The classics

print this page

There are about three hundred classics in the Marsili fund, if the inventory is to be believed: very rare antique editions and others more recent with the latest criticism or commentaries by eminent philologists, from luxury Bodoni editions to comments and translations by friends and colleagues, from historians and tragedians to mathematicians and scientists, with the right balance between Greek and Latin – also when in Greek with the translation in Latin. The books chosen for the exhibition are characterized by their pocket format that facilitated transport and consultation, but also for the quality and peculiarity of the edition.


Nathaniel Dance-Holland, The meeting between Dido and Aeneas, exhibited in 1766 Nathaniel Dance-Holland, The meeting between Dido and Aeneas, exhibited in 1766 (Photo © Tate, CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 (Unported))

PAGE INDEX

P. Ouidij Nasonis Fastorum libri (1527)

Famous for having "invented" the in 24mo editions, for having published for the first time the Koran and for having published the master of macaronic literature Teofilo Folengo, the printer Alessandro Paganino, who moved from Venice to Toscolano on the shores of Lake Garda , published in 1527 – the terrible year of the Sack of Rome – Ovid's Fastorum libri, with a commentary by the humanists Antonio Costanzi (1436–1490) and Paolo Marso (1440–1484).

A rare and very beautiful work, with the title page framed by a woodcut motif, the Latin text enclosed by the commentary in two columns – according to the style of legal books – and 6 other woodcuts at the beginning of the 6 books, which Marsili makes sure to include in his library.

Ovidio-1 Ovidio-2 The title page and an internal page of P. Ouidij Nasonis Fastorum books (from Phaidra)

Q. Curtii Rufi Historiarum libri (1656)

Le Historiae by Curzio Rufo in pocket format, an Elzevirian of 1656 with the commentary of Johan Locken (1598–1677) founder of Swedish legal studies, historian and scholar of maritime law. Alongside the title page engraved with the portrait of Alexander and the map folded with the path of his expedition, the ex-libris of Francis Blomefield is preserved on the front endpaper: the volume was probably purchased in London where the owner's library was put up for sale in 1752, at the time of death.

P. L. Annaeus Florus (1657)

Another Elzevirian, the re-edition of the Annaeus Florus, modelled on the previous one by Leida of 1638 edited by Claude de Saumaise, of which it reproduces the engraved title page, changing the dedicatory letter. On the behest of the French humanist who had found a manuscript in the library of François Juret, for the first time the Liber memorialis of Ampelio, was published, a collection of astronomy, geography, mythology and history collected in categories, for educational purposes.

P. Virgilii Maronis Opera (1677)

A classic par excellence, the Virgilio, in the edition edited by Farnaby that Wetstein produces in 1677, dedicating it to doctor Bernhard Verzascha (1627–1680); the unfortunately mutilated copy of the title page, however, bears the engraving dedication of the publisher and all the 23 engravings that illustrate Bucoliche, Georgiche and Eneide and it is interesting because it belonged to Sebastiano Marsili, one of Giovanni's two brothers, who left his note of possession.

Virgilio-1 Virgilio-2 Two plates from P. Virgilii Maronis Opera (from Phaidra)

Orphei Argonautica Hymni et de lapidibus (1689)

Argonautica Hymni et de lapidibus, attributed to the mythical poet Orpheus, that one of the commentators Andreas Christian Eschembach theologian and philosopher (1662–1772) identifies with a character who really existed and lived in Crotone, but very distinct from the Orpheus of the myth, author of a Cosmogony and a Theogony. The title page was engraved by Jan van den Aveele while the edition reproduced is that of Charles Estienne.

Orphei Argonautica Hymni et de lapidibus Orphei Argonautica Hymni et de lapidibus Orphei Argonautica Hymni et de lapidibus, frontispiece and title page (from Phaidra)