Pico [Picus] della Mirandola, Giovanni Francesco [Gianfra...

      Prefatory letter to Hieronymus Savonarola, [10/19/1496;. and another before the second work to Albertus Pius [12/24/1496] on f5v. Bologna: Benedictus Hectoris Faelli, 1497,20 July. 4to. a-i8. 72ff=144pp. 16th c. limp vellum (slightly soiled), recased, in modern wood case with leather onlays; first and last leaf with small restored tears at top margin, minor holes from acid ink skillfully repaired on t.p., faint dampstain in bottom margin; inscription at top of t.p. “Dolce Jesu per amore, crucifixo cum dolore; inamora il mio cuore, di partir per tuo amore.” & “ Hic liber è mon(aster)ii fr(atr)um s(an)cte Marie mo(n)tis oliveti ... ad usu(m) no(stri) fr(atr)is hier(oni)mi...” with numerous border-lines, additions, annotations and corrections in his hand. Provenance: this copy belonged to either Fra Girolamo Scolari da Mantova of Monte Oliveto or Fra Girolamo of Genoa of the Carmelite Monastery of Santa Maria of Monte Oliveto (near Genoa). First Edition. Famous philosophical treatise where the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus is mentioned with careful reflections, it gives one of the first testimonies of the slowly changing awareness of the importance of this discovery.No copy listed in ABPC in the last 25 years or in JAP vols. 41-53.“Spatestens drei Jahre, nachdem es bekannt geworden war, beenditge der junge Gebieter von Mirandola einer religos-moralische Abhandlung ‘Von der Pflicht des Menschen, des Todes Christi und auch seines eigenen zu gedenken’, die er Savonarola widmete. Er legt hier an einer deratig innige Verbindung mit dem Gottmenschen Christus zu treten, dass dessen menschliche Tugenden und gottliche Gnadenfulle in ihn nach dem Maqsse seiner Fassungskraft ubergingen. ‘Und dazu bedarf es nicht einmal grosser Anstrengung. Da gilt es nicht, Indien zu erreichen; nicht, die erythraeischen Gestade zu erforschen...Im Gegenteil, wir werden wie durch einen Naturtrieb zu ihm hingezogen: ‘Non ad Indos accedere oportet: Non Erithrea perscrutari littora...” Albert Schill, [At the most, three years after it became known (Columbus' discovery of America), the young lord Mirandola finished a religious-moral treatise on the duty of man to remember Christ's death and his own, which he dedicated to Savonarola. He established a inner connection in man with both the human nature of Christ and with his sacred fullness of grace which each man can develop to the full measure of his comprehension. "It does not require great exertion. It doesn't mean we have to seek to reach India nor explore the erithean shores. On the contrary we will be drawn to him by a natural drive."]Gianfrancesco Pico dela Mirandola und die Entdeckung Amerikas, in Biographien und Studien; Martin Breslauer, Berlin,1929, p19.Giovanni Francesco Pico (1469-1533) nephew of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. In the “De Studio divinae...” he compares the study of profane philosophy with that of scripture and demonstrates the greater wisdom evinced from the latter. “He himself rejected Aristotle’s natural philosophy wrote treatises against astrology and witchcraft and proposed that salvation depended on the divine wisdom of scripture rsther than on human reason. He was a follower of Savonarola...” [OCIL] Quaquarelli/ Zanardi 17. Goff P644. Hain/Copinger 13002*. GfT 2163. Polain(B) 3149. Pell Ms 9469 (9292). CIBN P-349. Fernillot 475. Hillard 1613. IBE 4603. IGI 7740. IDL(Suppl) 3694a. Voull(B) 2780. Sack(Freiburg) 2875. Borm 2153. Sheppard 5386. Proctor 6634. BMC VI 843. BSB-Ink P-482. [GW 33328] ISTC P00644000-E.] Not in Alden, European Americana or Sabin.