Details
NASO, Giovanni (b. ca. 1435). De spectaculis a Panormitanis in Aragonaei regis laudem editis. [Venice: Nicolaus Jenson, not before 1476].
Chancery 4° (200 x 139 mm). Collation: a-c8 [a2-a4 signed "a-a3"] (a1 blank, a2r author's dedication to Johannes Bonannus, a3r Ioannis Nasonis Siculi Panhormis de spectaculis a Panhormitanis in Aragonei regis laudem editis Bar chinonia in fidem eius recepta foeliciter incipit, c8 blank). 22 leaves (of 24, without the first and final blanks). 24 lines, first letter of each line set out. Type 1:115R. Initial spaces with guide letters. (Marginal foxing, light dampstaining, single small wormhole through most of text, a few leaves tearing slightly along hinges.) 18th-century vellum over pasteboard; modern morocco folding case.
Provenance: 18th-century annotation on first text page, over erased earlier inscription; effaced ownership inscriptions on a2r, a3r and c7v; ink shelfmark IX.B.40 on upper cover and front pastedown.
FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST PRINTED DESCRIPTION OF AN ITALIAN FESTIVAL. The author, a Sicilian philologist, jurist and historian, who is known to have taught at Palermo in 1471, was appointed secretary of the city council at Palermo in 1477. Here he describes in verse form the elaborate festivities enacted in Palermo in 1472 in celebration of the victory of Juan II of Aragon, King of Naples and Sicily, over Barcelona, the principal site of a province-wide revolt that had broken out following a dispute between the King and his son Charles, prince of Viana. War had been waged for over 10 years, the dispute being finally resolved by the death of the prince (by suspected poisoning). Sicily, whose economy had suffered greatly from the war, had contributed troops to the struggles, and when news came of Barcelona's surrender, elaborate festivities were planned in Palermo. Eight days were spent preparing the floats and decorations, which "surpassed in splendor those of all other cities"; they are here described in detail, as are the magnificent processions, triumphal trophies, spectacles of buffoons, religious ceremonies, and banquets.
This edition, the only one recorded, was assigned by several 19th-century bibliographers, notably Brunet and Palau, to Palermo, on the basis of the book's author and subject matter. Both Brunet and Palau cited the bookseller-bibliographer J. M. Mira, who had suggested that the book could have been printed by the Palermitan prototypographer André Vyel, whose only known production, a group of short tracts printed in 1478 under the title Consuetudines urbis Panhormi, was edited by Naso. The paper stock, however, is apparently Venetian, this copy being printed on four different papers, three with balance watermarks (Briquet 2495, 2506, both used in Venice in 1477; the third close to Briquet 2459, Vicenza 1474) and the fourth with anchor watermark (close to Briquet 458 and 462, Palermo and Venice respectively, 2nd half of the 15th century). Furthermore, to all appearances the edition is printed in Nicolaus Jenson's roman type 115. It is now generally accepted as the work of Jenson, who presumably would not have printed it before 1476, the date before which he is not known to have used printed signatures.
RARE; no copy in America.
HR 11675; BMC V, 595 (IA. 19745); CIBN N-3; IGI 6768; Brunet IV, 15; Palau 187780-1.
Chancery 4° (200 x 139 mm). Collation: a-c8 [a2-a4 signed "a-a3"] (a1 blank, a2r author's dedication to Johannes Bonannus, a3r Ioannis Nasonis Siculi Panhormis de spectaculis a Panhormitanis in Aragonei regis laudem editis Bar chinonia in fidem eius recepta foeliciter incipit, c8 blank). 22 leaves (of 24, without the first and final blanks). 24 lines, first letter of each line set out. Type 1:115R. Initial spaces with guide letters. (Marginal foxing, light dampstaining, single small wormhole through most of text, a few leaves tearing slightly along hinges.) 18th-century vellum over pasteboard; modern morocco folding case.
Provenance: 18th-century annotation on first text page, over erased earlier inscription; effaced ownership inscriptions on a2r, a3r and c7v; ink shelfmark IX.B.40 on upper cover and front pastedown.
FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST PRINTED DESCRIPTION OF AN ITALIAN FESTIVAL. The author, a Sicilian philologist, jurist and historian, who is known to have taught at Palermo in 1471, was appointed secretary of the city council at Palermo in 1477. Here he describes in verse form the elaborate festivities enacted in Palermo in 1472 in celebration of the victory of Juan II of Aragon, King of Naples and Sicily, over Barcelona, the principal site of a province-wide revolt that had broken out following a dispute between the King and his son Charles, prince of Viana. War had been waged for over 10 years, the dispute being finally resolved by the death of the prince (by suspected poisoning). Sicily, whose economy had suffered greatly from the war, had contributed troops to the struggles, and when news came of Barcelona's surrender, elaborate festivities were planned in Palermo. Eight days were spent preparing the floats and decorations, which "surpassed in splendor those of all other cities"; they are here described in detail, as are the magnificent processions, triumphal trophies, spectacles of buffoons, religious ceremonies, and banquets.
This edition, the only one recorded, was assigned by several 19th-century bibliographers, notably Brunet and Palau, to Palermo, on the basis of the book's author and subject matter. Both Brunet and Palau cited the bookseller-bibliographer J. M. Mira, who had suggested that the book could have been printed by the Palermitan prototypographer André Vyel, whose only known production, a group of short tracts printed in 1478 under the title Consuetudines urbis Panhormi, was edited by Naso. The paper stock, however, is apparently Venetian, this copy being printed on four different papers, three with balance watermarks (Briquet 2495, 2506, both used in Venice in 1477; the third close to Briquet 2459, Vicenza 1474) and the fourth with anchor watermark (close to Briquet 458 and 462, Palermo and Venice respectively, 2nd half of the 15th century). Furthermore, to all appearances the edition is printed in Nicolaus Jenson's roman type 115. It is now generally accepted as the work of Jenson, who presumably would not have printed it before 1476, the date before which he is not known to have used printed signatures.
RARE; no copy in America.
HR 11675; BMC V, 595 (IA. 19745); CIBN N-3; IGI 6768; Brunet IV, 15; Palau 187780-1.