Beschreibung:

PETRARCA, Francesco (1304-1374). Epistolae familiares . Edited by Sebastianus Manilius. Venice: Joannes and Gregorius de Gregoriis, de Forlivio, 13 September, 1492. Median 4° (214 x 154mm). Collation: π 6 ; a-o 8 p 6 (π1r title, π1v editor's dedicatory prologue, π2v index; a1r text, p5v colophon and register, p6r full-page woodcut printer's device, p6v blank). 124 leaves, a2-p5 numbered 2-117. 39 lines and headline, with shoulder notes. Type: 23:82R . . 8- to 12-line initial spaces with guide-letters. (Title slightly frayed, the first five quires affected by damp at outer margin.) 18th-century vellum, spot-marbled endpapers (soiled). FIRST EDITION of Petrarch's letters, valued as a prose commentary on his age, and for their intimate portrayal of his own life. The partnership between the brothers Joannes and Gregorius de Gregoriis of Forli, which began in 1482, and became a close association from 1485 onwards, produced about 120 editions during the 15th century in a remarkable quantity of founts (about 50). They printed the only incunable edition of Petrarch's letters to be separately published, using one of two closely-related varieties of small text type. HC *12811; BMC V, 342 (IA. 21036); CIBN P-152; IGI 7569; Goff P-399.