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In the manner of Erasmus' Adagia

RHODIGINUS, Ludovicus Caelius (RICCHIERI, Lodovico).
Sicuti antiquarum lectionum commentarios concinnarat olim Vindex Ceselius, ita nunc eosdem per incuriam interceptos reparavit Lodovico Caelius Rhodiginus, in corporis unam velut molem aggestis primum linguae utrisque floribus, mox advocato ad partes platone item, ac platonicis omnibus, necnon Aristotele, ac haereseos eiusdem viris aliis, sed et theologorum plerisque ac jureconsultorum, ut medicos taceam, et mathesin professos. Ex qua velut lectionis farragine explicantur linguae Latinae loca, qu adrigentis haud paucio rafere, vel aliis intacta, vel pensiculate parum excussa. Opto valeas, qui leges, livore posito [Greek text].

With title printed in red with Aldine printer's device also in red, repeated in black on verso of last leaf.

Venice, Aldus & Andrea Soceri [= Aldus Manutius & his son-in-law Andreas Torresano de Asula], February 1516. Folio. 18th-century vellum, boards covered with 18th-century decorative paper, gilt title on spine. With title printed in red with Aldine printer's device also in red, repeated in black on verso of last leaf. [80], 862 [6] pp.

Editio princeps of this enormous work by Ludovicus Caelius Rhodiginus (1469-1525). The second edition was published in 1517 by J. Froben in Basel with the title Lectionum antiquarum libri XVII. Working on a definite enlarged version, Rhodiginus died in 1525. This enlarged edition, edited by his nephew Camillo Richieri and by G.M. Goretti, did not appear before 1642 in Basel with H. Froben and N. Episcopius, with the title Lectionum antiquarum libri XXX, followed by many 16th- and 17th-century editions.
Rhodiginus dedicated his work (on fols. AA2r-v) to the famous bibliophile Jean Grolier (1479-1565), then treasurer of Milan. The other fifteen books he dedicated to other persons. This encyclopeadic work is virtually a collection of notes on the classics and on general topics such as the human body, dance, music, poetry, art, sleep, rhetorics, the universe, etc. in sixteen books, more or less in the manner of the famous Adagia published by Erasmus.
Erasmus himself first complained that Ricchieri had borrowed from the Adagia without acknowledgment. As the years passed, however, Erasmus grew less hostile towards Ricchieri and indeed valued his work. In the Ciceronianus Erasmus echoed Calcagnini's comment that Ricchieri was a good and Christian man.
Ludovicus Caelius Rhodiginus was born in Rovigo as Lodovico Celio Ricchieri, and studied philosophy at Ferrara and Padua. He was professor of Greek and Latin at Rovigo from 1491 till1499. In 1508 he held the chair of eloquence at Ferrara. After a trip to France, Francis I appointed him to the chair of Greek at Milan. His pupil Julius Caesar Scaliger described him as the Varro of his age.

Old ownership's entry on title erased; some browning. Fine copy.

Adams R-450; Ahmanson-Murphy II, 123; Brunet IV, col. 1269; Contemporaries of Erasmus 3, p. 155. Renouard p. 79, no.11; STC Italian p. 555.

Related Subjects: 16th Century Aldus Manutius Anatomy Art Dance Encyclopædic Works Law Music Theology Venice

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