a central concern, and religious narrative
and sacred iconography receive much consider-
ation, along with erotic or lascivious content
and transgressions. Artistic technique is treated
at length as well as criteria for artistic judge-
ment... What is one to make of the striking con-
trast between the hastily compiled, uninforma-
tive summaries purloined from Vasari and the
extraordinarily well-informed and detailed lists
of works by living Florentine artists? And this,
despite the fact that Borghini maintains that the
latter are discussed with brevity, mentioning only the principal works (p. 542). At several points Bor-
ghini implies that what he writes is dependent upon the sources available to him (e.g., pp. 249f.), but
there has been scarcely any attempt to define in detail his sources and to engage the text critically. In
the dialogues, following the vita of Michelangelo, Sirigatti states that he will discuss the best artists of a
later time, those of whom he has personal knowledge, although it seems unlikely that he knew all the
artists working in Venice whom he describes. After treating artists who have died in recent years, the
book turns to artists still living (p. 551). For the works of Venetian painters Borghini comes close to
saying that he is relying upon detailed written reports (p. 559). Information about Bolognese painters
seem to have been supplemented by a Florentine informant, Giovambattista Dei (pp. 566f.). Urbino is
represented by Federigo Barocci, Rome by Federico Zuccari, Girolamo Muziano, and Scipione Pulzo-
ne. In some of these vite, Borghini may rely on information received from Egnazio Danti, who is men-
tioned at several points, and whose rather obscure younger brother, Girolamo, is, exceptionally, ac-
corded a vita, and whose historicising collection of drawings representing all the good artists is also
reported (p. 566: “di mano di tutti i valenti huomini dell’arte”). Returning to Florence (p. 579), Bor-
ghini treats foreigners in Florence (Stradanus and Giovanni Bologna) and then native Florentines.
Much in these vite relies on first hand information from the artists (e.g., Stradanus, Ammannati, and
others), and an exemplary and more extensive treatment is often devoted to one of the individual
artist’s principal works. In these vite a number of mistakes by Vasari are impatiently corrected. The
book concludes, rather abruptly, with remarks about the youthful sculptor Giovanni Caccini, who is
presented as a hope for the future” (Ch. Davis, Raffaello Borghini and his ‘Il Riposo’, in: “Fontes. Quellen
und Dokumente zur Kunst, 1350-1750, 59, 2011, pp. 23-24; see also T. Frangenberg, Der Betrachter:
Studien zur florentinischen Kunstliteratur des 16. Jahrhunderts, Berlin, 1990, pp. 77-103).
Also an interesting aspect of Il Riposo is that Borghini offers in it codes of conduct for the aging
artist. “The key source for this courtly image of the artist appears in that most gracious of texts, Raffa-
ello Borghini’s Il Riposo... [His] image of artists such like Pontormo, who creates a spectacle by contin-
uing to paint in old age, finds parallel in Castiglione’s depiction of the aging courtier who fails to relin-
quish the pursuits of his youth... In light of Pontormo’s negative example, Borghini offers a model for
artistic behaviour inspired by the role fashioned for the elderly courtier in courtesy literature. Through
a transcendent rhetoric that echoes Castiglione’s characterisation of the final years of the courtier,
Borghini aligns artistic practice with youth and the senses, and old age with pedagogy and contempla-
tion” (E.J. Campbell, The Art of Aging Gracefully: The Elderly Artist as Courtier in Early Modern Art Theory
and Criticism, in: “The Sixteenth Century Journal”, 33/2, 2002, p. 327-8).
Raffaello Borghini was born into a noble Florentine family. As a young man he was connected
with those Florentine nobles who opposed the Medici; but later became a supporter of the powerful
family. He spent most of his life in Florence, except for a period in France (1572-5), where he enjoyed
the patronage of the Jean I de Pontève, Comte de Carcès and his wife Marguerite in Provence. On his
return to Florence he began his career as a man of letters, poet and playwright, producing two suc-
cessful comedies La donna costante (1578) and L’amante furioso (1583) and a pastoral play Diana pietosa
(1586). He also began to frequent the cultured society around the court of Francesci I de’ Medici and
moved in the circles of the Capponi, Vecchietti, Valori and Pitti families. In this milieu, under the in-
fluence of Francesco I, he assembled a collection that included not only works of art, but also bizarre
and curious natural objects, achieving a mixture of naturalia and artificialia that was typical of the Ger-
man Wunderkammer. He was buried in the church of Santa Croce in Florence (cf. R. Ceserani, Raffaello
Borghini, in: “Dizionario biografico degli italiani”, 12, 1971, pp. 677-680).
Edit 16, CNCE 7120; Universal STC, no. 816377; Adams B-2495; Gamba, 241; Index Aurelien-
sis122.394; P. Barocchi, ed., Scritti d’arte nel Cinquecento, (Milano & Napoli, 1971-1977), I, pp. 674-90,
936-944, II, 1982-1991; A. Blunt, Artistic Theory in Italy, 1450-1600, (London, 1985), p. 101; L.H. Ellis,
ed. & transl., Raffaello Borghini’s Il Riposo, Toronto, 2007, passim; G.M. Fara, Appunti per una storia critica
della pittura toscana dal naturale fra Cinque e Seicento: da Raffaello Borghini a Luigi Lanzi, in: “Luce e ombra:
caravaggismo e naturalismo nella pittura toscana del Seicento”, O. Carofano, ed., (Pisa, 2005), pp. 33-
39; J. Schlosser, La letteratura artistica, (Firenze, 1956), pp. 349-354.
€ 1,750.- / CHF 1,900.- / $ 1,900.-
FIRST BIO-BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CALVIN
3. CALVIN, Jean (1509-1564). Commentaires... sur le livre de Iosué. Avec une preface
de Theodore de Besze, contenant en brief l’histoire de la vie et mort d’iceluy: augmen-
tee depuis la premiere edition & deduite selon l’ordre du temps quasi d’an en an. 8vo.
