Epistolae … — Florence 1741/1742

Epistolae ex cod. mss. nunc primum in lucem editae a Iosepho Rigaccio. Et scholiis illustratae. Pars prima [-secunda]. 2 volumes.  — Florence, Bruscagli, 1741-1742.

First edition

8vo (212 x 145 mm). XLVIII, 206, (2) (last blank); XXXII, 224 pp. Engaved frontispiece, title-page printed in red & black. The edition has the pecularity having the last quire of volume I with Rigacci’s Appendix … printed in Geneva by Peter Wolfgang. Contemporary cartonatura rustica. A fine uncut copy.

Salutati (1331-1406), one of the most important early humanists, admirer of Petrarch whose poem Africa he published, engaged Manuel Chrysoloras to teach Greek in Florence. Is known as powerful letter-writer: Giangealeazzo Visconti of Milan is reported to have said that a letter of Salutati’s was worth a troop of horse.

The appendix to volume one Josephi Rigaccii ad suum Primum Epistolarum Coluccio Salutati Volumen is written against Leonardo Mehus, who planned to edit Salutati’s letters, but published volume one only: Florence, G. Viviani 1741; the dedication of this edition is dated December 1741 whereas Rigacci’s is dated January 1741; the volume has 31 letters only. Rigacci’s  polemic appendix was written and printed in 1742; it was added to the first volume of his edition, which originally ended with Approbationes on page 192.

Volume one has 83 letters, volume two 91. Both volumes have an Index rerum memorabilium, notes to each letter, and an Index of the addressees.

There is something irritating: What you see on the third foto above the vertical line is the catchword „DO-“ at the right, the letter of the quire „E“ in the middle, and „Tom. III“ at the left. „Tom. III“ appears on the first leaf of each quire in volume I, so does „Tom. IV“ in volume II. It looks like two more volumes were planned, but never published. These perhaps planned volumes are not mentioned anywhere in the book as far as I can see.