‎COLLECTIO PISAURENSIS, ‎
‎omnium poematum, carminum, fragmentorum latinorum, sive ad christianos, sive ad ethnicos, sive ad certos, sive ad incertos poetas; a prima latinae linguae aetate ad sextum usque christianum seculum & Longobardorum in Italiam adventum pertinens, ab omnium poetarum libris, collectionibus, lapidibus, codicibus exscripta. ‎

‎Pesaro (Pisauri), Ex Amantina Chalcographia, 1766. ‎

Reference : 150253

‎4to. 6 vols: XVIII,LII,522; (II),XXXV,480; (II),XXIV,529,(1 blank); (II),LXXIV,514; (II),VIII,388; (II),XII,306 p. H.calf 27 cm (Ref: Schweiger 2,1284; Ebert 4932; Brunet 2,134; Graesse 2,215) (Details: Backs with 5 raised bands. Floral ornament in the compartments on the back. Edges dyed red. Engraved printer's mark on the first title, it depicts a flying Fama, the banner of her trumpet reads: 'Hic meret aera liber Sosiis', taken from the 'Ars Poetica' of Horace, verse 345/46: 'Hic meret aera liber Sosiis, hic et mare transit et longum noto scriptori prorogat aevum'. 'That is the book to make money for the Sosii; this the one to cross the sea and extend to a distant day its author's fame'. (Fairglouch, Loeb translation). Woodcut initials. Printed in 2 columns. 9 folding leaves of volume 4 are filled with the virtuoso 'carmina figurata' of the late antique poet Publilius Optatianus Porphyrius. The poems, of a dazzling technical virtuosity, are attractively printed, some in red and black, on folding leaves, to display their ingenuous composition. (See J. S. Edwards: 'The Carmina of Publilius Optatianus Porphyrius and the Creative Process' at: somegreymatter.((com)) (Condition: Backs rubbed. Head & tail of the backs somewhat chafed. Boards slightly scratched. Paper partly yellowing, some gathering slightly browning. Some pinpoint and unobjectionable wormholes in a limited number of pages of volume 1 & 4) (Note: The 'Collectio Pisaurensis' is dedicated to the Marquis Carlo Mosca Barzi, 'protagonista della cultura Pesarese del 1700' by Paschalis Amatus (Pasquali Amati), teacher of the illustrious Gymnasium of Pesaro. During their talks in the last few years, Amati tells us in the preface, they discussed the need for a new and better edition of a corpus comprising all latin poets. The existing collections, all printed outside Italy, were found to be incomplete and of doubtful quality. Then the Marquis asked young Amati to produce for him a new and better corpus of all Latin poets, (qui Italici fere omnes & nostrates fuissent) which would make Italy proud. Amati gave up his job at the Gymnasium and completed in 2 years this 'Collectio Pisaurensis' in the service of the Marquis who owned also a printing office, an office which was called for this occasion after Amati, the 'Amatina Chalcographia'. Amati disputes next about the faults of the previous collections of Geneva 1611, Lyon 1616 and of London 1713, which were not well organized, not complete, and full of typographical errors, wrong readings and emendations. He then explains how he searched for new material, and how he divided and classified it more logically and chronologically. He consulted important collections edited previously by Henricus en Robertus Stephanus, Scriverius, Scaliger, Almeloveen, Burmannus, Gruterus and many others. Amati had the bright idea to offer the reader for each author also the biographies and bibliographical matter collected by G. Fabricius in his 'Bibliotheca Latina' (1734-1746). For the authors, especially the late antique and christian ones, who were not incorporated in Fabricius' bibliography, Amati printed the bio- and bibliographical data that he found in the best editions of the time. Amati was not only busy in his study editing this corpus, but he also supervised the printing itself. He complains about the tumultuous activity in the printing shop, about the pressure of his printers, and the heat of the printing type. We donot know if the publishing of the 'Collectio' was as profitable for the Marquis as for the Sosii the work of Horace, but it surely extended the fame of the young editor and his noble employer, because the 'Collectio' was far better and far completer that earlier editions. The first 4 volumes contain the profane latin poets up to Claudian, with at the end of the 4th volume the 'Anthologia Latina'. Volume 5 & 6 contain the 'poetae christiani', with at the end of the last volume an 'Anthologia Christiana' of minor poets, collected from manuscripts and inscriptions. Pasquale Amati, or Amatius, 1726-1797, was a classical scholar, he calls himself 'Litterarum satis expers', but also a jurist. He was professor of Roman law of the University of Ferrara. He is also known for his dissertation 'De restitutione Purpurarum', about the colour purple in antiquity) (Collation: the collation is sometimes irregular, but consistent and complete, details on request) (Photographs on request) (Heavy set, may require extra shipping costs) ‎