Petrus Loslein, 1483

ISIDORUS HISPALENSIS (c.560-636). Etymologiae [AND:] De summo bono. Venice: Petrus Loslein, 1483.

Fourth edition of Isidore’s great encyclopedia, with pen-flourished initials and diagrams hand-colored in red. Isidore was “the chief authority of the Middle Ages, and the presence of his book in every monastic, cathedral, and college library was a main factor in perpetuating the state of knowledge and the modes of thought of the late-Roman world” (PMM). The Etymologiae provided to medieval and Renaissance scholars an invaluable single source of late classical scientific knowledge and lexicography (and earned Isidore the honor of being patron saint of the internet).

This edition is one of only two known independent productions by Loslein, who had formerly worked with Bernard Maler and Erhard Ratdolt. It includes a woodcut T-O style map, which originated in the 5th century BCE and appears—Christianized—in manuscripts of the Etymologiae from the 8th century. Copies of any of the early editions are rare. Goff I-184; Bod-inc I-038; BMC V 379; BSB-Ink I-630; GW M15272. See also PMM 9 and Stillwell, Science, II.180, IV.665, and VI.850 for a discussion of the 1472 first edition.

Chancery folio (311 x 203mm). 136 leaves. Initials painted in red and silver-blue, some with elaborate penwork decoration. Full-page woodcut tree of sanguinity hand-colored in red, smaller woodcut diagrams, some heightened with penwork (a little soiled at ends, a few small corner repairs, some stains). 20th-century Spanish stamped calf, edges gilt (endleaves sprung). Provenance: some marginalia and doodles in several hands, both early and late, including a contemporary silly face – College of San Millan or Emilianus (ownership inscription).