Epistolae clarorum virorum, selectae de quamplurimis optimae, ad indicandam nostrorum temporum eloquentiam

8vo. 129, (3) leaves. A-Q8, R4. Printer's device on the title-page and at the end. Old boards, manuscript title on the spine, marbled edges, entry of ownership of Thomas Adami.
Adams, E-275; Edit 16, CNCE 18171; Renouard, p. 169, no. 13; G. Gueudet, L'art de la lettre humaniste, (Paris, 2004), p. 279; Th.F. Mayer, ed., The correspondence of Reginald Pole, (Aldershot, 2002-2004), ad vocem; E. Pastorello, L'epistolario manuziano, (Firenze, 1957), no. 158.
 
FIRST EDITION, reprinted in the same year at Paris by Bernardo Torresano, of this collection not to be confused with that of the same title issued by Giovanni Michele Bruto at Lyons in 1561. A new augmented edition appeared at Venice in 1568 (Guerra), which was reprinted again at Cologne in 1586 and 1587 (Gymnicus).
Paolo Manuzio issued this collection of Latin letters by different authors as a model book conceived to restrain the advance of the vernacular and the ‘ruina dell'eloquenza romana'. Paolo Manuzio, who in 1558 will publish his own extensive Latin epistolary (see item no. XXX), was considered by his contemporaries not only as an important editor, but also as a great humanist whose Latin prose was praised and appreciated all over Europe.
“Die von Paolo Manuzio 1556 herausgegeben Epistolae clarorum virorum, selectae de quamplurimis optimae ad indicandam nostrorum temporum eloquentiam bestätigen, als lateinische Mustersammlung zeitgenössischer Briefprosa, die ciceronianische Projektion des 1547 verstorbenen Kardinals [Pietro Bembo]. Einige Verfasser der hier ausgewählten 79 [recte 81] Briefe galten überdies als Verfechter des monolinguistischen Paradigmas, wie etwa Lazzaro Bonamico, Inhaber des Paduaner Lehrstuhls für die ‘Studia humanitatis' ab 1530, dessen Briefwechsel die Sammlung mit 16 [recte 19] Schreiben einleitet. Paolo Manuzio selbst hatte 1542 im Vorwort zum ersten Band der Lettere volgari di diversi nobilissimi huomini… seine durchaus gegenläufige Auffassung von der Überlegenheit des Lateins gegenüber dem Volgare auch im brieflichen Austausch unterstrichen […]“ (Worstbrock, F.J., ed., Der Brief im Zeitalter der Renaissance, Weinheim, 1983, p. 152).
The volume contains 81 almost always dated letters. The dates range between 1519 and 1552, but the great majority of them goes back to the Thirties and Forties of the century. The authors incorporated are prelates, humanists, and teachers of rhetoric and eloquence, preeminent for their mastery of Latin. Among them, the most represented are Lazzaro Bonamico (15 letters), Jacopo Sadoleto (9), Cosimo Gheri (9), Pietro Bembo (5), Giovita Rapicio (5), Reginald Pole (4), Pierre Bunel (4), Antonio Tilesio (4), and Benedetto Ramberti (2). Manuzio himself is present as the recipient of 3 letters.
 
Bonamico, Lazzaro to Savorgnan, Mario and Ramberti, Benedetto. Venezia (l. 2r)
id. to id. Padova, September 16 (l. 3r)
id. to [Tomicki], Piotr and Hosius, [Stanislaus]. Venezia, 1535 (l. 4r)
id. to Sadoleto, Jacopo. Padova, May 21, 1532 (l. 5r)
id. to Manuzio, Paolo. Padova, October 29, 1531 (l. 5v)
id. to Savorgnan, Mario. Padova, August 4, 1534 (l. 6v)
id. to Contarini, Gasparo. Padova, May 25, 1535 (l. 8v)
id. to [Doria, Andrea], Prince of Melfi. Padova, July 13, 1534 (l. 9r)
id. to Sadoleto, Jacopo. Padova, July 15, 1534 (l. 11r)
id. to id. Padova, December 30, 1536 (l. 12r)
id. to Pole, Reginald. Padova, December 30, 1536 (l. 13r)
Pole Reginald to Bonamico, Lazzaro. Roma, January 29, [1537] (l. 14r)
Bonamico, Lazzaro to Sadoleto, Jacopo. Padova, April 20, 1538 (l. 15r)
id. to Turiziano, Giovanni. Padova, November 24, 1533 (l. 15v)
id. to ‘instauratoribus Patavini gymnasij' (founders of Padua's Gymnasium). Padova, November 7, 1538 (l. 16v)
id. to Farnese, Ranuccio. Padova, April 8, 1543 (l. 20)
Pole, Reginald to Sadoleto, Jacopo. Padova, September 17, 1534 (l. 20v)
id. to id. Venezia, November 1, [1532] (l. 29r)
Sadoleto, Jacopo to Bonamico, Lazzaro. Carpentras, March 10, 1532 (l. 25, i.e. 33v)
id. to id. Carpentras, May 10,