PONTANUS, JOHANNES JOVIANUS (1426-1503).

Ioannis Iouiani Pontani Opera. De Fortitudine: Libri duo. De Principe: Liber unus. Dialogus qui Charon inscribitur. Dialogus qui Antonius inscribitur. De Liberalitate: Liber unus. De Beneficentia: Liber unus. De Magnificentia: Liber unus. De Splendore: Liber unus. De Couiuentia [sic]: Liber unus. De Obedienta: Libri quinque. Cum Gratia & Priuilegio.

      Impressum Venetiis, per Bernardinum Vercellensem: Anno Salutis MCCCCCI [1501] Die primo Kalendas Martii. Folio; [148] leaves. Signatures: a8, b-z6, &8 (last leaf blank); single column, 42 lines; in Roman type; printed letter guides in initial spaces of 4 and 8 lines. Covers worn and dusty; spine from contemporary printer's waste over paper boards, with handwritten title in ink and small paper shelf label; penciled notes on fly-leaves; occasional marginalia and underlining of text; old water stains to first few leaves; some small ink stains, not affecting text. Leaf eii is missigned dii. Imprint taken from the colophon. Adams P1856; Kress I:24. The Renaissance humanist and poet Johannes Jovianus Pontanus was born in Cerreto di Spoleto and educated in Perugia and Naples. He became tutor to the sons of Alphonso the Magnanimous (1416-1458), and subsequently occupied diplomatic and advisory positions in the Court of Naples. Alphonso established the Accademia Alphonsina as a forum for scholars to debate questions of philosophy, politics, and literature and Pontanus was a prominent teacher, eventually becoming the school's president. The Accademia was renamed in his honour, and is still operating today. Pontanus was a popular writer and had a respectable body of work published during his lifetime. This early edition includes his major philosophical and political essays, as well as two dialogues, one of which, Charon, is often found excised from collections of Pontanus' works due to its unflattering depiction of the clergy (cf. Renouard). Pontanus also wrote treatises on astronomy, art and language, but he was most appreciated as a gifted Latin poet who mastered the Greek epigrammatic form. The printer of this edition, Bernardino de Viano, was active in Venice from 1500-1512 and 1520-1543, publishing in Latin and Italian under several variations of his name.