Ars Memorandi; Johannes Host von Romberch (c. 1480-c.

Ars Memorandi; Johannes Host von Romberch (c. 1480-c. 1533)Congestorium Artificiose Memorie. Venice: Melchior Sessa, 1533.Second edition, octavo, A-N8, illustrated with twenty-three text woodcuts, Sessa's woodcut printer's device on final leaf with register, some slight water staining to contents, bound in full contemporary parchment over boards, one set of alum-tawed ties intact, worming to covers, parchment tab pasted to fore-edge of one text leaf, slight worming, small hole to title patched; signed by Winship in pencil inside front board, 6 1/4 x 4 in.This remarkable set of woodcuts were inspired by mnemonics, the art and practice of improving and assisting one's memory. Romberch begins with a phrenological image and uses visual aids to create associations between letters and everyday objects and animals. The earliest printed image of a book shop in Europe appears on the verso of leaf 35.Harvard Catalogue 239; Sander 6555.Ex libris Georger Parker Winship (1871-1952)