"Aldine Looking" ~ Not a "Real" Aldine Counterfeit (1514)

Pontanus, Iovianus (Giovanni Gioviano Pontano)

[POST-INCUNABLE ~ 1514]. Opera

Lyon: [Jacques Myth] For Barthelemy Troth, 1514. 8vo. Collation: a-xx8 yy4 = 356 ff. Title printed in red with fleur-de-lis device. Bound in 18th-century French mottle calf (joints and corners expertly repaired, leather with some wear, text with waterstaining on title and first 20 ff.). Old ownership inscriptions on title, few marginal notes and underlining. Very good. Item #4420

NOT A "GENUINE" COUNTERFEIT ALDINE, BUT AN "ALDINE LOOKING" LYONNAIS PRINTING OF ONE OF THE GREATEST ITALIAN NEO-LATIN POETS, FEATURING A MANUSCRIPT COPY OF PONTANO'S "TWO PALM TREES" POEM.

"The Lyonese printers often covered their tracks by omitting the place, date, and printer’s name from their publications, while relying on the recognizable italic typography and portable format to echo the familiarity of the genuine Aldine imprint. Although this collection of the works of Giovanni Gioviano Pontano 'borrows' Aldine typography and format, it does not claim to be a genuine Aldine. Indeed, the colophon explicitly records the place of imprint as Lugdunum (the Latin name for Lyon), and records 'Bartholomei Troth' as the publisher. Although listed by Renouard as an Aldine piracy, the lilly (fleur-de-lis, in red) on the title page evokes the Florentine press of the Giunti family, and was their registered trademark in Lyon." (Clemons / Fletcher).

This fine Lyonnais printing contains 11 philosophical treatises by the Italian humanist Giovanni Gioviano Pontano (1426-1503). The collection was first printed by Aldus himself in 1505, the book includes, i.a., his De Urania, which deals with the heavenly bodies, their influence on the earth and their supposed influence on human affairs; De Meteora, dealing with the weather; and De Hortis Hesperidum, concerning the growing of oranges and lemons."

COPY SPECIFIC DETAILS: Below the colophon is written in an 18th-century hand the text of Pontano's obscure poem "De palma Bitontina & Hydruntina." The comes from his volume of love poems entitled "Eridanus" (Carmina XXXIV). The present poem depicts two palm trees, one a male palm tree growing in Brindisi and the other a female situated in Otranto, fifty miles away. At first they were unaware of each other's presence and remained for a long time without fruit and even without foliage. Having finally grown to a height where they could finally see each other, the two palm trees fell in love, mated, and soon after began to bear fruit, having "filled their honeycombs with liquid honey." (See: Robert Hallowell, The Mating Palm Trees in Du Bartas' "Seconde Sepmaine" in: Renaissance News, Vol. 17, no. 2 [Summer 1964], pp. 89-95). Confusingly, our scribe omitted the final two couplets of the poem, although there was certainly enough space on the verso.

PROVENANCE: Contemporary inscriptions of "Josse Lawuriens" (i.e. Laurence) on the title-page; later (18th-century?) illegible inscription on first blank leaf.

§ Clemens / Fletcher, Aldus no. 61. UCLA 1154; Renouard no. 45 (313); Shaw, "The Lyons counterfeit of Aldus’s italic type: a new chronology," in: The Italian book 1465-1800: Studies presented to Dennis E. Rhodes on his 70th birthday (1993), pp. 117-133 (the present edition is his no. 60); Baudrier, VIII, 426. Heilbrun, Contrefacons aldines no. 29.

Price: $1,250.00