(94), 208, (6) leaves. With the printer’s device on the title-page. 19th century polished calf, spine
with gilt ornaments and morocco title label, gilt edges, hinges a bit weak, some light
dampstains, but a very fine copy with the entry of ownership of Georges Constantin
Naville (1755-1789), pastor and theological writer at Geneva, and with the book plate
of Charles-Louis Frossard (1827-1902), minister at Lille and also writer on geology.
Genève, François Perrin, 1565.
SECOND EDITION of the commentary on Joshua, Calvin’s dying bequest to the Church, and first
edition of the revised and augmented version of his biography. In his last exegetical endeavor Calvin
provided a moral model for Reformed believers, one that he hoped would represent the Reformed as
people who were law-abiding, morally sound proponents of order and peace (cf. R.A. Blacketer, The
Moribund Moralist: Ethic Lesson in Calvin’s Commentary on Joshua, in: “The Formation of Clerical and Con-
fessional Identities in Early Modern Europe”, W. Janse, ed., Leiden, 2006, pp. 149-168; see also M.
Woudstra, Calvin's Dying Bequest to the Church: A Critical Evaluation of the Commentary on Joshua, Grand Ra-
pids, MI, 1960, passim).
Calvin started to lecture on Joshua in June 1563 in
the Friday congregation and finished his commen-
tary shortly before his death. In the early part of
1564 Calvin’s sufferings (fever, asthma, stone and
gout - the fruits for the most part of his sedentary
habits and unceasing activity -) became so severe
that it was manifest that his earthly career was ra-
pidly ending. On February 6, he preached his last
sermon, having with great difficulty found breath
enough to carry him through it. He was several ti-
mes after this carried to church, but never again
could take any part in the service. With his usual
disinterestedness, he refused to receive his stipend,
now that he was no longer able to discharge the
duties of his office. During his sufferings, however,
his zeal and energy kept him in continual occupa-
tion, especially with his commentary on Joshua. On
April 25, he made his last will, on the 27th he recei-
ved the Little Council, and on the 28th the Gene-
van ministers, in his sick-room. He spent much ti-
me in prayer and died quietly, in the arms of his
faithful friend Théodore de Bèze on the evening of
May 27.
Théodore de Bèze (1519-1605), Calvin’s most
fervent disciple and his successor as head of the
Church of Geneva, accomplished a first version of
his account of Calvin’s malady and death, a first
attempt to a biography, in August 19, 1564. It was
first published at the end of August as a preface to
Calvin’s Commentary to Joshua in a folio-volume
by François Perrin with a comprehensive biblio-
graphy of Calvin’s writings. Shortly after it was re-published in separate form (probably for the foreign
market) as Discours de M. Théodore de Bèze contenant en bref l’histoire de la vie et mort de Maistre Iean Calvin
(until early 1565 at least eight imprints are known and it also was translated into Latin, German and
English). When the printer François Perrin published a new edition of Calvin’s commentary on Joshua
in 1565, he added a new version of the biography “augmentée depuis la première edition et déduite
selon l’ordre du temps quasi d’an en an”, retaining also the bibliographical apparatus. Bèze repudiated
his authorship pointing to Nicolas Colladon (ca. 1530-1586), chancellor of the Genevan Academy, as
author of this new version. “L’auteur sans aucun doute, que ce soit Bèze ou Colladon, a voulu donner
de Calvin une image plus vivante. Ce faisant il est aussi plus prolixe. Le rrécit des derniers jours occupe
une place encore plus importante que dans la première redaction. On y retrouve le même sens du de-
tail:... d’un récit à l’autre on notera des changements de date, des versions différentes d’un même évè-
nement, mais surtout l’importance accrue des ‘ultima verba’ de Calvin” (D. Ménager, Théodore de Bèze,
biographe de Calvin, in: “Bibliothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance”, 45, 1983, p. 246). For the Aimé-
Louis Herminjard, author of the comprehensive work on the correspondence of the French reformers,
it is clearly Bèze’s work: “aucun doute n’est possible: cette seconde edition apparient bien à Bèze, et
pour tout un ensemble de raisons: ‘le fonds était à lui; le raccordement des additions avec le text de
1564 ne traduit point une plume étrangère’. Autre argument important: la plupart de ces additions ont
été ‘transportées… dans la Vie latine de 1575’ ” (D. Ménager, op. cit., p. 246).
“What Beza and particularly Colladon have done is write a much more personalised account of
Calvin’s life and work. These elements alter completely the Discours, which has been reordered to fit
into this framework. While no biography in the modern sense of the term, the Life now conveys more
of the specificity of Calvin than Beza’s first account. Removing Beza’s identification of the man with
the doctrine and referring the reader to Calvin’s works for the latter, the Beza/Colladon effort substi-
tutes for it a portrait of someone more human but nonetheless sent by God at a particular time” (I.
Backus, Life Writing in Reformation Europe: Lives of Reformators by Friends, Disciples and Foes, London &
New York, 2016, p. 135).
Calvin’s commentary of Joshua of 1565 was printed in two versions: one in-folio and, the pre-
sent one, in-octavo. In this version were printed, to fill up the preliminary matter, two letters by Cal-
vin: one to Guillaume Farel (May 30, 1540), the other to Pierre Viret (March 8, [1546]).
GLN 15/16, no. 713; Index Aureliensis 130.076; Universal STC, no. 4053; F. Gardy, Biblio-
graphie des oeuvres de Théodore de Bèze, (Genève, 1960), no. 189; R. Peter, J.-F. Gilmont & Ch. Krieger,
Bibliotheca Calviniana: les oeuvres de Jean Calvin publiées au XVIe siècle, vol. 3: Écrits théologiques, littéraires et
juridiques, 1565-1600, (Genève, 2000), 65/2.
