RAGIONAMENTO DI LUCA CONTILE SOPRA LA PROPRIETA DELLE IMPRESE con le particolari de gli academici affidati et con le interpretationi et croniche

Pavia: Girolamo Bartoli, 1574. Folio 12.3/4 " x 9": *6, A-Qq4, Rr8, including engraved title within an architectural border, full-page engraved device on L4 recto (including map depicting America), engraved device of the Accademia degli Affidati on M2 verso, and 114 engraved devices of the members of the Accademia. Bound in coeval limp vellum with an early handwritten title on the spine. Bartoli's hydra device on the colophon [There are two printings of leaf 155, as leaf Qq4 and Rrl; Qq4 has text, colophon, & errata that are repeated in signature Rr. This copy has both Qq4 and Rr1. This copy has cancel leaves 68-69, 95, 98, 100, 123, 139. ]. Biographical Dictionary on line, file a signed by Claudio Mutini. 1574 Landwehr J. French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese emblem books: 233 ; Praz p. 66; Mortimer Harvard Italian, 136. ; Edit 16 online,; CNCE 13187/With the ownership signature of George Benson Weston/ Cambridge 6 May 1921, from Rome.. Frontispiece engraved within architectural border Arms of Philip II of Spain engraved full page at L4r, sign of the Accademia degli Entridati on the reverse of M2 and 114 coat of arms of the members of the Academy there is a small tear on the outer edge of the title page light browning on some pages.

Luca Contile (Cetona, 1505 - Pavia, 28 October 1574) was a man of letters, playwright, poet, historian, diplomat and polygrapher whose numerous works are currently of interest above all for their documentary value. Reasoning remains his masterpiece. ''

. '' In the first place, the Contile distinguishes real icons/emblems from similar genres, in which "coats of arms", "insignias", "liveries", "shapes", "emblems", "riversi" can be placed of the medals ", the" numbers "and the" hieroglyphs ". It therefore leads to a definition of the practice of creating emblems which is a "composition of figure and motto representing a dizzying and magnanimous design" to arrive through a close dialogue with the authors who had ventured into the same theme to claim the use of emblems as such only to be magnanimous and virtuous of character excluding "those dyed with infamy and the professors of mechanical arts, except for the engineers who are at the service of the princes, the excellent painters and the famous statuary" -. First Edition of this important Renaissance emblem book. This copy includes the often-lacking final signature. The engraved device on leaf L4 includes a map of the world including South America shown and labeled as "America."

¶This collection of engraved devices was initially planned to end on leaf Qq4, but the work was extended to include another 8 leaves (Rr signatures) at the end. The original final leaf Qq4 (which contained the register, errata, and table) was reprinted onto the recto and verso of leaves Rr1 and Rr8, respectively, and leaf Qq4 was to be discarded. Thus, even in those copies with the additional Rr signatures, Qq4 was often discarded. However, the present copy retains leaf Qq4, adding to the rarity of the present example.