Postincunable - Boezio - De Consolatione Philosophiae / De Moribus in Mensa Servandis - 1505

POSTINCUNABULUS - THE CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY AND GOOD TABLE MANNERS
Important edition of Boethius' "De consolatione philosophiae", enriched by a delightful booklet on cooking and good manners.
«Nothing is more fleeting than the external form, which withers and changes like wildflowers when autumn appears. »
Postincunabulum (1505) . Beautiful Lyon edition of Boethius, containing the De consolatione philosophiae, the De disciplina scholarium and - particularly interesting and also reprinted today - a delightful booklet on cooking and good manners: the De moribus in mensa servandis libellus. Manual of table manners first published in 1481.
Important edition of Boethius' "Consolatione Philosophiae", one of the greatest philosophical treatises of antiquity, printed by one of the greatest printers of the Renaissance, adorned with valuable woodcut historiated initials, complete in every aspect, and finely bound in contemporary parchment.
The "De Scholarium Disciplina", a work which in the Middle Ages was erroneously attributed to Boethius. GW, 4544. BMC, V, 437. IGI, 1830. HRC, 3404. Goff B-786. Graesse, I, 463.
FOR SALE ONLINE FOR 2,200 EUROS

CONTENTS
De Consolatione Philosophiae (in Italian, The Consolation of Philosophy) is a work by the Latin writer Severino Boethius.
Boethius composed it in prison in Pavia, awaiting execution which would take place in 525.
Text that will decisively influence medieval philosophical speculation. Important. (See Camerini) .

The work, belonging to the genre of consolatio, followed by De scholastica disciplina, is divided into five books, each of which deals with a philosophical theme.
Book I - Boethius complains to Philosophy about his misfortunes, exacerbated even more by the memory of past greatness and happiness.
Book II - Philosophy offers Boethius some first remedies and shows him that he is wrongly complaining about his fate.
Book III - Philosophy reveals other more effective remedies to free oneself from the torments of the soul; and, having removed the mask of false happiness, shows him what true bliss is.
Book IV - Philosophy teaches how, if God governs the world, the wicked can only be unhappy and powerless, while on the contrary the good are powerful and blessed. It deals with providence and fate and shows that there is no such thing as bad luck.
Book V - Philosophy deals with freedom and agency, and with the reconciliation of freedom with the foreknowledge of God.

Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severino Boethius (in Latin Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus Boethius; Rome, 475/477 – Pavia, 524/526) was a Roman philosopher and senator.
Known as Severino Boethius, or even just as Boethius, his works had a profound influence on the Christian philosophy of the Middle Ages, so much so that some placed him among the founders of Scholasticism. He was the main collaborator of King Theodoric, holding the position of magister officiorum (September 522 - August 523) .

Boethius, in the climate of cultural revival that peace made possible during the reign of the Gothic king, conceived the ambitious project of translating the works of Plato and Aristotle into Latin. Theodoric, in his later years, became suspicious of treachery and conspiracy, and Severinus was imprisoned in Pavia and put to death in 524.

CONDITION REPORT
Title page printed in two colours, wooden initials in the text, gore and some stains on the last text pages, tears on the margins, which do not affect the engraving. Contemporary binding in full parchment with fragments of bindings. Traces of use on plates and spine. Handwritten ownership note on the title page printed in red and black, with printer's woodcut device and large opening initial, large (different) woodcut device at the end, ornamental and pictorial initials throughout the text, Drop cap in black ink, surrounding the text , Papers 160 nos.

FULL TITLES & AUTHORS
Boethius Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus
Duplex commentary ex intact repofita atqe recognita in Boetium feu Boethum mauis de confolatione philofophica & de difciplina scholaftica eavidelice que divo Thome aquinato afcribitur. And that from recent Afcenfio eft emiffa vna cum libello de moribus in menfa informādis oibus in teneris ānis conftutis perneceffario a fulpitio verulano published.
[to the colophon] Impreffum eft hoc opus Lugduni vna Jobane Sulpitio. . . per infignë Imprefforë Claudium [Simon Vincent]
Year of birth Criftian M. cccccv. xxviij of Aprilis. 1505