€ 1,900.- /CHF 2,100.-/ $ 2,100.-
THE FIRST SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF MUSIC THEORY
4. CALVISIUS, Sethus (Seth Kalwitz, 1556-1615). Exercitationes Musicae Duae.
Quarum prior est, de modis musicis, quos vulgò Tonos vocant, rectè cognoscendis, &
dijudicandis. Posterior de initio et progressu musices, alijsq(ue) rebus eo spectantibus.
8vo. 1 leaf, 138 (i.e. 139) + 1 pp. Title within an ornamental woodcut border, several typographical
ornaments and examples of musical notation. Old boards, a fine copy.
Leipzig, Franz Schnelboltz for Jacob Apel, 1600.
VERY RARE FIRST EDITION. The volume starts with Calvisius’ modal theories. He distinguishes
six principal modes, each of which is discussed separately. He also treats the differences between au-
thentic and plagal modes and discusses the combination of modes and different forms of the same
mode in polyphonic music (cf. J. Lester, Between Modes and Keys: German Theory, 1592-1802,
Stuyvesant, NY, 1989, pp. 21-24; see also W.D. Allen, Philosophies of Music History: A Study of Ge-
neral Histories of Music, 1600-1960, New York, 1962, pp. 7-11).
“Several uses of the modes can be learned from Sethus Calvisius’s Exercitationes Musicae Duae(1600). The Exercitatio prima, which is entirely about the modes, begins with a section explaining the
structure of the text. Each of the three parts addresses a different audience: the first, the melopoei or
composers; the second, the cantores (mostly used for choir leaders rather than ordinary singers); and
the third the instrumentalists – organists in particular. In the text destined for composers, Calvisius
first treats the interval species, the cadences, and derivation of the modes from the species in general,
and then each mode in turn... composers must develop their external view of the modes into an inter-
nal one. Cantores, in turn, may learn to understand better what they are singing, and also to choose
the right pitch for a composition, so that they are not dependent on an instrumentalist for that... Or-
ganists can learn that there is more in modality than the final only, and their improvisation can gain
much from this insight. Study of the modes gives organists the opportunity of rising from their low
position to the office of molopoeus or cantor – the position Calvisius held (F. Wiering, The Language
of the Modes: Studies in the History of Polyphonic Music, New York, 2001, pp. 72-73).
“Calvisius’ Beschreibung der Modi ist unterteilt in die drei Kapitel ‘De primo. De modis musi-
cis’, wo deren einstimmiges Auftreten behandelt wird, ‘De Secundo. De variatione Modorum in cantu
figurato’, wo es um die Verwendung der Modi in der Polyphonie geht, und schliesslich ‘De Tertio. Ad
quam clavem in organo Pneumatico in templis usitato, quilibet Modus cantari debeat vel possit’,
gleichsam ein aufführungspraktischer Hinweis für das Zusammenwirken von Chor und Orgel. Im ers-
ten Kapitel geht Calvisius nach einer allgemeinen Einführung in die Intervalle und Modi dazu über,
jeden Modus einzeln abzuhandeln. Als Beispiele nennt er Choräle, welche in dem jeweiligen Modusstehen, und verweist auf deren Quelle: ‘exempla perspicua ex Harmonijs Cantionum Ecclesiasticarum
in supra voce, sive in Cantu expressa subiungam’, diese rekrutieren sich also aus seiner von ihm vier-
stimmigen gesetzten Sammlung von Kirchengesänge[n] und geistliche[n] Lieder[n] D. Lutheri und anderer from-
men Christen von 1597, wobei sich die Bestimmung des Modus ausschliesslich auf die Oberstimme be-
zieht. Dabei geht Calvisius mit einer Systematik vor, die ihresgleichen sucht” (A. Moths, ‘Exempla in
Harmonij nulla habentur’. Zur Systematik der Beispiele in Seth Calvisius’ ‘Execitationes musicae duae’, in:
“Tempus musicae -tempus mundi. Untersuchungen zu Seth Calvisius”, G. Schröder, ed., Hildesheim,
2008, p. 217).
“The chronological approach took hold in Lutheran music historiography as well, most explicit-
ly in Seth Calvisius’ appendix to his Exercitationes Musicae of 1600. Calvisius himself had a keen interest
in chronology – he published his own account of world events in 1605 – and relied on Scaliger’s me-
thods in order to pin down such musically significant dates as the birth of Orpheus or Pythagoras’s
discovery of the harmonic proportions. Regarding current musical practice, Calvisius was full of prai-
se, asserting that it had reached such perfection that ‘one cannot imagine it ascending any further’. He
was not referring to the ‘new’ Italian music, however, since he cited Josquin and Orlando di Lasso as
key figures of ‘our time’; moreover, his idea of further developments certainly did not encompass the
dissolution of the enshrined contrapuntal rules. Rather, Calvisius found, ‘no more intervals, consonan-
ces or modes can possibly be thought out’. Notwithstanding his dedication to rigorous historical re-
search and criticism, his concept of history still aimed to sacralize human achievements, integrated into
the three biblical ages before, under and after the Law: music originated from God, while the only
possible scenario for reaching ultimate perfection consisted in a progression not forward but upward,
towards heavenly music existing after the end of time, out of time” (B. Varwig, Histories of Heinrich
Schütz, Cambridge, 2011, p. 171).
