Details
POLITIANUS, Angelus (1454-94). Silva cui titulus Ambra. [Florence: Nicolaus Laurentii, Alamanus, not before 4 November 1485].
Chancery 4° (201 x 147 mm). Collation: [18 26] (1/1r blank, 1/1v author's letter to Lorenzo Tornabuoni dated 4 November 1485, 1/2r text). 14 leaves. 25 lines. Type 7:111Rb. 3-line initial space with guide-letter. (Occasional very light spots.) Modern red morocco janséniste by R. Gozzi of Modena (light wear at spine).
Provenance: contemporary corrections and marginal annotations in a humanist hand; Wilfrid M. Voynich, New York; Giuseppe Martini, bookplate, note dated 22 June 1935 stating that the marginal annotations are by Poliziano (Catalogo 1934, no. 306; sale, Part II, Zurich: Hoepli, 21 May 1935, lot 166, pl. LXV); Prince Piero Ginori Conti, bookplate.
FIRST EDITION. The Ambra is one of four Silvae Poliziano composed from his lectures on classical poetry. Together they comprise the best of Poliziano in Latin verse and "are in their brilliance unsurpassed in the Latin poetry of the Renaissance" (E.H. Wilkins, A History of Italian Literature, 1954, p. 155). The Ambra is a studied poetic appreciation of Homer by the scholar who earned the title "Homericus juvenis" for his exceptional translation of the first four books of the Iliad; he entered the Medici household by dedicating that work to Lorenzo de' Medici. It also contains an extended description of the Medici villa, Poggio a Caiano, where it was written, and the surrounding Tuscan countryside. The villa had been constructed for Lorenzo de' Medici by Giuliano da San Gallo, and it was one of his favorite retreats. The Ambra evokes not only the cultural atmosphere created there by Lorenzo, but it also gives a physical description which remains a valuable source for the history of the villa. The Ambra is one Poliziano's earliest publications, preceded only by two other Silvae (Manto in 1482 and Rusticus in 1483) and the Pactianae coniurationis commentarium (ca.1478).
Giuseppe Martini believed the annotations in the present copy to be by Poliziano himself, and his view was supported by Professor Armani (Catalogo Hoepli, 1935, no. 166). Although that view is not correct, the annotator was clearly a close reader of the text and a humanist contemporary of the author. Christie's is grateful to Professor A.C. de la Mare for her opinion on the annotations.
RARE; only two copies in America, and no copy offered at auction in over 60 years. Deckle edges preserved at fore-edge.
H *13230; BMC VI, 630 (IA. 27123); IGI 7961; Goff P-895.
Chancery 4° (201 x 147 mm). Collation: [18 26] (1/1r blank, 1/1v author's letter to Lorenzo Tornabuoni dated 4 November 1485, 1/2r text). 14 leaves. 25 lines. Type 7:111Rb. 3-line initial space with guide-letter. (Occasional very light spots.) Modern red morocco janséniste by R. Gozzi of Modena (light wear at spine).
Provenance: contemporary corrections and marginal annotations in a humanist hand; Wilfrid M. Voynich, New York; Giuseppe Martini, bookplate, note dated 22 June 1935 stating that the marginal annotations are by Poliziano (Catalogo 1934, no. 306; sale, Part II, Zurich: Hoepli, 21 May 1935, lot 166, pl. LXV); Prince Piero Ginori Conti, bookplate.
FIRST EDITION. The Ambra is one of four Silvae Poliziano composed from his lectures on classical poetry. Together they comprise the best of Poliziano in Latin verse and "are in their brilliance unsurpassed in the Latin poetry of the Renaissance" (E.H. Wilkins, A History of Italian Literature, 1954, p. 155). The Ambra is a studied poetic appreciation of Homer by the scholar who earned the title "Homericus juvenis" for his exceptional translation of the first four books of the Iliad; he entered the Medici household by dedicating that work to Lorenzo de' Medici. It also contains an extended description of the Medici villa, Poggio a Caiano, where it was written, and the surrounding Tuscan countryside. The villa had been constructed for Lorenzo de' Medici by Giuliano da San Gallo, and it was one of his favorite retreats. The Ambra evokes not only the cultural atmosphere created there by Lorenzo, but it also gives a physical description which remains a valuable source for the history of the villa. The Ambra is one Poliziano's earliest publications, preceded only by two other Silvae (Manto in 1482 and Rusticus in 1483) and the Pactianae coniurationis commentarium (ca.1478).
Giuseppe Martini believed the annotations in the present copy to be by Poliziano himself, and his view was supported by Professor Armani (Catalogo Hoepli, 1935, no. 166). Although that view is not correct, the annotator was clearly a close reader of the text and a humanist contemporary of the author. Christie's is grateful to Professor A.C. de la Mare for her opinion on the annotations.
RARE; only two copies in America, and no copy offered at auction in over 60 years. Deckle edges preserved at fore-edge.
H *13230; BMC VI, 630 (IA. 27123); IGI 7961; Goff P-895.