BILINGUAL EDITION OF COTTUNIUS’ EPIGRAMS, 1653

COTTUNIUS, Joannes. Graecorum Epigrammatum Libri Duo. Padua: P. Frambottum, 1653. Slim quarto, 18th-century full vellum. $2750.

Early bilingual edition of Cottunius’ epigrams, with engraved vignette title page depicting Louis XIV receiving the book, three in-text engravings (one a duplicate), and woodcut initials and tailpieces.

Joannes Cottunius di Verria, originally from Veria, Greece, was an eminent 17th-century Aristotelian scholar, holding professorships at the University of Bologna and the University of Padua. This collection of his epigrams, written to such noted personages as Louis XIV, Cardinal Richelieu, Anne of Austria, and Cardinal (later Saint) Bellarmine, was written in Greek and translated by Cottunius into Latin. Text in Greek and Latin. Owner annotations to versos of free endpapers; handwritten title to spine.

Paper repairs to the first five leaves. Light wear to spine head, partially eradicating handwritten spine title, 18th-century vellum remarkably fresh and clean. Scarce.