Epistolarum familiarium liber. Eiusdem Tractatus adversus negantem B. Petrum Apostolum fuisse Romae, ad Adrianum VI. Pont. Max.

4to. (12), 362 pp., 1 blank leaf. a4, b2, A-Z4, Aa-Yy4, Z2. With the printer's device on the title-page. Old vellum, from the library of the scholar and book collector Giulio Bernardino Tomitano (1761-1828) with his autograph note on the front free endpaper.
Adams, C-2709; Edit 16, CNCE 13577; Index Aureliensis, 145.437; F.C. Cesareo, Humanism and Catholic Reform. The Life and Work of Gregorio Cortese (1483-1548), (New York & Bern, 1990), p. 183; G. Gueudet, L'art de la letter humaniste, F. Wild, ed., (Paris, 2004), p. 653.
 
FIRST EDITION. It was dedicated to Pope Gregory XIII and published by Cortese's niece, Ersilia Cortese del Monte (1529-after 1587), by whom is also the Cortese's short biography printed before the indexes.
Ersilia was the natural daughter of Jacopo Cortese, a wealthy lawyer from Modena. She received an excellent education at Tome and married in 1544 Giambattista del Monte, nephew of Cardinal Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte (later pope Pius III), who legitimized her before her marriage. Her husband died during the siege of Mirandola (1552), while leading the papal army against the Ferrarese. Ersila then refused all re-marriage proposals and devoted herself to her studies. She abandoned Rome at the election of Paul IV (1555), who was an enemy of the del Monte family. She returned only from her exile when Pius IV was hailed as new pope (1559). Ersilia was engaged in an epistolary exchange with Pietro Aretino and had contacts with Annibal Caro, Girolamo Ruscelli, Sperone Speroni, and Bernardo Tasso. She also wrote poetry, some of which was included in the verse collection edited by Muzio Manfredi, Per donne romane (Bologna, 1575) (cf. E. Melfi, Ersilia Cortese, in: “Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani”, Roma, 1983, pp. 719-721).
At the end of the volume is printed Cortese's tract Adversus negantem Petrum Apostolum Romae fuisse, dedicated to pope Adrian VI, a refutation of a pamphlet written by the Bohemian scholar Oldrich Velensky, in which he denied that the apostle Peter had ever been in Rome (cf. A.J. Lamping, Ulrichus Velenus and his Treatise against the Papacy, Leiden, 1976, Chapter I).
“The letters of Cortese not only display his skill in the classical languages, but also attest to his mastery of them. Benedetto Teocreno [Tagliacarne], writing to Cortese about the style of his letters, declared that they exhibit ‘an excellent choice, an incredible candor, an admirable force and efficiency in words; in sentences, their own – totally fitting – weightiness, a delightful variety, a most becoming charm, a perspicacity on both sides – to a degree I had hardly believed could be shown today' ” (F.C. Cesareo, op. cit., p. 160).
 
Ferro, Jacopo (p. 1)
Sadoleto, Jacopo (p. 4)
from Sadoleto, Jacopo. Roma, May 31, 1518 (p. 7)
Longueil, Christophe de (p. 9)
from Longueil, Christophe de. Roma, January 25, n.y. (p. 12)
Sauli, Stefano (p. 14)
Calcagnini, Celio (p. 16)
Navagero, Andrea (p. 17)
Sauli, Stefano (p. 19)
Tagliacarne, Benedetto (p. 21)
id. (p. 23)
id. (p. 25)
Sauli, Stefano (p. 27)
id. (p. 29)
Palmario, Girolamo (p. 31)
Tagliacarne, Benedetto (p. 33)
Grimaldi, Agostino (p. 34)
Sauli, Stefano (p. 35)
Grimaldi, Agostino (p. 37)
Fregoso, Federico (p. 38)
[Arbaud], Lambert (p. 40)
Grimaldi, Agostino (p. 41)
Adorno, Girolamo (p. 44)
id. (p. 46)
id. (p. 47)
Tagliacarne, Benedetto (p. 49)
[Grimaldi], Luciano, [Prince of] Monaco (p. 53)
Dionysio Monacho [Faucher, Denis] (p. 55)
Iulianus Monachus (p. 56)
Tagliacarne, Benedetto (p. 57)
Longueil, Christophe de (p. 59)
Sauli, Filippo (p. 61)
Cassiani, Camillo (p. 64)
Franciscus de Sancto Venerio (p. 66)
Adorno, Girolamo (p. 68)
Sadoleto, Jacopo (p. 73)
id. (p. 75)
Cassiani, Camillo (p. 76)
[Grimaldi], Luciano, [Prince of] Monaco (p. 78)
Fregoso, Federico (p. 80)
Girolamo di Monferrato (p. 83)
Monelianus, Hieronymus (p. 86)
Sauli, Stefano (p. 88)
Iulianus Monachus (p. 89)
Grimaldi, A[gostino] (p. 92)
Flisco, [Giovanni] Battista (p. 93)
Cassiani, Camillo (p.96)
Grimal