FILELFO, Francesco.

Or[ati]ones: & nonulla alia op[er]a.

      [Colophon:] Impressum Brixiae [Brescia]: per Jacobum Britannicum, 18th June 1488. 4to, 183 leaves (of 184, lacking the last blank). Roman letter, 38 lines, spaces for initials with guide letters, printer’s woodcut device at end. Holes in the margins of a1, a2, and z7 neatly mended, first two leaves a bit soiled, a few small and diminishing wormholes in the first leaves of text, occasional faint dampstains in upper margin. Nineteenth century half calf and marbled boards (head of spine torn). Second edition. A collection of orations and other works by the eminent Italian humanist Francesco Filelfo (1398–1481), with an appended medical tract by Galen, Ad medicinam introductorium. This is only the second appearance of Galen’s text, which was first printed with the first edition of Filefo’s Orationes in 1484 (see Stillwell III, 376). Only one of Galen’s individual works was published separately before 1501; those that were published in incunable editions, numbering about twelve titles, appeared with other works, as here. Filelfo was one of the great humanists and literary figures of his age, destined to continue the work of Petrarch and others in recovering forgotten classical, especially Greek, culture. “Filelfo deserves commemoration among the great humanists of the Italian renaissance, not for the beauty of his style, not for the elevation of his genius, not for the accuracy of his learning, but for his energy, and for his complete adaptation to the times in which he lived… And in this work of collection and instruction Filelfo excelled,…acting as a pioneer for men like Poliziano and Erasmus…[but he himself]…has left nothing to posterity which the world would not very willingly let die” (Ency. Brit.) BMC VII, 975. Klebs 403.1 (giving the title as Orationes et opuscula).