“Den zweiten Theil der Exercitationes duae können wir als eine Darstellung der äusseren und
inneren Geschichte der musikalischen Theorie bezeichnen. Jene gibt uns Aufschluss über den Ur-
sprung und die älteste Pflege der Musik, sowie eine Übersicht über die Theoretiker bis Zarlino; diese
enthält die Entwicklung der Tongeschlechter, Modi, Claves, Voces Musicales, Noten, und der figurier-
ten Musik… Calvisius Schrift ist ein werthvolles Vermächtniss jener Zeit, um so mehr, als hier über-
haupt zumn ersten Male versucht worden ist, eine pragmatische Geschichte der Musik zu geben, so-
weit es der damalige Stand der Wissenschaft zuliess” (K. Benndorf, Sethus Calvisius als Musiktheoretiker,
in: “Vierteljahresschrift für Musikwissenschaft”, 10, 1894, pp. 449-50, and see also A. Meyer, Von Er-
findern, Jahreszahlen und letzten Dingen, in: : “Tempus musicae -tempus mundi. Untersuchungen zu
Seth Calvisius”, G. Schröder, ed., Hildesheim, 2008, pp. 161-169)
Seth Kalwitz, a native of Gorsleben (Thuringia), began his studies at the University of Helm-
stedt in 1579, after having attended schools at Frankenhausen and Magdeburg. He continued his stud-
ies at the university of Leipzig and became music director at the Paulinerkirche there. On the recom-
mendation of the Leipzig theologian Nikolaus Selnecker he moved to Schulpforta as Kantor of the
Fürstenschule. Here he spent twelve fruitful years not only as an inspiring teacher but also in the study
of history chronology and music theory. In May 1594 he was recalled to Leipzig as Kantor of the
Thomaskirche in succession of Valentin Otto. For a short period he also directed the music at the
University church. Shortly before this, as a result of a knee injury, which confined him to his bed for
over a year and left him with a permanent limp, he found the time to complete his Opus chronologicum
(1605), his most important non-musical work. He then was offered appointments at the universities of
Frankfurt a.O. and Wittenberg, neither of which he took up. Kalwitz had a wide circle of scholarly
friends, including the astronomer Johannes Kepler (cf. G. Pietzsch, Seth Calvisius und Johannes Kepler, in:
“Die Musikpflege”, III, 1932, pp. 388-396), Michael Praetorius and the music theorists Abraham Bar-
tolus, Henricus Baryphonus, Nikolaus Gengenbach and Johannes Lippius. His many pupils including
Erhard Bodenschatz and Martin Rinckart. That he also had influence beyond the borders of his home-
land is shown in the musical works e.g. of Charles Butler, Thomas Campion and Thomas Ravencroft
(cf. S. Altner, Sethus Calvisius, das Thomaskantorat und die Thomasschule um 1600. Zum 450. Geburtstag von
Sethus Calvisius “Astronomus, Chronicus, Musicus, Poeta”, in: “Tempus musicae -tempus mundi. Unter-
suchungen zu Seth Calvisius”, G. Schroder, ed., Hildesheim, 2008, pp. 1-18).
“[Der] gelehrteste aller Leipziger Thomaskantore und nebst Sebastian Bach auch als Musiker derschätzenswerteste, ein kräftiger, vorzüglicher, künstlerisch und menschlich gleich tief durchgebildeter
Charakter, ein Eckstein der Musikentwicklung Leipzigs” (R. Wustmann, Musikgeschichte Leipzigs,
Leipzig, 1909, I, p. 190)
VD 16, ZV17681; Index Aureliensis 130.299; Universal STC, no. 655330; T. Ertelt & F. Zami-
ner, Geschichte der Musiktheorie, (Darmstadt, 2003), 8/1, p. 266; I. Lawrence, Composers and the Nature of
Music Education, (London, 1978), p. 206; F. Lesure, ed., Répertoire international des sources musicales. Écrits
imprimés concernant la musique, (Kassel, 1971), p. 198.
€ 5,400.- / CHF 5,900.- / $ 5,900.-
5. CAPACCIO, Giulio Cesare (1552-1634). Delle imprese trattato... In tre libri diviso.
Nel primo, del modo di far l’Impresa da qualsivoglia oggetto, o Naturale, o Artificioso
con nuove maniere si ragiona. Nel secondo, tutti ieroglifici, simboli e cose Mistiche in
lettere Sacre, o Profane si scuoprono; e come da quegli cavar si ponno l’Imprese. Nel
terzo, nel figurar degli emblemi di molte cose naturali per l’Imprese si tratta. 4to. Three
parts in one volume. [32], 84; 148; 60 leaves. With 300 woodcut illustrations of emblems, med-
als, coat-of-arms, and other symbols in the text. Printer's device on the various title-pages and on the
verso of the last leaf. Old vellum over boards with lettering piece on spine, small hole on
leaf A2 with loss of a few letters, gutter and lower margin of leaf Ll2 reinforced, some
light foxing and staining, but a very good, genuine copy.
Napoli, Giovanni Giacomo Carlino & Antonio Pace for Orazio Salviani, 1592.
FIRST EDITION of one of the major emblem treatis-
es of the sixteenth century, important both from a the-
oretical point of view and for its many original illustra-
tions. The volume presents two dedications, one ad-
dressed by the author to Giovanni Battista Crispi and
the other by F. Tommaso da Capua to the cardinal of
Mondovì. They are dated from Naples respectively on
the first and last day of May 1591.
The treatise Delle Imprese belongs in full to the
Renaissance neoplatonic tradition, which had given
hieroglyphics a symbolic rather than phonetic-
alphabetic interpretation. The hieroglyphics were thus
considered as the first esoteric example of a visual lan-
guage and were studied as a privileged precedent of
the new metaphorical writing, in which a prominent
place was occupied by the “imprese”, defined by Ca-
paccio as the written and visual metaphorical expres-
sion of a “concept” (cf. D. Caldwell, The Sixteenth-
Century Italian ‘Impresa’ in Theory and Practice, New York,
NY, 2004, pp. 179-182).
