ISIDORE OF SEVILLE, Saint (d. 636)

Etymologiae. Add: de summo bono [[pi]1v:] Registru[m] iu [sic] libros etymologiaru[m] Sancti Isidori Hispalensis Episcopi. [a2r:] Incipit epistola. [A1r:] Incipit ... de su[m]mo bono. [Colophon:] Impressus Venetiis per Petru[m] lostein de Langencen[ensis]. M.cccc.lxxxiii

      Venice: Peter Löslein, 1483. Folio: [pi]4 a--h10 I12 k10 [chi]2 A--B10 C8 (blank a1; a2--5 signed a1--4), 136 leaves, ff. [5] 101 [2] 28. Gothic letter, initial spaces with guide letters. Full page woodcut on f. 48v and small woodcut diagrams on 6 other leaves. Leaf size and condition: 310 x 205mm. Wormholes in blank margins in the last 30 leaves; light waterstains in upper margins of first 20 leaves; scattered light foxing; owner's stamp erased from first initial space on a2r. A superb large and fresh copy. Binding: Contemporary Italian blind stamped calf over wooden boards, the sides panelled with roll stamps and single tools, diaper ruled spine with 3 raised bands, brass clasps and catches. Old repairs to head and tail of spine and corners, one corner chipped, some abrasions to sides and several worm holes; one clasp replaced, the other missing. Provenance and annotation: Owner's stamp erased from a2. Seven words of early annotation. Walter Pagel (1896--1983), signature on pastedown; B. E. J. Pagel (1930--2007). References: Goff I 1-84; ISTC ii00184000; BMC V, 379; BSB-Ink I-630; Bod-inc I-038; Klebs 536.4. Fourth edition (first, Strasbourg, 1472). § The first great medieval encyclopedia, an epitome of all learning. It was the most popular compendium in medievel libraries and was printed in eight editions between 1472 and 1500. 'His main work is the "Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX," written probably between 622 and 633; an encyclopaedia based upon classical authors, chiefly grammarians, and even more upon patristic literature. It served as a model for later encyclopaedias and its influence upon mediaeval thought was very great. Poor as the Origines are, they reveal a genuine interest in science, independently from theology.' (Sarton.) 'The Etymologiae, an encyclopaedic work, presents the sum of contemporary knowledge on all branches of science. Book IV affords a survey of the entire range of medicine.' (Garrison-Morton 6787, 1472 edition). '... the Etymologiae or Origines... briefly defines or discusses terms drawn from all aspects of human knowledge and is based ultimately on late Latin compendia and gloss collections. The books of greatest scientific interest deal with mathematics, astronomy, medicine, human anatomy, zoology, geography, meteorology, geology, mineralogy, botany, and agriculture... he wrote nothing original... but his influence in the Middle Ages and Renaissance was great, and he remains an interesting and often authoritative source for Latin lexicography, particularly in technical, scientific, and nonliterary fields.' (William D. Sharpe, DSB 7:27). Isidore was educated by his elder brother Leander and in monastery schools. He succeeded Leander as bishop of Seville and Catholic primate of Spain in 599. He was much concerned with the reformation of church discipline and with the establishment of schools. Besides the Etymologiae he wrote De natura rerum and numerous works on Scripture, canon law, systematic theology, liturgy, general and Spanish history and ascetics. There is a woodcut tree of tree of knowledge f. 48 v and the famous world map on f. 68v -- in 1472 this was the first map ever printed. Literature: Sarton I, pp. 417--2.