Catalogo 2013.pdf - Libreria Antiquaria Alberto Govi

versity of Padua, where he earned a degree in civil law in 1524. He cultivated humanist pursuits in the local circlesand his first work, the dialogue De republica Veneta (1526), in which Pietro Bembo and Niccolò Leonico Tommeoare the interlocutors, provide evidence of his literary talent. Sponsored by his brother Aurelio, Vergerio entered papalservice in 1532. Clement VII immediately put him to work as a diplomat, sending him first to Venice to promotea ligue against the Turks and then to central Europe as nuncio to Emperor Charles V’s brother Ferdinand. HereVergerio received his first exposure to current political and religious problems. His initial reaction to the Reformationwas viscereral repugnance and alarm about the immiment threat of this penetrating Italy. Early in 1535, PaulIII summoned him to Rome and gave him a new mandate: to assess support in central Europe for the convocationof an ecumenical council on which the Emperor was insisting. Vergerio crisscrosssed the empire, visiting numerousCatholic and some Protestant pricipalities and cities. Most of those on whom he called, among them Luther (encounteredunexpectedly at Wittenberg in November 1535), professed enthusiasm about the proposed council. Buthe gradually realized that for Paul III the project was merely a political ploy. He returned rather desillusioned toItaly in 1536, but confident that he would be appropriately rewarded for his services. But his nomination in May tothe bishopric of Capodistria, a see with meager revenues further eroded by a pension payable to a papal favourite,disappointed him. Seeking a protector who could get his pension lifted, he accepted hispitality from various Italianprinces and prelates, visited the courts of Francis I and Marguerite d’Angoulême, and attended the Worms-Regenburgcolloquy (1540-1541). During these travels he also encountered the major exponents of the ‘spirituali’ (e.g.Pietro Carnesecchi, Bernardino Ochino, Reginald Pole, Marcantonio Flaminio, Renée of France and Vittoria Colonna),all of whom were proponents of renewal within the church inspired by the concept of justification by faithalone through grace. In summer 1541 settled in his bishopric of Capodistria, taking the holy orders and beginningto implement his new convictions about reform. His vigourous efforts to root out abuses in the church arousedstrong opposition. Soon suspicion was awakened such that on December 13, 1544, a denunciation of Vergerio waslodged with the Venetian Inquisition. Although, after due examination, Vergerio was released, Cardinal MarcelloCervini, later Pope Marcellus II, took advantage of the fact that Vergerio was not yet formally absolved to preventhis participation in the council for which he had labored so many years. He then began a publishing activity whichturned more and more against the Roman Catholic Church. In connection with the painful case of Francesco Spiera(a lawyer, who had been forced to abjure and who died on December 27, 1549), Vergerio directed a sharp reply tothe bishop of Padua.Instead of responding to a second summons by the Nuncio Giovanni Della Casa (who had initially openedthe procedure against Vergerio) to appear before the tribunal in Venice, on May 1, 1549, he left Italy forever. Theexperiences at Spiera’s sick-bed had brought Vergerio to a decision. The twelve treatises which he produced at Baselin 1550 supply information regarding his position. Meanwhile, a second trial had been conducted in Venice inabsentio and was confirmed at Rome on July 3, 1549. Vergerio was convicted of heresy in 34 points, deposed fromhis episcopal dignity, and made subject to arrest (A. Santosuosso, Religion ‘more Veneto’ and the Trial of Pier PaoloVergerio, in: “Peter Martyr and the Italian Reform”, J.C. McLelland, ed., Waterloo, ON, 180, pp. 43-61). His ‘apostasy’,the first by a bishop, evoked great exitement on both sides of the Alps. At that time, however, he was in theSwiss Grisons, and became active in a brisk round of polemics. His themes were the papacy, its origin and policy;the jubilees; saint and relic worship, and the like. Vergerio continued in the Grisons till 1553, when he heeded a callfrom Duke Christoph of Württemberg to write and travel on behalf of Evangelical doctrine. While he never againset foot in Italy, in 1556 he made his way to Poland, and conferred with Duke Albrecht of Prussia. He was in Polandin 1559 with the two-fold object of meeting the moves of the Nuncio Luigi Lippomano, and of working counter toJohannes a Lasco. He sought permission to take part in the religious conference at Poissy in 1560, but he was notallowed to appear at the Council of Trent as the duke’s delegate. During all these years he continued his polemicalauthorship and worked toward the publication of his Opera, though only the first volume appeared (1563). He diedat Tübingen (cf. R.A. Pierce, Pier Paolo Vergerio the Propagandist, Roma, 2003, pp. 7-12).VD 16, ZV 15181; F. Hubert, Vergerios publizistische Thätigkeit nebst einer bibliographischen Übersicht, (Göttingen, 1893),no. 63. S. Pesante, Le Cinquecentine della biblioteca civica di Trieste, (Trieste, 1974), no. 2420; S. Cavazza, Pier PaoloVergerio nei Grigioni e in Valtellina (1549-1553): attività editoriale e polemica religiosa, in: “Riforma e società nei Grigionie Valchiavenna tra ‘500 e ‘600”, A Pastore, ed., Milan, 1991, p. 54 (who attributes the edition to D. Landolfi in Poschiavo).€ 5.500,00translated by Brucioli33) ARISTOTELES (384-322 a.C.) - BRUCIOLI, Antonio ed. (1497-1566). Aristotile Della Generatione &Corruttione, Tradotto dal Greco in Volgare Italiano. Per Antonio Bruccioli. Venezia, Bartolomeo & FrancescoImperatore, 1552.8vo; early 19 th century half calf, gilt title on spine (a bit rubbed); (4), 67, (1) ll. Title-page within an elaborate woodcutborder. Title-page border slightly shaved at the top edge, otherwise a very good copy.FIRST EDITION, dedicated by the translator to Ferrante Sanseverino, Prince of Salerno, of the first Italian versionof Aristotle’s De generazione et corruptione. The translation, made from the original Greek text, is by Antonio Brucioli,who during his career as editor translated many other works of Aristotle.Brucioli was born in Florence around 1497. In his youth, he attended the famous circle of humanists andscholars who met in the Orto Oricellari. After 1522 he traveled throughout Germany and France (especially Lyons),where he encountered for the first time the new reformed ideas, that he tried to widespread in Italy all along his life.- 36 -