Within a rather aristocratic idea of literature, Ca-
paccio argues that it was the existence in ancient Egypt
of two separate cultures (the esoteric one reserved to
the privileged and chosen, and the one of the “impure
men”) that allowed the birth of the “symbolic” writing
of hieroglyphs. And, in his opinion, it was the commit-
ment to a privileged culture that could guarantee reno-
vation and vitality to the new artificial “writing” of em-blems and to literature in general (cf. R. Klein, La théorie de l'expression figurée dans les traités italiens sur les
“imprese”, 1555-1612, in: “Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance”, XIX, 1957, pp. 320-341).
Giulio Cesare Capaccio was born in Campagna d'Eboli (Salerno) in 1552. He studied in Naples under
the Jesuit father Girolamo Casella da Nola, and in Bologna, where he took a degree in law. After a
long journey throughout Italy, in 1575 he came back to Naples, where a few years later he published
Delle prediche quadragesimali (1582). In the following years, after a short stay in his native town, he lived
in Naples as a teacher and employee of the public office responsible for the conservation of grains
and oils. In 1602 the fifty-year-old Capaccio received recognition for his already distinguished career
in literary studies and local historical-archeological erudition with the appointment as secretary to the
city of Naples. His major field of interest was in fact the ancient history of the city, to which he con-
tributed with the works Historia Puteolana (1604) and Historia Neapolitana (1607). In 1611 he was among
the founders of the ‘Accademia degli Oziosi’. Between 1613 and 1614, after a serious charge of misap-
propriation, Capaccio was suspended from all his public offices and sent into exile; all his possessions
(including his large library) were confiscated. In 1616 he decided to accept an invitation of Francesco
Maria II della Rovere and moved to Urbino, where he was appointed curator of the ducal library. He
furthermore became ducal counselor and was entrusted with several important diplomatic missions.
To his new patron he dedicated the treatise Il Principe (1620). In 1623 Capaccio returned to Naples,
where he spent his last years as a schoolteacher. He died in 1634, shortly after his last publication, Il
forastiero, a guide of Naples (cf. S.S. Nigro, Giulio Cesare Capaccio, in: “Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani”,
XVIII, Roma, 1975, pp. 374-380; see also F. Cubiciotti, Vita di Giulio Cesare Capaccio con l'esposizione delle
sue opere, Campagna, 1898, passim).
Edit 16, CNCE 9062; Index Aureliensis 131.440; Universal STC, no. 818437; J. Landwehr,
French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese Books of Devices and Emblems 1534-1827, Utrecht, 1976, p. 65, no.
203; P. Manzi, La tipografia napoletana del '500. Annali di Orazio Salviani, 1566-1594, (Firenze, 1974), no.
166; M. Praz, Studies in Seventeenth-Century Imagery, (Roma, 1964), I, p. 296.
€ 2,400.- / CHF 2,600.- / $ 2,600.-6. CASTIGLIONE, Sabba da (1480-1554). Ricordi overo ammaestramenti..., ne quali
con prudenti, e christiani discorsi si ragiona di tutte le materie honorate, che si ricercano
a un vero gentil’huomo. 4to. (8), 135, (1) leaves. With the large woodcut portrait of the author
on the title page and the printer’s device on the last leaf. Contemporary limp vellum, new endpa-
pers, manuscript title on the spine and lower edge, remnants of ties, small ink stain on
the upper blank margin at the end of the volume, otherwise a fine genuine copy.
Venezia, Paolo Gherardo, 1554.
FIRST COMPLETE EDITION. First published in Bologna in 1546, containing only seventy-two
chapters, the Ricordi appeared in an enlarged edition in 1549 (124 chapters) also in Bologna. The pre-
sent, definitive, edition containing 133 ‘ricordi’ was edited by Zaccaria Bellenghi, Fra Sabba’s chaplain
in Faenza, shortly after the latter’s death. The work became very popular and between 1546 and 1613
twenty-five editions were published.
In the present edition is also
found for the first time the title
woodcut showing Fra Sabba in
his study. Ugo Rozzo, in Lo
studiolo nella silografia italiana,
1479-1558, (Udine,1998, pp.
90, 114), deems this frontispie-
ce to be remarkable for the mid
-sixteenth century both for its
Hospitaller imagery and its di-
splay of books within the stu-
dy.18 The woodcut is emble-
matic of Sabba’s monastic life
conducted within the Order’s
parameters of social utility. He
presents an iconographic image
of the devout humanist knight
who prefers the tranquility of
his Commenda to the bustle of
the city (see also D. Thornton,
The Scholar in his Study: Owner-
ship and Experience in Renaissance
Italy, New Haven, CT, 1997,
pp. 106-114).
The work consists of two
series of “avvertimenti” (advi-
ces), each closely related to
Castiglione’s initial idea of
providing to his grandnephew,
Bartolomeo Righi useful hints
how to become a perfect
knight Hospitaller, but its nu-
merous printings in the six-
teenth century and its breadth
of scope suggest a wider target
audience. The other ‘ricordi’,
were developed into true small
treatises or essays, that Casti-glione expanded and augmented in every new edition. Despite not having a wide-ranging extent, nev-
ertheless they present a considerable interest, especially when compared to the works of contemporar-
ies on the same topics, i.e. the life of a courtier, the government of a city, the prince and the tyrant,
men of arms and religion, marriage, how to decorate a house, clothes, food and drink, physical exer-
cise, travel, etc. But included were also his life in Faenza, his political aspirations, linguistic experi-
ments, ideas on religious reform. Geopolitical issues of the day are vigorously engaged and farcical
passages replete with colloquial phrasing appear alongside passionate theological discourse expressing
a strident anti-Lutheran viewpoint (C. Scarpati, Per il testo dei ‘Ricordi’, in: “Studi sul Cinquecento
italiano”, Milano, 1982, pp. 68-82, and D.F. Allen, The Hospitaller Castiglione’s Catholic Synthesis of Warfa-
re, Learning and Lay Piety on the Eve of the Council of Trent, in: “The Hospitallers, the Mediterranean, and
Europe: Festschrift for Anthony Luttrell”, K. Borchardt & al. eds., London, 2016, pp. 286-298).
