Sessa Press -- Ammonius. In Quinque Voces Porphyrii per Pomponium Gauricum Neapolitanum, [colophon: Venice, Io. Baptistam Sessa, 1504], folio, two woodcut publisher's devices, woodcut initials (title and preliminaries dampstained, ownership inscription on title and marginal notes in a contemporary hand), modern parchment [Hoffman I, 124; not in Adams; not in BL]; and a later work from the Sessa press, Cicero, Le Lettere Familiari Latine di Cicerone (Venice, Heredi di Marchio Sessa, 1590, folio) in Latin with commentary in Italian by Fabrini. (2)

Details

Sessa Press -- Ammonius. In Quinque Voces Porphyrii per Pomponium Gauricum Neapolitanum, [colophon: Venice, Io. Baptistam Sessa, 1504], folio, two woodcut publisher's devices, woodcut initials (title and preliminaries dampstained, ownership inscription on title and marginal notes in a contemporary hand), modern parchment [Hoffman I, 124; not in Adams; not in BL]; and a later work from the Sessa press, Cicero, Le Lettere Familiari Latine di Cicerone (Venice, Heredi di Marchio Sessa, 1590, folio) in Latin with commentary in Italian by Fabrini. (2)

Lot Essay

Ammonius, son of Hermeias, Neo-Platonist philosopher who lived in the sixth century, was the earliest of the extant expounders of the Eisagoge of Porphyry. The work was translated into Latin by the Neopolitan humanist Pomponius Gauricus. This is probably the first edition of the Latin text, although Hoffman lists a 1494 edition. In this edition, Gauricus's postscript is dated 1502; his dedication to Cardinal Grimani is dated 1503; and Sessa's colophon is dated 1504. The Sessa cat on the title is one of the earliest forms of this device.

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