FICINO, Marsilio (1433-1499)

De vita libri tres . [a1r] De triplici vita libri tres. Primus de vita sana, sive de cura valitudinis eorum, qui incumbunt studio litterarum. Secundus de vita longa. Tertius de vita coellitus comparanda. [z3v] Impressa Venetiis M. ccccxcviii

      Venice: Bartholomaeus Pelusius, Gabriel Bracius, Johannes Bissolus and Benedictus Mangius, 1498. 4to: a--z4 &4 [et]4 (blank [et]4), 100 leaves, unfoliated. Roman letter, 30 lines per page, initial spaces with guide letters. Leaf size and condition: 203 x 148mm. First page dustsoiled; single round worm hole through text in first 12 gatherings filled in; a washed copy, but some staining remaining in the lower margins towards the end. Binding: Re-sewn and re-cased in contemporary beech boards with remains of brass clasps, new leather back. Provenance and annotation: Bookseller's ticket of Leo Olschki, Florence; Walter Pagel (1896--1983); B. E. J. Pagel (1930--2007). References: Goff F161; Klebs 397.5; GW 988; Walsh 2738-- 2739 ; Bod-inc F-053 ; BSB-Ink F-118. Fifth edition (first 1489). § Three books on life, the first being the earliest treatise on the health of scholars; the second on good health and long life; and the third on astrological medicine. There are chapters on headaches, diseases of the stomach, and dietetics. The sections on melancholy are often cited. Ficino's father was an eminent physician in the household of Cosimo de' Medici where the young Marsilio got his elementary education. He was also interested in natural philosophy and made considerable progress in medicine under his father's tuition. At the age of eighteen Ficino was chosen by Cosimo for his long cherished project, the foundation of a Platonic academy. Ficino's Latin translation of Plato into Italian (1484) became the standard text and he was also responsible for the translation of the works associated with Hermes Trismegistus known as the 'Corpus Hermeticum'. He translated and edited many Neoplatonic writings, a number of which are included in the Aldine edition of Iamblichus of 1497 (no. 55 below). Literature: Critical edition, translation and notes by Carol V. Kaske and John R. Clark: Ficino, Three books on life (1989).