[VALERIANO, PIETRO]. Hieroglyphica, Sive De Sacris Aegyptiorum, Aliarumque Gentium literis Commentarii, Ioannis Pierii Valeriani Bolzanii Bellunensis, À Cælio Augustino Curione duobus Libris aucti, & multis imaginibus illustrate. Basileæ [Basel], Per Thomam Guarinum, M.D.LXVII. [1567].
Hardcover. Second edition. Two volumes in one with continuous foliation but with a separate half-title to 'Tomus Secundus'. Vellum-bound. Thick folio (2°)(330 x 230 x 70mm)(in sixes), [10] ff., 15 ff., [1] pp., 15-441 ff., [16] ff. (numbered leaves). Signatures: [alpha]⁶ ß⁴ a-z⁶ A-3F⁶ 3G⁴ 3H⁶ (verso of O1 is blank) (incomplete - lacking B1 of list of cited authors and Ggg2-Hhh6 of index at end). Foliation errors: leaves 54, 58, 157, 253, 428 and 429 misnumbered as 45, 60, 517, 235, 482 and 431 respectively. Latin text with some words and passages in Greek. Roman type with some italics. Contemporary full vellum binding with MS title in black ink to smooth spine. Initial blank present. Printer's device on title-page with motto "Palma Guar". Full page woodcut portrait of Valeriano by T. Stimmer on verso of title-page. Over 300 woodcut illustrations in text, some of them taken from Lorenzo Torrentino work (see Mortimer, R., Italian 16th-cent., 511). Numerous decorative and historiated woodcut initials in various sizes throughout, some of them after Hans Holbein (see Hollstein). Note to reader (Lectori) printed on title page above the printer's mark. Dedication to Cosimo Medici on α2r-α5r, followed, on α5v-β4r, by table of contents, list of authors cited, index of citations from Scriptures. Preliminaries conclude with a Greek epigram on Valeriano's Hieroglyphica by Carolus Utenhovius. Final leaves are occupied by index in triple columns, here lacking the final 9 leaves including the errata and colophon printed at the bottom of Hhh6r. Originally published: Basileae: M. Isengrin, 1556, this is the second edition overall and the first edition to contain C. A. Curione's books LIX-LX (cf. Landwehr).
Condition: Fair to good. Lacking a total of 10 leaves, consisting of 9 index and 1 list of cited authors; the main text is complete. Binding secure with some reasonable cockling and staining to covers. Wide margins with some ragged edges particularly to rear index. Various levels of light foxing, browning and staining.
Notes: Famous book considered the greatest Renaissance contribution to the study of emblems, symbolism and hieroglyphics, from which at least nine editions were published, the first in 1556, this is the second edition of 1567. It is one of the first books attempting to decipher and interpret the language of Egyptian hieroglyphs for which Bolzani relied on alchemy, Greek mythology, pagan folklore, Egyptian religion. Pierio Valeriano Bolzani (1477- 1558), born Giampietro Valeriano Bolzani, was an Italian Renaissance humanist, favored by the Medici. His Hieroglyphica, written during a frenzy of popularity surrounding the rediscovered Hieroglyphica of Horapollo, was a nearly thousand-page folio that constituted a dictionary of symbols, which would become a popular genre. The work is a curious compendium of ancient and Medieval lore that was once sourced in a monastic library. Valeriano rose to such fame as a scholar that Venice erected a statue of him outside the Frari church. Despite its title, this work will tell the reader very little about the hieroglyphs of Egypt, but it is full of information on natural history, culled from Medieval bestiaries, lapidaries, and the "Physiologus," an ancient book of Alexandrian origin. More importantly, the work was widely used as a source in the 16th and 17th centuries for art, literature, and emblem books. Mortimer calls the book "a major contribution to emblem literature," and Moseley calls it "the great encyclopedia of symbol for the period." Praz, page 521. [Basler Buchermarken, 148; Landwehr German, 614, 616; Adams V-52; Caillet, 10978 (another edition of Guarin); Choix 13613].
