Olympia Fulvia Morata, 1562

One of the first women listed in the Index
Olympia Fulvia Morata, 1562
FULVIA MORATA, Olympia (1526-1555). Divinae orationes, dialogi, epistolae, carmina, tam Latina quam Graeca. Basel: Pietro Perna, 1562.

The rare second—and earliest obtainable—edition of the writings of the Protestant polymath Olympia Morata. Raised in the ducal house of Este and the daughter of the Este princes’ tutor, Morata became fluent in Greek and Latin at an early age. Forced to flee to Germany after converting to Protestantism, she died at only 29. Her surviving writings were published posthumously by her husband. This second edition is dedicated to Queen Elizabeth, her fellow learned Protestant woman, who had been crowned just after the publication of the first. “She was one of the first women to be censored and included on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum” (Baskin). Only two other copies of this edition have appeared at auction in the last century; there are no records of the first appearing. Adams M1742; Baskin 12.

Octavo (160 x 100mm). Full-page decorative border around Morata’s epitaph, woodcut device on title (light marginal dampstain). 19th-century roan, edges gilt.