Bibliographical notes on histories of inventions and books of secrets. Pt. III / by John Ferguson.

  • Ferguson, John, 1838-1916.
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Bibliographical notes on histories of inventions and books of secrets. Pt. III / by John Ferguson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    11/49 (page 7)
    Two hundred years after it was composed, the work was printed at Venice in 1547, edited by Michelangiolo Blondo. The following is an account of it: De Originibvs | Rervm Libellvs | Avthore Gvlielitio | Pastregico Veronense. | In Qvo Agitvr De Scriptv- | ris Virorum Illustrium. De fiindatoribus Vr- | bium. De primis renun uominibus. De | inuentoribus Rerum. De primis | digiutati- bus. Deq; magni- | ficis Institutionibus. | Expvrgatvs Omni Errore | atq; litura, nunc primum e tenebris eductus | in lucem, in suffiragium studentium a ] Michaeleangelo | Blondo, solerti rerum [ exploratore. 1 5 | Cum Priuilegio P. in X. Annos. It is a small 8vo, printed in italics, contains 131 leaves numbered, and a blank leaf. The colophon is on the recto of f. 131: Impressum Venetijs per Nicolaum de Bascarinis. i Anno Domini. M.D.XLVII. On f. 131 verso, is a letter to the booksellers and printers warning them against tampering with the printing and sale of certain books. It is dated IS47- This book is of the highest degree of rarity. After examining all the library catalogues at my command, I can find only one other copy in this country, and it is in the British Museum. There was no copy of it in the Sunderland Library, the place above all others where one might have expected to find such a work. Montfaucon'—who gives the work its correct title, De Viris Ulustribus— said that it was as completely lost sight of in Venice as if it had never existed, but having got a copy he was minded to bring out a new edition, amending not tell its size, or say whether it is in one volume or in two. Weiss, however (Biographie Universelle, Paris, 1823, Tome 33, p. 113; repeated in the later edition, Paris, no date. Tome 32, p. 242), says that it is in two volumes folio, and that it contains a species of lexicon of writers, and that the second part is a historical and geographical dictionary. Blondo’s edition, he adds, contains the second part only. This account of the matter is repeated by Fischer (Ersch and Gruber’s Encyclopadie, 1840, Sect. III. Th. XIII. p. 215), who commits the error of calling the editor Blando. Brunet {Alantul du Libraire, Paris, 1863, IV. col. 428) also says that this MS. is in two volumes, and that Blondo’s edition contains only the second part of the work. All this, however, is absolutely wrong. Blondo’s edition contains this dictionary of authors—which is indeed by far the largest section—as well as that of history, geography, &c. Blondo’s mistake consisted in not retaining the author’s title, De Viris Illustribiis, and this has misled subsequent writers who have probably failed to see a copy of this very rare book. ^ Diarium Italicum, Paris. 1702, p. 48. This passage is repeated by Fabricius, Bibliotheca Latina media et injima ^tatis, Hamburgi, 1735, L. VII. p. 474; and by Freytag, Analecta Litteraria, Lipsim, 1750, p. 662.