CRESCENTIIS Petrus de Ruralia commoda. Il libro della agricultura

ISTC ic00973000 ; USTC 995538 ; Goff, C973 ; GW, 7826 ; CIBN, C-673 ; BMC, VI, 627 ; this edition not in Schwerdt or Thiébaud.

First edition to be printed in Italy, first translation into Italian or Florentine vernacular.

This edition is only preceded by two Latin editions (Augsburg 1471 and Louvain 1474). Very rare on the market we have been able to trace one single copy offered at auction over the past 150 years in London, in 2018.

Pietro de’ Crescenzi (Bologna, 1230-c. 1320), a writer and magistrate, can be considered the father of modern agronomic literature.

“A most interesting treatise on the art of cultivating vines and making wine, the author of which, known as Petrus de Crescentiis or Pierre Crescenzi, refers to himself as follows: ‘Petrus ex Crescentia natus, civis Bononiensis’. ‘Book IV is devoted entirely to vines and wine: “De vitibus et vineis et cultu carum, ac natura et utilitate fructus ipsarum” (see Simon).

Drawing his inspiration from the great Latin authors – Cato, Varro, Palladius and Columella – as well as from medieval authorities, Crescenzi included in his treatise on rural economics the fruit of his own observations as well as information provided to him by scholars at the University of Bologna.

Written with great care and reviewed by a number of scholars, including Fra Amerigo da Piacenza, the work was an immediate success and soon spread throughout Europe. Charles V had it translated into French in 1373, and it was one of the first texts to go to press after the invention of printing, which shows the esteem in which it was held in humanist circles (the first edition appeared in Augsburg in 1471).

When it was published in 1471, it was also the first printed work to contain a section devoted entirely to hunting, while the other chapters dealt with all aspects of rural life: agriculture, ploughing, gardening, edible and medicinal plants, animal husbandry, vine-growing, bee-keeping, food, and so on.

Of particular interest are chapter 4 (vine cultivation, wine making) and chapter 10, devoted entirely to the breeding and care of birds of prey.

Well represented in institutional libraries in Italy, ISTC locates one copy of this edition in Austria (incomplete); only one in France (BnF); 2 in Germany; 4 in the United Kingdom; one at the Vaticana; and only 4 copies in the United States (San Marino: Huntington Library; Washington DC: Library of Congress; Chicago: Newberry Library; New Haven: Yale/Beinecke Library).

The digitized copy of Biblioteca universitaria Allessandrina (Rome) does not contain the first quire of 6 leaves with the dedication to Amerigo de Piacensa followed by the detailed index.

First quire with consolidated margins and most liklely supplied at the moment of binding, rare small stains. Otherwise a fine copy.

Provenance : old ownership note on the inner cover “Edizione principe di questa traduzione. Rarissima” – Yves Burrus (book plate)