Bud! Guillaume

DE ASSE & PARTIBUS EIUS LIBRI QUINQUE ab ipso authore novissime & recogniti & locupletati

      Paris: Mich. Vascosanus sibi Rob. Stephano, Ioh. Roigny, 1542, Nov. 1541 on on the colophon. A very fine and impressive printing by the Estiennes in Paris. A magnificent edition, it was augmented with important revisions by the author. Folio ( 330 x 220 mm.), very fine an precious full antique mottled calf of the 18th century, the upper and lower covers stamped in gilt with the arms of Le Roux dOEsneval, Baron dOEsnevail et dOAcquigny, son of Pierre-Robert and a highly important French politician and dignitary of the 18th century, the spine richly gilt and tooled in a floral motif in seven compartments separated by gilt tooled bands, one compartment with a morocco label gilt ruled and lettered. ccxxiiii (leaves) + lectori and index pp. A very handsome, large and beautiful copy, very fresh, clean, crisp and unpressed in an important binding.. A BEAUTIFUL AND IMPORTANT PRINTING BY ESTIENNE OF Bud!'s Great treatise on Roman coins and weights. "De Asse et Partibus Ejus", first printed in Venice in 1522, was the best book on the subject written up to that time and has remained an important reference for centuries. It is considered the first and most important study of the ancient money and weights of the Greeks and Romans. A French Hellenist of profound proportion, Bud! studied at Paris and Orleans where he acquire a sudden passion for learning. After taking lessons in Greek from Hermonymus, and profiting by the advice of Joannes Lascaris, he attained great proficiency in that language. He studied at the same time, philosophy, theology, law, and medicine, in all of which he made rapid progress. Bud!'s abilities were recognized by Louis XII, whose secretary he became after his return from a successful embassy on occasion of the coronation of Pope Julius II. He was sent to Rome again on a mission to Pope Leo X (1515), but was recalled at his own request and accompanied Francis I on his travels. During this period he suggested to the king the creation of a college for the study of the three languages (Greek, Hebrew, and Latin), afterwards the "College de France." Empowered to ask Erasmus to take charge of it, he failed in his mission, and the college was not founded until 1530. At his suggestion, also, Francis declined to prohibit printing, as the Sorbonne had advised (1533). Literary France owes to Bud!'s efforts the foundation of the "Biblioth!que de Fontainebleau", which was the origin of the "Biblioth!que Nationale". His letters to Erasmus, Thomas More, Sadolet, Rabelais, and others written in Greek, Latin, or French, were the delight of scholars of the time. Bud! was suspected of leanings towards Calvinism, and certain parts of his correspondence with Erasmus seemed to countenance this suspicion, but such charges were disproved after his death.