Beschreibung:

Title: M. Antonii Maioragii epistolicarum quaestionum libri II : quibus multa scitu digna, quae antea incognita erant, doctissimè explicantur Author: Majoragio, Marcantonio Place: Mediolani [Milan, Italy] Publisher: Ex typis Francisci Moschenij Date: 1563 Description: 113, [3] pp. A-O4, P2 (-C4, -D1, -N4, -O1, -O4). Woodcuts: Moscheni device on title-page, featuring a warrior in armor engaged in conversation with a learned scholar; larger version of device on P1v at end, encircled with motto "Unum nihil duos plurimum posse"; author's name at head of title within large ornamental cartouche adorned with cherubs, animal heads, and olive branches; large historiated initials; head-piece. (4to) 18x12.5 cm. (7x5"), old vellum. First Edition. First edition of a collection of 30 letters by Antonmaria Conti of Maioragio (hence his name), rhetorician and professor of eloquence in his native city, being short essays on a variety of topics, all addressed to the author's contemporaries. Included are letters to the physician Girolamo Cardano on the lyre and guitar of the ancients; to Ottavio Arcimboldi, archbishop of Milan, on the difference between "civitas" and "urbs;" to Bartolomeo Ferrini on the sculptor Polyclitus and the painter Polygnotus; to Giovanni Arcimboldi on the influence of foodstuff on the odor of perspiration; to Francesco Conti on why people in love must be considered insane; and to surgeon Bargolomeo Maggi on the sense of smell, on the origin of tears, on tombs, on the sense of shame, on imagination. OCLC/WorldCat lists only seven copies in institutional libraries. No copies have sold at auction since at least 1975, according to American Book Prices Current. Lot Amendments Condition: Lacking five leaves, as noted above, several other leaves loose; very good, sold with all faults. Item number: 253831