Boccaccio's Genealogiae deorum and De montibus - photo 1
Boccaccio's Genealogiae deorum and De montibus - photo 2
Boccaccio's Genealogiae deorum and De montibus - photo 3

Boccaccio's Genealogiae deorum and De montibus

Lot 24
27.06.2024 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
$ 100
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1236254
Lot 24 | Boccaccio's Genealogiae deorum and De montibus
Estimate value
$ 10 000 – 20 000
BOCCACCIO, Giovanni (1313-1375). Genealogiae deorum [And:] De montibus, silvis, fontibus, lacubus, fluminibus, stagnis seu paludibus, de nominibus maris. Venice: Manfredus de Bonellis de Monteferrato, 25 March 1497.

Second illustrated edition of Boccaccio’s humanist encyclopedia of classical mythology, corrected issue. Commissioned by Hugo IV, King of Cyprus and Jerusalem, the text is divided into fifteen books which do not merely list names but reveal Boccaccio's incredible breadth of reading and his ardent scholarly commitment to breathing life into the ancient world. The Genealogy became the first influential work in modern European scholarship to include quotations, translations, and variegated analyses of passages from Greek literature, and it is the first scholarly work to make a significant use of Homer.

This edition, a reprint of that published by Locatellus in 1494/5 with copies of the woodcuts, also contains Boccaccio's geographical dictionary, compiled largely from the writings of the ancient poets. Although most famous now for his witty and humane vernacular story collection, The Decameron, Boccaccio spent his later years focused on works of scholarship in Latin like these, influenced by a similar turn in the life of his friend Francesco Petrarch. His famous encomium of Petrarch is found in the section of De montibus on springs, under the entry for the Sorgia, the underground source of the Sorgue at Fontaine-de-Vaucluse immortalized in the older poet's verse. This seems to be a corrected issue, as some extant copies have mixed-up text in gathering t due to an imposition error. Goff B-754; Klebs 190.4; Bod-inc B-373; BMC V 504; BSB-Ink B-587; GW 4479 (+ Accurti(1936) p.84).

Chancery folio (307 x 210mm). 162 leaves. Full-page woodcut genealogical charts at the head of each book, small woodcut initials (occasional toning, a little finger-soiled at end, a few narrow stains around edges). Later stiff vellum re-using manuscript leaf (front hinge split with textblock detached from binding, but sewing and covers intact). Provenance: marginalia in at least two hands throughout, often trimmed, possibly note of purchase on reverse of colophon leaf dated 1626.
Artist:Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 - 1375)
Place of origin:Italy
Auction house category:Antiquarian books, Printed books
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
13.06.2024 – 27.06.2024
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
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