Pescatoria et ecloghe.

[Venezia, Giolito de Ferrari, 1544 or 1566]. Small 8vo (14.3 x 9.7 cm). Title page with large, engraved vignette[184] pp. Contemporary vellum. Spine with black morocco label and gilt title. Red and white mottled edges. = Apparently the first edition of this work in verse, perhaps in the "tradition" of Oppian. Written by Matteo, conte de (or di) San Martino (1494-1556), an Italian scholar and linguist. According to Brunet, "Cette édition ne porte ni lieu d'impression ni nom d'imprimeur, mais elle a sur le frontispiece le Phénix, marque Giotto de Venise". Interestingly, a smaller version of the same vignette is repeated on the errata leaf verso. The publishing date is uncertain. Westwood and Satchell date it from 1566, but 1544 has been mentioned as well. This is the (earliest?) edition often listed as "Ca. 1540", with the last word on Aiii being pe, instead of pecore. Cancelled bookplate on front pastedown (Harvard Library, from the bequest of Mary P. C. Nash in memory of her husband Bennett Hubbard Nash, Instructor and Professor of Italian and Spanish 1866-1894). Small cancelled stamp on title page verso. Otherwise a very good, clean copy. Brunet V, p. 110 [14934]; Westwood & Satchell, p. 188. Not in Dean.