M. Tullii Ciceronis pro C. Rabirio Posthumo Oratio, Ioannis Tislini Commentario illustrata.
Paris: Apud Michaelem Vascosanum, in aedibus Ascensianis, via ad D. Iacobum, sub signo Fontis, 1537. The first Vasconsan edition of the Pro Rabirio Postumo with the Tislinus commentary. 4to (8.88 x 6.5 inches), 26 leaves, A8-C8, [D2]. Woodcut printer’s device to the title page. Bound into pictorial modern wrappers with the book ticket on the inside front wrappers of Bill Jackson of the Four Ducks Press [Wichita]. Modern bookplate on the blank verso of the final leaf. Some light soiling and foxing; later wrappers somewhat sunned; in very good condition. Item #21069
A handsome little work from early in the career of the Paris humanist printer, who had married into the family of printer Josse Badius (and was thus related by marriage to Robert Estienne), dating from the period prior to his forays into the vernacular during the years Vascosan was turning out Latin classics as schoolbooks.
Between 1536 and 1539 (after the death of Josse Badius in 1535), Vascoson and his brother-in-law Jean de Roigny printed under the sign “in aedibus Ascensianis” (as here), retaining the Badius brand.
This version of the Pro Caio Rabirio with the commentary by Tislinus was evidently preceded by the Loys edition published in October, 1537 in 24 leaves. Per Renouard, in the dedicatory epistle from Tislinus to his employer, Martin Fumée (Martinus Fumeus), counsellor to the king (dated Paris, Gymnasio Marchiano [le collège de la Marche], 1536), Tislinus (preceptor to the Fumée children) assures his employer that his commentary takes into account vocabulary, grammar, and history.
This Vascosan edition not found on USTC, though a copy appears in CCFr at the Bibliotheque de Toulouse, and another copy is found in the Morgan Library’s binding collection (accession PML 15436.2), with a collation that agrees with this copy.
USTC 185982 notes a 1537-1538 Vascosan edition of Pro Caio Rabirio edited by Johannes Tuillerius (Moreau V, 797; USTC: “Lost”) and Vascosan imprints under the title Oratio pro Caio Rabirio perduellionis reo, each with commentary from François Sylvius and published in 1537 (Moreau V, 423) and again in 1538 (Moreau V, 784)—each noted as “Lost.” (The earlier version of the Sylvius version may well be the one found at the Rylands Library.)
See Renouard, Imprimeurs et libraires parisiens du XVIe siècle, (Loys) 9. Not found in the BNF online catalog.
Price: $1,250.00