The Ricordi are also very interesting from the point of view of art history and criticism,
showing Fra Sabba’s antiquarian efforts for Isabella d’Este, his admiration for Dürer’s prints, and the
artists he had known at Rome e.g. Gian Cristoforo Romano, Bramante, Raphael, Cristoforo Foppa, ‘Il
Caradosso’, the San Gallo family, just to mention a few (cf. M. Collareta, Il mondi dell’arte dei ‘Ricordi’ di
Fra Sabba, in: “Sabba da Castiglione, 1480-1554. Dalle corti rinascimentali alls Commenda di Faenza.
Atti del Covegno, Faenza, 19-20 maggio 2000”, A.R. Gentilini, ed., Firenze, 2004, pp. 297-312).
At the end of the volume is reprinted another work by Fra Sabba, Consolatoria, written during
his stay at Rhodes (November 25, 1517). This consolatory epistle, addressed to the Milanese poet Ca-
milla Scarampi for the death of her husband Ambrogio Guidoboni. This letter was published at Bolo-
gna in 1529. From the dedication dated March 15, 1527 to Giacomo Guicciardini, vice-president of
Romagna, we learn that Fra Sabba had submitted the work, in the last ten years, to Niccolò Machiavel-
li and Panfilo Sassi asking them if they considered it worthy of being published (M.C. Tarsi, Una poet-
essa nella Milano di primo Cinquecento, Samilla Scarampi, in: “Giornale storico della letteratura italiana”,
192/639, 2015, pp. 414-451).
Sabba da Castiglione was an instance of the self-fashioned courtier-knight of the later Renais-
sance who combines an unusual set of roles: Hospitaller commander, canon regular, art collector,
courtier, poet, and preceptor of knightly rules. He was born in Milan around 1480, where he also be-
came his first. education. He pursued post-secondary studies at the University of Padua, studying juri-
sprudence from about 1500 to late spring 1505, but did not finish his legal education. After a brief stay
in Mantua, in 1505, at the age of 25, he decided to join the Order of the Knights of Jerusalem (later
called Knights of Malta), of which he soon became Deputy Attorney General. He lived in Rhodes un-
til 1508, then moved to Rome, where he sojourned seven years as legal aide-de-camp to the admiral of
the Order of the Knights Hospitaller (and later Grand Master), Fabrizio del Carretto, cultivating his
interest in the arts and literature. In Rome he also met his cousin, Baldassare Castiglione, author of Il
Cortegiano. Fra Sabba was a passionate forerunner of archaeology and, during his stay on the Aegean
Sea, he was able to procure several ancient marble pieces to Isabella d'Este in Mantua. In 1515, at the
age of thirty-five, Fra Sabba became a Hospitaller commander, accepting a post previously held by his
friend Giulio de’ Medici, the future Pope Clement VII. He took up residence at the Order’s Commenda,
or commandery, a district headquarters similar to a feudal estate, in Faenza, Romagna, part of the Pa-
pal States. He accepted this post to better dedicate himself to the studies he loved so much, away from
mundane affairs, the intrigues of courts and military life. His residence in Faenza was the Church of
Commenda (Saint Mary Magdalene), also called ‘Magione’, dating back to the XII century. It was not
in good conditions when Fra Sabba came. This was due to the fact that previous commanders had not
chosen the complex of the Commenda as their own living place, employing their revenues for other
purposes. In 1533, Fra Sabba entrusted Girolamo da Treviso with the task to embellish the church
with a fresco portraying the ‘Enthroned Madonna between Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint Catherine
of Alexandria’. Another work of art of great importance, accomplished in the year of his death, is the
one painted by Francesco Menzocchi from Forlì: a monochrome fresco depicting him as an old man
presented by Saint Joseph to the Virgin. Underneath this image lies Fra Sabba’s sepulchre, with a Latinepigraph composed by himself. His interests as a man of study and collector gave birth to a library,
unfortunately lost, and to a collection of pieces of art, whose surviving items are to be seen in the Pi-
nacoteca Comunale of Faenza (F. Petrucci, Sabba da Castiglione, in: “Dizionario biografico degli italia-
ni”, 22, 1978, pp. 100-106).
Edit 16, CNCE 10159; Universal STC, no. 819593; Index Aureliensis 133.665; R.M. Bell, How
To Do It. Guides to Good Living for Renaissance Italians, (Chicago, IL, 1999), p. 337; C. Scarpati, op. cit., p.
89.
€ 1,750.- / CHF 1,900.- / $ 1,900.-
“ONE OF THE GREATEST THEOLOGICAL MASTERPIECES EVER PRODUCED IN LUTHERANISM”
(J.A.O. PREUS)
7. CHEMNITZ, Martin (1522-1586). EXAMEN, das ist / Erörterung Deβ Trienti-
schen Cocilij… in Latein beschrieben / und in vier Theil verfaβt / darin eine starke
vollkommene Widerlegung der fürnemmen Häuptpunkten der gantzen Papistischen
Lehre / beyde auβ dem Grundt der H. Schrift / und dem Consens und Einhelligkeit
der rechtlehrenden Vätter / zusammen getragen und in ein Buch verfaβt ist. Sehr
nütz / dienlich und nothwendiglich zum Erkenntnuβ der Christlichen Warheit / und
auch der Antichristischen Fälscherey. Auβ dem Latein auffs trewlichste verteutschet /
durch GEORGIUM NIGRINUM, Pfarrherrn zu Giessen. Folio. Four parts in one vol-
ume. (I:) (12, including one blank), 172, (6) leaves; (II:) (6), 220, (8) leaves; (III:) (8), 176,
(8) leaves; (IV:) (12), 130, (8) leaves. Text printed in two columns. Title printed in red and black
with a woodcut vignette by Jost Ammann (repeated twice) and with the printer’s device on the title-page
of Part II. Contemporary blind stamped calf, back with five raised bands, back panel
with three small repairs (at the place of the clasps and part of the joint), clasps missing,
old entries of ownership on the front fly-leaf, a few contemporary marginal annota-
tions and underlining, otherwise a superb and genuine copy.
