FERRO, Giovanni - Teatro d'Imprese. Venice, Giacomo Sarzina, - Lot 160

FERRO, Giovanni - Teatro d'Imprese. Venice, Giacomo Sarzina, 1623. 2 parts in one vol. in-folio, (18) ff., 296 pp. ; (90) ff., 728 pp., (1) f., sqs. clear wet. in the inner margin, pages 113-128 and 129-144 (books H and I) are inverted, small repair to a leaf without missing, brown us. calf from the 17th century, strong epiderminations, discovered flesh, flattened caps. PRAZ 335. LANDWEHR (Romanica) 295. Only edition cited. Two titles, two plates of dedication to Cardinal Barberini (future Pope Urban VIII), portrait of the author and 451 emblems in the text, all engraved in intaglio. Giovanni Ferro (1582-1630) was a doctor of theology, canon law and civil law. The most important work on the emblem at that time. The first part is devoted to the theory of the emblem, its composition, its applications, the comparison with other figurations: medals, heraldry, hieroglyphics, fables, figures, etc. The author has drawn on more than fifty works, of which he gives us a list. In the second part, he presents in the form of an encyclopaedia the emblems classified by themes or pictorial analogies, accompanied by a rich commentary.