Second Aldine edition, describing itself as revised, but almost a page-for-page reprint of Aldus's 1515 edition, of the complete text of Quintilian's De oratoria, on the teaching of speaking and writing. Quintilian (Spain ca. 35 - 95 AD) gave up teaching and presenting pleas in 88 AD and spent his retirement writing his Institutiones Oratoriae, his only extant work. It covers not only the theory and practice of rhetoric, but also the foundational education and development of the orator himself. For Quintilian, the ideal orator or rhetorician was skilled in speaking and also a moral man. The Institutiones can therefore be described as a treatise on education, a manual of rhetoric, a reader's guide to the best authors and a handbook of the moral duties of the orator.
After a brief revival in 12th century France, Humanists at the end of the 14th century renewed interest in Quintilian, especially after 1416, when Poggio found a complete manuscript in the monastery at St. Gall. The present book is beautifully printed and set in italic type, a style Aldus introduced in 1501. Andrea Navagero (1483-1527), one of the young poets from the Paduan circle, edited the text in close collaboration with Aldus himself. He also edited the Aldine Virgil, Cicero, Lucretius and Terence from 1514 to 1517, emerging as one of the ablest Latin editors of his time. As librarian of the Marciana in Venice, he also played a large role in the re-organization of its long-neglected manuscripts.
With the armorial book-plate of Joseph Romilly and owner's name J. Boys on first 3 pages and endleaves, another owner's name on an end leaf partly erased: B...d...s 173[?]8. First four leaves slightly soiled, but still in very good condition. Binding skillfully restored, and re-backed. Adams Q-56; BMC STC Italian, p. 546; Lowry, The world of Aldus Manutius (1979), pp. 204, 233; Renouard, Alde, p. 93, no. 14; UCLA 208; USTC 851768.