Le Imagini De I Dei De Gli Antichi, Nelle Quali Si Contengono gl'Idoli, Riti, Ceremonie, & altre cose appartenenti alla Religione de gli Antichi, Racolte dal Sig. Vincenzo Cartari, con la loro espositione, & con bellissime & accommodate figure novamente ristampate. Et con esservi citati i luoghi de gli auttori stessi, di donde molte cose sono state cavate, con molta diligentia riviste, & corrette.

Vincenzo Cartari

RA Collection: Book

Record number

03/2239

Author

Imprint

In Lione: Appresso Stefano Michele, Con privilegio di sua Maestà Christianissima., 1581.

Physical Description

[16], 474 p.: [88] illus.; 176 mm. (Octavo.)

General Note

Page 48 is misnumbered as 46; 50 as 52; 212 as 213; 221 as 121; 224 as 234.

Contents

[T.p., dedic.] - A Quelli Che Leggono - A Lettori Fabio Mareto Gentil'huomo Senese - Tavola Delle Cose Notabili, Che Nell'Opera Si Contengono - [Text with illus.]. (A second dedic. appears on p.411.)

Responsibility Note

The eighty-eight woodcuts are unsigned.

The dedication (dated 1569) is from Vincenzo Cartari to 'Cardinale Da Este'. A second dedication, from Vincenzo Cartari to Camillo Gualenghi, is printed on p.411-413.

References

A. Adams, S. Rawles and A. Saunders, A Bibliography Of French Emblem Books of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (2 v., 1999-2002), no. F.140.

Summary Note

This book was published simultaneously by B. Honorat; and some copies have a title-page carrying his imprint in place of that of Michel. Some copies, whether published by Michel or Honorat, have the words 'Raccolte', 'luoci' and 'ricorrette' in place of 'Racolte', 'luoghi' and 'corrette' in lines 8, 11-12 of the title.

Cartari's Imagini was first published in 1556 in Venice; with illustrations by Zaltieri , in 1571 in Venice. The illustrated version was republished in Venice in 1580; and in 1581 appeared at Lyon this Italian edition and French and Latin translations. These Lyon publications contain eighty-eight full-page woodcut illustrations that are reduced free copies (some reversed) of the 1571 Zaltieri copperplate engravings.

This popular work of iconography was reprinted and translated many times in the 16th and 17th centuries - in Italian in 1587, 1603, 1615, 1625, 1626, 1674, in French in 1610, in Latin in 1687. An English translation by Richard Linche, The fountaine of ancient fiction, appeared in 1599 (London: Adam Islip), but was unillustrated.

Provenance

Inscribed in ink on title-page, 'Given by R. Cosway, 1781'.

Copy Note

Defective? The 'Tavola Delle Cose' extends as far as 'Cipselo' only.

Binding Note

18th-century sheep; rebacked, with green morocco spine-label, lettered 'Le Imagini De Cartari'.

Subject

Mythology, Greek - Mythology, Roman - Iconography - Gods, Greek - Gods, Roman - Religion - Greece - Rome - History
Pictorial works - France - 16th century

Contributors

Etienne Michel, publisher
Richard Cosway RA, previous owner, donor
Bolognino Zaltieri
Camillo Gualenghi, dedicatee