Pervigilium Veneris ex Editione Petri Pithoei, Cum Ejus & Justi Lipsii Notis; Itemque ex alio Codice Antiquo, Cum Notis Cl. Salmasii et Pet. Scriverii. Accessit ad haec Andr. Rivini Commentarius. Ausonii Cupido Cruci Adfixus, Cum Notis Mariang. Accursii, El. Vineti, Pet. Scriverii et Anonymi. Accessere ad Calcem Jos. Scaligeri et Casp. Barthii Animadversiones
Hagae Comitum: Apud Henricum Scheurleer, 1712. A study of classical love poetry with scholarly notes by Pithou, Lipsius, Saumaise, Scaliger, and many others. Title page printed in red and black. Woodcut engraved printer's device on title page. Binding extremities and cover rubbed with some fading and wear, but sound. Pencil annotation on front end pastedown and later ink signature (dated 1812) on front fly leaf. Signature of Joseph Mazzini Wheeler (1850-1898, editor of The Freethinker) on title page. Full-page written synopsis, the hand of which appears similar to Wheeler's signature, on verso of front fly leaf. Pages untrimmed. A decent copy. Contemporary red calf over marbled paper boards. Octavo. . xvi, 208, [+16, indices] pp. Item #16158
Pervigilium Veneris (or, The Vigil of Venus) is a Latin poem variously assigned to the 2nd, 4th or 5th centuries. It is believed to have been composed in early spring on the eve of a three-night festival of Venus (probably April 1–3), likely in Sicily. The poem describes the annual awakening of the vegetable and animal world through the "benign post-Lucretian" goddess. It marks the transition from Roman poetry to medieval poetry. benign post-Lucretian" goddess. It marks the transition from Roman poetry to medieval poetry.
Pierre Pithou (1539-1596) was a French lawyer and scholar. After the succession of Henry IV, Pithou was given various legal appointments by the king. His most important work was his contribution to the Satire Menippee (1593), which was damaging to the cause of the Catholic League. His earliest publication was Adversariorum subsectorum lib. II (1565). In 1569, he became the first to publish Landolfus Sagax' Historia Romana (it became better known as Historia Miscella). Pithou was the first who made the world acquainted with the Fables of Phaedrus (1596). Upon his death, his library, rich in manuscripts, was transferred to what is now the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.
Price: $450.00