Frankfurt a.M., Georg Rab, 1576 (at the end: 1577).
RARE FIRST GERMAN EDITION. This evaluation and rebuttal
of the decrees of the Council of Trent was originally published in
Latin in four volumes between 1566 and 1573. The work had ten
more editions until the end of the century, and numerous reprints
later, the last, dating from 1861 (Berlin). The work had greater im-
pact, greater readership, and brought Chemnitz greater fame than
anything else he produced in his life.
“The preparation of the Examen absorbed Chemnitz’ leisure for the
next nine years. By the end of March 1565 he had worked out the
first part sufficiently to send it to a colleague in Frankfurt/M., Mar-
tin Ritter, with the request to find a publisher. On Christmas Eve of
that year Chemnitz was still reading proof and finding ‘manifold and
most horrible errors’. The following spring the first part came out,
dedicated to Duke Albert Frederick [of Prussia], the youthful son of
Duke Albert the Elder. The second part followed in the same year,
dedicated to Margrave John of Brandenburg-Cüstrin, after Chem-
nitz’s friend, Duke Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, has refused
the honor because of the military commitment of his father. The
reigning Duke Henry, to the Roman Catholic party. In 1573 both
the third part, dedicated to Elector John George of Brandenburg
and the fourth and final part, dedicated to Duke Henry Julius ofBrandenburg-Wolfenbüttel, the son of Duke Julius, who now reigned as a Lutheran in his deceased
father’s domains, came out. Part One is prefaced with a Narratio de Synodo Nicena versibus exposita…
composed by Matthias Berg, headmaster of St. Catharine’s School in Brunswick. The first part dis-
cusses the teachings about traditions, original sin, concupiscence, the word ‘sin’, the conception of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, the works of unbelievers, free will, justification by faith, and good works. The
second part discusses the sacraments in general, Baptism, confirmation, the sacrament of the Eucha-
rist, Communion under both appearances, the mass, penance, contrition, confession, satisfaction, ex-
treme unction, the sacrament of orders and matrimony. The third part covers issues of virginity,
priestly celibacy, purgatory, and the invocation of the saints. The fourth part continues the third, with
sections on the relics of the saints, images, indulgences, fasting, the distinction of foods, and the feasts
of the calendar” (A.C. Piepkorn, Martin Chemnitz Views on Trent: The Genesis and the Genius of the ‘Examen
Concilii Tridentini’, in: “Concordia Theological Monthly”, XXXVII/1, 1966, p.19)
“Two years after the Council of Trent between 1565 and 1573 Chemnitz began to release an
examination of its decrees, an examination which Arthur Olsen [cf. Martin Chemnitz and the Council ofTrent, in: “Dialog”, 2, 1963, pp. 60-67] has dubbed, ‘the most thorough and influential Protestant re-
sponse ever made to Trent’. Preus [op. cit. below] lauds it ‘one of the greatest theological masterpieces
ever produced in Lutheranism’. One cannot deny its significance for its day. It saw twenty-five edi-
tions and underwent translation into German by Georg Nigrinus in 1576, English in 1582 and French.
And while Calvin may have been the first to respond, it was Chemnitz’s work that consumed Catholic
apologists for decades” (J.R.A. Merrick, ‘Sola scriptura’ and the ‘regula fidei’: the Reformation scripture principle
and early oral tradition in Martin Chemnitz’s ‘Examination of the Council of Trent’, in: “Scottish Journal of
Theology”, 63/3, 2010, pp. 264).
The translator, Georg Nigrinus (Schwartz, 1530-1602), Lutheran theologian,was born in Batten-
berg (Hassia), studied at Kassel and Marburg, became a school rector and pastor in Gießen and later a
moderator (Superintendent) in Alsfeld. He excelled as prolific translator (e.g. of Innocent Gentillet’s
Anti-Macchiavell, 1580) and was polemically active on the side of Fischart against Johannes Nas and
wrote also several anti-Calvinistic tracts (cf. A.F.C. Vilmar, Georg Nigrinus, in: “Zeitschrift des Vereins
für Hessische Geschichte und Landeskunde, 3, (1843) pp. 814-817 and H. de Boor & R. Newald, Ges-
chichte der deutschen Literatur, Berlin, 1967, V, p. 120).
If Martin Luther is considered the greatest theologian of the Lutheran Church, then Martin
Chemnitz is without a doubt our second greatest Lutheran Father. Chemnitz is certainly deserving of
the title “the Second Martin”, and was the primary bulwark of orthodox Lutheran theology in the lat-
ter part of the sixteenth century. Born in Treuenbrietzen in Brandenburg to Paul and Euphemia
Chemnitz, was the last of three children. His father was a successful merchant, who died when Martin
was eleven: thereafter, the family suffered from financial difficulties. When he was old enough, Martin
matriculated in Magdeburg. Upon completion of the course work, he became a weaver's apprentice.
He helped his family with its clothing business for the next few years. When he was 20, he resumed
his education at the University of Frankfurt (Oder). He remained in school until his finances were ex-
hausted; he then took a teaching job in the town of Wriezen, supplementing his income by collecting
the local sales tax on fish. His time at Frankfurt gave him the basic tools to continue his education on
his own, researching areas in which he was interested and applying his naturally inquisitive mind to
problems that others had worried over in the past. In 1545 Chemnitz accompanied his cousin Georg
Sabinus to school in Wittenberg. Because Chemnitz lacked sufficient academic preparation, Melanch-
thon recommended that he studied the scientific branches of the liberal arts (which made him a life-
long expert in astrology). Because of Luther's death and political events, Chemnitz transferred to the
University of Königsberg. He there graduated in the first class with a Master of Arts degree (1548).
