I sei primi libri del Eneide di Vergilio, tradotti à piu illustri & honorate donne. Et tra l'altre à la nobilissima & divina madonna Aurelia Tolomei de Borghesi, à cui ancho è indirizzato tutto il presente volume Virgil (Vergilio or Virgilio)

The first six books of the Aeneid by Virgil, translated to the most illustrious and honored ladies. And among others to the most noble and divine Madonna Aurelia Tolomei de Borghesi, to whom also the present volume is addressed. NOTE: Incomplete. Missing Title page, Book 1 and first 8 leaves of Book 2. Normally, this scarce edition typically sells between $2000-2500 when found complete. PROVENANCE: From the Virgil Collection of Craig Kallendorf (1954 - 2023), who owned the largest private collection of Virgil works (1,150) editions, not including Incunable books in the world. Only a handful of prominent institutions like the British Library had larger collections. Eighth-nine of the books in his collection were the only known surviving copies, 71 only had one other known copy. He worked closely with Princeton University in helping to assemble, supplement and catalog its Junius Spencer Morgan Virgil collection. Craig Kallendorf was Professor of English and Classics at Texas A&M University. He was the author or editor of 27 books and more than 170 articles, book chapters, and reference work entries. Among Kallendorf's groundbreaking monographs on the Virgilian tradition, special note might be made of his Virgil and the Myth of Venice: Books and Readers in the Italian Renaissance (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999), which shows how the wide reading of the Aeneid, accessed in both Latin and Italian editions, contributed to Venetian ideology and the so-called "myth of Venice." With its publication, according to reviewer Diana Robin (Renaissance Quarterly, 55.4 [2002], p. 1394), Kallendorf is to be recognized as "the leading authority on the Virgilian tradition in early modern print culture in Italy." ABOUT THE BOOK: Post-Incunable edition of the first six books of the Aeneid by Virgil. In Italian. Published in 1540 by Comin da Trino & Niccolo Zoppino in Venice. Each book translated into Italian from Latin by a different individual: (A2) Hippolito de' Medici (A3) Bernardino Borghesi, (A4) Bartolomeo Carli Piccolomini, (A5) Aldobrando Cerretani and (A6) Alessandro Piccolomini. Rebound in modern 1/4-calf over marbled paper and gilt tooled spine bordering, lettering and compartment devices. Marbled endpapers. Six parts in one volume. Octavo, 6 1/2" x 4 1/8". Foliation (in leaves): 15, 20; 19, [1]; 27, [1]; 25, [7]. Fifteen vignette woodcuts and separate engraved title pages for Books 3-6. CONDITION REPORT: Missing Title page, Book 1 leaves, and first 8 leaves of Book 2 including its title page. 15/22 woodcuts. The exterior is in FINE condition. Fresh, supple, unfaded leather and unblemished marbled paper. A few areas of light dust. Square spine, very firm hinges and joints, sharp corners, and tight pages. Foxing to text block edges. The interior condition - refreshed endpapers and blank flyleaves. Trimmed pages. Light foxing to margins. Heavier foxing to preliminaries and last few leaves of the volume. Signs of handling - a few smudges, bent corners and some creasing. No marginalia or underlining. One corner clipped. A few minor spots of worming in the margins. Rear blank flyleaf with period one-line Latin inscription in faded antiquarian ink claiming that the possessor of the book was a heteronymous eunuch! Front pastedown with the ex libris sticker "from the Virgil collection of Craig W. Kallendorf." In excellent shape for a nearly 500-year-old book - a beautifully bound and scarce post-incunable (mostly complete) edition of the first 6 books of The Aeneid by Virgil.