ANNOTATED BY A CLERIC AND DRAMATIST
APPRECIATED BY TASSO
AMBROSE of Milan, AUGUSTINE, and HIERONYMUS.
De virginitate opuscula Sanctorum doctorum, Ambrosii, Hieronymi et Augustini. Quae sint ex antiquis exemplaribus emendata, & quae varie legantur, in extremo libro ostendimus.
Rome, Paolo Manuzio, 1563.
[bound with:]
JOHN CHRYSOSTOM. De virginitate liber a Iulio Pogiano conversus. Rome, Paolo Manuzio, 1562.
[and:]
GREGORY of Nyssa. Liber de virginitate, a Petro Galesinio conversus. Rome, Paolo Manuzio, 1562.
[and:]
GREGORY of Nyssa. Conciones quinque de oratione Domini. Eiusdem conciones octo de beata vita comparanda. Omnes a Petro Galesinio conversae. His adiuncta est ab eodem Nyseni vita e veteribus auctoribus collecta. Rome, Paolo Manuzio, 1563.
Four works in one volume, 4to, I: ff. 109, [7]; II: ff. [viii], 64; III: pp. [viii], 90, [2]; IV: pp. [xx], 164, [4]; woodcut Aldine device on titles; some light foxing, occasional staining and ink marks, but very good, wide-margined copies; in eighteenth-century vellum over boards, sewn on 3 cords, early ink titling and shelfmark to spine, edges stained purple (faded to red), boards lined with red and black printed waste, spine lined with canvas; boards gnawed at extremities; sixteenth-century ownership inscriptions ‘Ber.ni Pini Callien[sis]’ (Bernardino Pino da Cagli, see below) to first title-page (obscured in ink) and third title-page, with numerous near-contemporary manuscript annotations throughout in the same hand, including dates of reading ranging from 1575 to 1577 and pointers and manicules, purchase note in Italian to title-page dated 7 January 1629 by Bernardino ?Vergani, who records paying a price of 8 pauli, inscription ‘Dubuque, Iowa / U.S. America / 12/21/1916’ to front pastedown, ink stamps of Rev. Lester Kuenzel (1888–1963) throughout the volume and on the binding, early twentieth-century bookplate of ‘SAG’ to front pastedown and modern private collector’s ink stamp to front free endpaper.
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De virginitate opuscula Sanctorum doctorum, Ambrosii, Hieronymi et Augustini. Quae sint ex antiquis exemplaribus emendata, & quae varie legantur, in extremo libro ostendimus.
Four first editions from Paolo Manuzio’s Roman press of Latin and Greek patristic texts on virginity, bound together at an early stage and annotated by Bernardino Pino, a cleric, courtier, dramatist, and humanist at the court of the Duke of Urbino.
In 1561, Paolo Manuzio moved to Rome at the behest of Pope Pius IV. Through the new press, the Vatican aimed to counter proactively the rising influence of Protestant publications from the North. Manuzio therefore immediately concentrated on printing patristic texts and works directly functional to the Catholic Reformation, such as Reginald Pole’s De Concilio and Reformatio Angliae, and documents from the Council of Trent. This volume is a testament to the crucial cultural role and contemporary reception of the remarkable partnership between the Vatican and one of the most popular Italian editors and printers.
Virginity was one of the crucibles in the confrontation between the Catholic and the Reformed world. The Protestant Reformation rejected the traditional emphasis on virginity and celibacy as models of perfect Christian life, and made the family and marriage the default choice. Luther viewed enclosure as an obstacle to women’s fulfilment of a God-given role. Protestant women were encouraged to value virginity only as a temporary state, with marriage being the expected norm for all. The Catholic response was, on the institutional side, to make nuns’ enclosure more rigorous, whilst also promoting new active orders and lay orders involved in the world through education and charitable works. On the theological and spiritual side, the newly rigorous approach placed an emphasis on contemplation, and on the following of inspiring examples of virginal and celibate life such as Teresa of Ávila (her eloquently titled Interior Castle enjoyed wide and lasting success) and John of the Cross. Manuzio’s editions of Church Fathers’ texts on virginity and celibacy in translation were produced in this context. ‘The aim was still to persuade, not to coerce. Titles were selected and introductions crafted to emphasise the twin themes of constancy in belief and triumph in adversity’ (Lowry, Facing the responsibility of Paulus Manutius, p. 41).
The earliest attested owner of this volume was Bernardino Pino from Cagli near Urbino (c. 1530–1601), a cleric, courtier, dramatist, and humanist who acted as advisor to the Duke of Urbino. A member of Cardinal Giulio della Rovere’s entourage, charged with handling relations with the Roman Curia, Pino was well-acquainted with Torquato Tasso (who praised his accomplishments ‘Pino, il vostro leggiadro e vago stile’), Annibale Caro, and Girolamo Muzio, amongst others. In the 1570s, as abbot of St. Angelo de Sorticulo, Pino enjoyed the leisure time which was necessary to the pursuit of his studies and his writing.
It is in those years that his perusal of the patristic texts on celibacy and virginity took place, according to the annotations in this volume, which include reading dates (e.g. 8 August 1575 at Cagli, 5 September 1575; 28 May 1577, on the feast of Pentecost at the Abbey of St Michael Archangel; 1 June 1577 at the same location). Perhaps as a consequence of his engagement with these texts, and certainly under their influence, his own production shifted from the juvenile writing of comedies to the more sober ‘ragionamenti’ and ‘Instructive letters’, where decorum and a belief in the possibility of renewal of spiritual life emerge as the guiding principles for style and content.
An examination of the annotations vis-à-vis works produced after 1577 (Gli affetti, Eunia, Evagria, I falsi sospetti and, of course, the Lettere instruttorie) may offer valuable insight into the work of a notable author.
I. EDIT 16 CNCE 16242; Renouard 186/7; UCLA 678; II. EDIT 16 CNCE 27775; Renouard 186/5; UCLA 674; III. EDIT 16 CNCE 21752; Renouard 186/6; UCLA 675; IV. EDIT 16 CNCE 21753; Renouard 188/4; UCLA 698.
