[Rarebooks] FS: The lives of the Popes. Treviso: 1485

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(INCUNABULA) Platina, Bartholomaeus Sacchi de. VITAE PONTIFICUM. Treviso: 
Johannes Rubeus Vercellensis. 10 February 1485. Folio. Roman type. ff.135(of 
136). Lacking the final blank. 18th century full vellum, red morocco, gilt, spine 
label (a bit chipped). Bold signature of Aegidius Giannini at foot of first 
page. A few minor spots, and a light stain to upper blank edge of last several 
leaves. A remarkably clean and fresh example of this important work.     
$6,500.00 (trade discount allowed)
The printer is a rather important figure with clearly established Venetian 
connections. He printed about ten books at Treviso, all with humanistic content, 
before moving to Venice where he continued printing. The British Museum 
Catalog suspects that this work might indeed have been printed at Venice as his 
earliest production of that period; however, it is still accepted as one of his 
final productions from his Treviso press.
Platina, a controversial humanist and author of the famed DE HONESTATE 
VOLUPTATE, frequently was in disfavor with the various Papal courts. In 1475 he made 
peace with Pope Sixtus IV, who appointed Platina the Keeper of the Vatican 
Library. Although his LIVES OF THE POPES is not always objective, it remains the 
landmark earliest biographical work on the popes, beginning with St. Peter 
and continuing through the life of Platina’s contemporary, Pope Paul II. 
Hain-Copinger 13048; Goff P 770; BMC VI, 897.

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