PLINE THE YOUNGSTER. - Lot 130

PLINE THE YOUNGSTER. C. Plinii Cecilii secundi epistolae cum panagyrico multoties impressae nunc Ioannis Mariae Catanaei viri docrissimi qui eas dudum ad rei litterariae publicam vtilitate[m] interpretatus fuerat acriori & dilige[n]tiori studio repurgatae: multis epistolis cum illaru[m] interpretatione additis, emendatissimae exeunt. Milan : Giovanni Giacomo Da Legnano & fratelli, [ca. 1518]. - In-folio, 282 x 192 : (8 ff.), CCLV ff. ill-foliated CCLIIII. Marbled tan basane, spine ribbed (modern binding). Rare Milanese edition of Pliny the Younger's Letters and Panegyric of Trajan, in Latin, published and commented by the humanist scholar Giovanni Maria Cattaneo (14..-1529?). It is dedicated to Jacopo Sadoleto (1477-1547), then bishop of Carpentras. Cattaneo was helped in his task by a certain Thoma Phoedro, as well as by the humanist philologist Giovanni Battista Pio (...-1540?) and the humanist André Alciat (1492-1550). The edition is illustrated with a fine frame and the printer's mark on the title, several historiated lettrines and 10 woodcut vignettes in the text. Washed copy, in modern binding. Spine slightly faded, beginning of a crack at the hinge of the first plate, some rubbing from use. Title rebacked and restored with damage to the frame. Several other leaves restored in the margins. Staining on the edges of a few leaves.