![Valeriano Pierio, *Hieroglyphica sive de sacris Aegyptiorum aliarumque gentium literis* [1614]](https://gcp-la8-storage-cdn.lot-art.com/public/upl/87/Valeriano-Pierio-Hieroglyphica-sive-de-sacris-Aegyptiorum-aliarumque-gentium-literis-1614_6ac030c14b954-full-79036200_1790980290-6ac030c2c0f6e.jpg "Valeriano Pierio, *Hieroglyphica sive de sacris Aegyptiorum aliarumque gentium literis* [1614]")
Valeriano Pierio, *Hieroglyphica sive de sacris Aegyptiorum aliarumque gentium literis* [1614]
Title: Ioannis Pierii Valeriani Bellunensis, *Hieroglyphica sive de sacris Aegyptiorum aliarumq[ue] gentium literis commentariorum libri LVIII*, with two additional works appended by a most learned man.
Author: Ioannes Pierius Valerianus, born Giovanni Pietro dalle Fosse (1477–1558) [an Italian humanist and poet from Belluno, tutor in the Medici household, author of the famous Renaissance lexicon of symbols].
Edited by David Hoeschel.
Publisher: Coloniae Agrippinae, at the expense of Antonius Hierati.
Year of publication: 1614.
Format: 25 cm.
Number of pages: 760.
Binding: Contemporary parchment binding.
“Hieroglyphica” is a Renaissance compendium of symbolism, an important source for modern emblematics and iconography. The first edition was published in Basel in 1556, two years before the author’s death. Over the next 120 years, the work was reprinted in Latin and translated into Italian (1602) and French (1576, 1615). The starting point was the Greek treatise *Hieroglyphica*, attributed to Horapollo. Cristoforo Buondelmonti brought a manuscript of it to Florence, and in 1505, Aldus Manutius published it in print. Valeriano compiled extensive material from antiquity, the Bible, and the Middle Ages into fifty-eight books, explaining the allegorical meanings of animals, plants, and objects. Artists, preachers, and creators of emblems drew upon this repertoire. Anton Hierat’s Cologne edition, in addition to Valeriano’s 58 books, contains two supplementary books by Celio Agostino Curione and six books of the *Hieroglyphicorum collectanea*. It also includes two books by Horapollo “ex postrema Davidis Hoeschelii correctione.” Furthermore, Valerian’s speech in defense of clerical beards (“Declamatiuncula pro sacerdotum barbis”) and his poems have been included.
Giovanni Pietro dalle Fosse was born on February 3, 1477, in Belluno. His uncle, the Franciscan and Hellenist Urbano Bolzanio, brought him to Venice. There he studied, among others, under Marcantonio Sabellico, who gave him the humanistic name Pierius in honor of the Pierian Muses. During the pontificate of Leo X, he served as tutor to the pope’s nephews and as secretary to Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici, the future Clement VII. Aside from *Hieroglyphica*, he is best known for his dialogue *De litteratorum infelicitate*, on the unfortunate fate of scholars. He died on June 18, 1558.
Provenance: no ownership inscriptions or seals; minor pen notes on a dozen or so pages—traces of past reading.
This is a comprehensive 17th-century edition of a classic work of Renaissance symbolism, bound in period parchment. A must-have for researchers of emblematics and iconography, art historians, and collectors of early printed books.
The text block is complete; a dozen or so pages have small moisture spots; a margin loss on the title page has been filled with paper; losses on ten pages have been filled with tissue paper. Contemporary parchment binding with scuffs and cracks at the joints; no fasteners remain; the spine is glued to the block.
Catalog ID: 14456-25-B-Y
Title: Ioannis Pierii Valeriani Bellunensis, *Hieroglyphica sive de sacris Aegyptiorum aliarumq[ue] gentium literis commentariorum libri LVIII*, with two additional works appended by a most learned man.
Author: Ioannes Pierius Valerianus, born Giovanni Pietro dalle Fosse (1477–1558) [an Italian humanist and poet from Belluno, tutor in the Medici household, author of the famous Renaissance lexicon of symbols].
Edited by David Hoeschel.
Publisher: Coloniae Agrippinae, at the expense of Antonius Hierati.
Year of publication: 1614.
Format: 25 cm.
Number of pages: 760.
Binding: Contemporary parchment binding.
“Hieroglyphica” is a Renaissance compendium of symbolism, an important source for modern emblematics and iconography. The first edition was published in Basel in 1556, two years before the author’s death. Over the next 120 years, the work was reprinted in Latin and translated into Italian (1602) and French (1576, 1615). The starting point was the Greek treatise *Hieroglyphica*, attributed to Horapollo. Cristoforo Buondelmonti brought a manuscript of it to Florence, and in 1505, Aldus Manutius published it in print. Valeriano compiled extensive material from antiquity, the Bible, and the Middle Ages into fifty-eight books, explaining the allegorical meanings of animals, plants, and objects. Artists, preachers, and creators of emblems drew upon this repertoire. Anton Hierat’s Cologne edition, in addition to Valeriano’s 58 books, contains two supplementary books by Celio Agostino Curione and six books of the *Hieroglyphicorum collectanea*. It also includes two books by Horapollo “ex postrema Davidis Hoeschelii correctione.” Furthermore, Valerian’s speech in defense of clerical beards (“Declamatiuncula pro sacerdotum barbis”) and his poems have been included.
Giovanni Pietro dalle Fosse was born on February 3, 1477, in Belluno. His uncle, the Franciscan and Hellenist Urbano Bolzanio, brought him to Venice. There he studied, among others, under Marcantonio Sabellico, who gave him the humanistic name Pierius in honor of the Pierian Muses. During the pontificate of Leo X, he served as tutor to the pope’s nephews and as secretary to Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici, the future Clement VII. Aside from *Hieroglyphica*, he is best known for his dialogue *De litteratorum infelicitate*, on the unfortunate fate of scholars. He died on June 18, 1558.
Provenance: no ownership inscriptions or seals; minor pen notes on a dozen or so pages—traces of past reading.
This is a comprehensive 17th-century edition of a classic work of Renaissance symbolism, bound in period parchment. A must-have for researchers of emblematics and iconography, art historians, and collectors of early printed books.
The text block is complete; a dozen or so pages have small moisture spots; a margin loss on the title page has been filled with paper; losses on ten pages have been filled with tissue paper. Contemporary parchment binding with scuffs and cracks at the joints; no fasteners remain; the spine is glued to the block.
Catalog ID: 14456-25-B-Y
