Beschreibung:

PALINGENIUS, Marcellus (pseud., Pietro Angelo MANZOLI, 1501?-1543?). Zodiacus vitae . Venice: Bernard Vitalis, [?1531]. 8° (147 x 950 mm). Title printed in red, italic type, ornamental initials. (Very light stains on title.) Half vellum, speckled edges, modern cloth box. Provenance : College of St. Stephen (unlocated, inscription on title); Samuel Rhodes Dunlap, Oxford, March 6 1936 (inscription on pastedown). A RARE FIRST EDITION, "la première [édition], et aussi peut-être la plus rare de toutes" (Brunet IV, 317). The initial letters of the first 29 verses form an acrostic spelling the pseudonymn of the author. When the acrostic is read as an anagram, it spells Piero Angelo Manzoli, physician to Hercules II of Ferrara, generally accepted as the real author of this work. Using the zodiac as an organising principle only, "the poem is full of didactic writing on the subject of human happiness in connexion with scientific knowledge" ( Encly. Brit. ). It was proscribed by the Inquisition.