VALLA, LORENZO

Laurentij Vallae de lingvae latinae elegantia libri sex, iam nouissime de integro bona fide emaculati. Eiusde de reciprocatione sui & suus libellus apprime vtilis. Vna cum epitomis Iodoci Badij Ascensij, necnon Antonij Mancinelli lima suis quibusque c

      Parisiis, 1538. Octavo, ff. [14], 249 (without final blank); title within decorative engraved border incorporating the monogram of Francis I and the mark of Geofroy Tory; 15 large and 6 small decorative initials (probably by Geofroy Tory of Bourges; cf. Updike, Printing Types, I, 197) throughout text; full contemporary vellum, stained, with overlapping fore-edges, paper label in manuscript adhered to lower spine; the front joint and hinge cracked through, the covers stamped in blind "Mercantile Library" (Philadelphia) and with bookplates from the same on front and back pastedowns, 19th-c. type specimen also mounted to front pastedown, presentation inscription in ink, in Latin and English, from a James Hallahan to the Mercantile Library on ffep, and 3 owners' names on title-p. (one quite early); pages lightly browned and cockled, a few marginal chips and short tears, the odd letter lost, and occasional old marginalia and underlining. Valla (ca. 1407-57) was an Italian scholar, humanist and philosopher, not unfamiliar with controversy, who was chosen by Pope Nicholas V to translate the classical texts of Herodotus and Thucydides into Latin. His masterwork is De lingvae latinae elegantia (1444) "a brilliant philological defense of classical Latin in which he contrasted the elegance of the ancient Romans' works!especially those of Cicero and Quintilian!with the clumsiness of medieval and Church Latin" (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed., 2006). Immensely popular as a textbook. this title went through at least 60 editions before 1536. This example is pure Colines: it is printed in his characteristic roman type, with shouldernotes and some instances for the clear Greek font for which he is also known. Another bookseller has noted that "the typography and overall design are characteristic of the use of Italianate elements with French restraint that accounts for the elegance of Colines's work." Schreiber, 152.