POLIZIANO, Angelo (1454-1494). Opera. Edited by Alexander Sartius. Venice: Aldus Manutius, July 1498.

First edition of the complete works of the preeminent humanist scholar of the Florentine Renaissance. Poliziano, also known as Politian, began preparing this edition before his death, first with Bolognese printer Plato de Benedictis and then, after that man’s death, with Aldus. He edited and arranged his correspondence and other writings into a “kind of history of late quattrocento humanism, one which would document for all time [his] own preeminent role” (Butler). Renouard describes this edition as “one of the most beautiful to come out of the Aldine press,” and it contains Aldus’s first use of Hebrew types. The contents offer an intimate view into the life and mind of one of the most influential figures of the Renaissance, whose work “brought about a revolution in philological method” (Grafton). Ahmanson-Murphy 26; BMC V, 559; BSB-Ink P-663; CIBN P-539; Clemons and Fletcher 14; Goff P-886; HC 13218*; IGI 7952; ISTC ip00886000; Renouard Alde, 17:4. See Shane Butler, Angelo Poliziano: Letters Vol. 1 (2006) and Anthony Grafton, Defenders of the Text (1994).

Two volumes, super-chancery folio (291 x 195mm). 452 leaves. Greek, Roman, and Hebrew types. (A few repaired wormtracks in margins of first few leaves, dampstaining at end of vol. 2, some sheets toned with a little foxing). 18th-century calf, spine gilt-stamped, edges red (surface wear at extremities); custom box. Provenance: some marginalia (trimmed) – monogram stamp "L" in both volumes – Gino Niccolai-Gamba Castelli (19th-century Italian classicist; library label).