However, a plague soon infested the town, so he left quickly for Saalfeld. When he judged it safe,
Chemnitz returned to Königsberg in 1550, where he was employed by Albert, Duke of Prussia, as the
court librarian. In return for caring for the library and teaching a few courses as a tutor, he had unre-
stricted access to what was then considered one of the finest libraries in Europe. Chemnitz moved
back to Wittenberg in 1553 as a guest of Melanchthon. In January 1554 he joined the Wittenberg Uni-
versity faculty. He lectured on Melanchthon's Loci Communes, from which lectures he compiled his
own Loci Theologici, a system of theology. He was ordained to the ministry on November 25, 1554 by
Johannes Bugenhagen, and became co-adjutor of Joachim Mörlin, who was ecclesiastical superinten-
dent for the duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. When Mörlin resigned in 1567, Chemnitz became his
successor; he held the post for the rest of his life. Through his leadership, Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
was brought firmly into Lutheranism. There he helped his prince, Duke Julius of Brunswick-
Wolfenbüttel, establish the University of Helmstedt (1575–76). With Jakob Andreae, David Chytraeus,
Nicholas Selnecker, Andrew Musculus and others, Chemnitz took part in a centrist movement that
brought agreement among German Lutherans in the writing and publication of the Formula of Concord
(1577), of which Chemnitz is one of the primary authors. He was instrumental in the publication of
the definitive Book of Concord in 1580, the doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church. The learning of
Chemnitz was something colossal, but it had no tinge of pedantry. His judgment was of the highest
order. His modesty and simplicity, his clearness of thought, and his luminous style, his firmness in
principle, and his gentleness in tone, the richness of his learning and the vigor of his thinking, have
revealed themselves in such measure in his Loci, his Books on the Two Natures of our Lord, and On the True
Presence, in his Examen of the Council of Trent, his Defence of the Formula of Concord, and his Harmony of theGospels, as to render each a classic in its kind, and to mark their author as the greatest theologian of his
time (cf. J.A. Preus, The Second Martin: The Life and Theology of Martin Chemnitz, St. Louis, MO, 1994, pas-
sim; T. Kaufmann, Martin Chemnitz, 1522-1586, in: “Melanchthon in seinen Schülern”, H. Scheible, ed.,
Wiesbaden, 1997, pp. 183-253).
VD 16, C-2175; Index Aureliensis 136.222; Universal STC, no. 655159; R. Mumm, Die Polemik
des Martin Chemnitz gegen das Konzil von Trient, (Naumburg a.S., 1905), p. 91; K. Schottenloher, Bibliogra-
phie zur deutschen Geschichte im Zeitalter der Glaubensspaltung, 1517-1585, (Stuttgart 1956-1966), no. 43218e.
€ 2,600.- / CHF 2,900.- / $ 2,900.-
THE FIRST ITALIAN BIBLIOGRAPHY
8. DONI, Anton Francesco (1513-1574). La libraria… Nella quale sono scritti tutti
gl’autori vulgari con cento discorsi sopra quelli. Tutte le traduttioni fatte all’altre lingue,
nella nostra & una tavola generalmente come si costuma fra Librari. 12mo. 70, [2] leaves
(leaf F12 is a blank). Printer's device on title page and at the end. Early 18th-century vellum
over boards, manuscript title on the spine, lacking the front flyleaf, light marginal stain-
ing and foxing, more significant toward the end, marginal manuscript note on leaf C 4r
(“quando fu trovata la stampa”) marking a passage in the text on the invention of print-
ing, later manuscript notes on the final leaves.
Venezia, Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari, 1550. – And:
MACHIAVELLI’S BELFAGOR
- - -. La seconda libraria…Al s. Ferrante Caraffa. 12mo. 112, (8) leaves. Scoto’s device on the
title-page and Marcolini’s device at leaf K11v. Recently bound in 18th-century painted wrap-
pers, old entry of ownership on the title-page, on leaf I4v the name “Pietro Aretino”
has been inked out. The two volumes are preserved in a cloth slipcase.
Venezia, [Gualtiero Scoto], 1551 (At the end:) Venezia, Francesco Marcolini, June 1551.
(I:) FIRST EDITION, first issue with the incorrect “all'altre
lingue” on the title page later corrected to “dall'altre lingue”. In
the same year Giolito issued a second augmented edition.
With the ‘first’ Libraria, Doni tried to create a catalogue
of all books in Italian issued from the times of Gutenberg to
his time. The work is generally credited to be the first bibliog-
raphy of Italian literature and also as the first catalogue of Ital-
ian ‘books-in-print’ (cf. A. Quondam, Dal libro manoscritto all’edi-
toria di massa, in: “Letteratura italiana. Produzione e consume”,
Torino, 1983, pp. 622-631).
“Non stupisce, pertanto, che un tale entusiasta del
‘secreto’ di ‘Giovanni da Magonza’, oltretutto dotato di una
appuntita sensibilità nell’intuire le grandi risorse dell’editoria
moderna, abbia potuto concepire e realizzare l’impresa della
Libraria, anzi delle ‘Librerie’, ovvero l’ambizioso progetto di
‘dar cognizione di tutti i libri stampati vulgari’, ... La crescita
tumultuosa dell’attività editoriale, così ben espressa dalle parole
dello Sbandito appena riportate, per cui si moltiplica a dismi-
sura l’offerta e la disponibilità di libri sul mercato, induce lo
scrittore fiorentino, già editore in proprio e stretto collabora-
tore di editori importanti, a concepire un’opera di frontiera,You can also read
