L. Vitruvii Roscii Parmensis Libetius primus, secundus et tertius: vel grammaticarum quaestionum libri tres.

Genua (Genuae), 1547. (Colophon at the end: Apud Antonium Bellonum Taurinensem, 1542) Small 8vo. (XV),(1 blank); 235,(4 index),(1 blank) p. 18th century half calf. 15.5 cm (Ref: Edit 16 CNCE 54876: both title and colophon 1547; USTC 853565: both title and colophon 1542) (Details: Back gilt and with red shield. The colophon at the end mentions another year: 'Genuae, anno Domini 1542'. Edges dyed red) (Condition: Binding slightly chafed and worn. An old hand wrote on the title: 'Oratorii Parmetensis'. Some small and old ink annotations. White paper) (Note: Next to nothing is known about the Italian cleric and scholar Lucio Vitruvio Rossi, or in Latin Lucius Vitruvius Roscius. He was born ca. 1500, and was regular canon of the 'Congregazione Renana'. He wrote, besides this book on grammar, a number of introductory books on linguistics, grammar, oratory, and epistolography, e.g. 'Grammaticae institutiones', Venice 1526; 'De ratione studendi, atque docendi libellus. Iacobi Lebetii Ferrariensis Christi in crucem acti querela, heroico carmine', Bologna 1536; 'De conficiendis epistolis isagogicon', Venice 1538; 'De modo docendi, atque studendi, ac de claris puerorum moribus libellus quam utilissimus', Venice 1539; 'De commoda ac perfecta elocutione, deque conficiendis epistolis Isagogicon', Basel 1541; 'Grammaticarum quaestionum, et elegantiarum libri tres utilissimi', Venice 1542; 'Institutionum latinae grammatices libri tres', Genoa, 1545. Several of his books saw reissues in different Italian cities. He died ca. 1550. He was a colleague and close friend of Jacopo Lavezzoli, born ca. 1510 in Ferrara, who is also known as Lebezio, or Lebetius. Lavezzoli was named Lebetius after the latinized form 'lebes', (Greek lebês) of the Toscan word 'laveggio' (kettle, cauldron). (Vergilius, Aeneis, 3,466) Lebetius was praised as 'theologus, philosophus, orator, latinus poeta, graecaeque linguae peritissimus'. His best known poem is 'Christi in crucem acti querela', which was published in Roscius' 'De ratione studendi, atque docendi libellus' of 1536. Following the ancient example of Cicero, who gave some of his dialogues the name of the principal participant (Cato, Laelius), Roscius named his 'grammaticarum quaestionum libri tres' after his friend Lebetius. The other participants are Roscius himself, one Sebastianus Eradius, Augustinus Florentius, Johannes Alenus and Paulus Pincius. At the end is a useful index of two pages. This work on grammar and linguistics was first published in Genoa by the printer Bellone in 1537. Bellone reissued this title in 1542 and 1547. In this edition of 1547 he repeated however in the colophon the year 1542. This 1547 reissue has furthermore a terrible misprint on the title, 'Libetius', instead of 'Lebetius'. To complicate matters, the edition of 1537 also has at the end a colophon dated 1542! Except for the title pages all these three issues seem similar. As there are not yet digitized copies available to investigate this, we cannot be sure. (See for Lebetius and Roscius 'Continuazio delle Memorie Istoriche di Letterati Ferraresi', Ferrara 1811, p. 186-191) At the end of the introduction there is a distichon of 18 lines by Lebetius to praise Roscius and his work, followed by five other short poems in praise of Lebetius and Roscius. § This book is very rare. We located in KVK only three copies, one in the University Library of Edinburgh, and two in Italy, of which one in the University Library of Genua) (Provenance: We found only one book with the same inscription on the title: 'oratorii nannetensis'. It is held by the the University Library of Basel, and is in the same hand. This 'oratorium' is the famous 'Chapelle de l'Oratoire' in the city of Nantes, at the Place de l'Oratoire. The 'Congrégation de l'Oratoire' came to Nantes in 1619. In 1625 the city council entrusted to them the pedagogical management of the local 'Collège Saint-Clément'. The building was confiscated during the French revolution. We assume that its library was sold) (Collation: A-Q8 (verso of the leaves A8 & Q8 blank)) (Photographs on request)