Pius II [Piccolomini, Aeneas Silvius]

Historia Bohemica] [.] Epistola ad Leonardum Arretinum de morte Hieronymi Hus Bohemi [.]

      Venetiis [Venice] per Bernardinum Venetum de Vitalibus 1503 [16th December]. - 4to., 80 leaves, signed [aa-uu]4. Without the final gathering comprising the second part. Covers ruled in gilt with blind-tooled inner border of foliage, inner margins of covers of a lighter colour, spine in six compartments, all gilt-ruled, with gilt D and ducal coronet (Devonshire) at top, gilt sides, dentelles in blind, covers a bit scratched, sympathetically repaired, new red morocco gilt label. All edges yellow. Chatsworth bookplate. Stamp on title-page of H. Cavendish. First post-incunable edition, overall the third (located) of the history of Bohemia of Pope Pius II (1405-1464) (see bibliography). It was issued also with a gathering after the colophon, containing a letter from Poggio Bracciolini to Leonardo Aretino. This part is advertised on the title-page and found in the Cambridge (Adams) copy, although it does not appear in the foliation given on the Italian online census. It is not present here. It is worth bearing in mind that it was common practice in incunable publishing (observable elsewhere in Bernardino de Vitalibus’s surviving output) to produce books in separable parts. This important history, begun the summer before the Pope’s election in 1458 and finished by the time of his death, describes the Hussite wars (1420-1434) and subsequent events into the reign of Pius’s contemporary George Podiebrad (reigned 1458-1471), with whom he clashed over the issue of Hussitism. Pius visited the kingdom as an ambassador for the Emperor Frederick III in 1451. In the sixteenth century Pius’s history was a popular account of Bohemia. A copy from the Chatsworth library of the Dukes of Devonshire. Adams P 1337 (Cambridge University Library). Zíbrt II 1195 (recording three prior incunable editions, cf. the two in ISTC). Rare. COPAC lists a copy in BL; WorldCat gives Ambassador University Library, Texas. A set of works by Pius in Princeton seems to be lacking this part. [Attributes: First Edition; Signed Copy; Hard Cover]