Quaestiones definitae ex triplici philosophia

1613. FARNESE, Ottavio. Quaestiones definitae ex triplici Philosophia, Rationali, Naturali, Morali, in Parmensi Academia Publicè triduum disputatae ab Octavio Farnesio. [8], 374 i.e. 372, [8] pp. (including final blank), illustrated with engraved allegorical title, large folding dedicatory engraving to Pope Paul V (450 x 580 mm.), 75 figurative calligraphic woodcuts, 45 ornamental calligraphic woodcuts, 80 large historiated and/or decorative woodcut initials, final engraved printer's mark. Folio, 325 x 220 mm., bound in full seventeenth-century Italian vellum, gilt-tooled ornamental border on covers. Binding and tears on: title page, two pages and folding plate skillfully repaired. Small collection stamp on title page. Parmae: Ex typographia Antei Viothi, 1613. First and only edition of this calligraphic woodcut-illustrated book. The work was dedicated to the Borghese Pope Paul V. Exhibiting brilliance at the age of fourteen when this work was published, Ottavio Farnese's precocious learning is showcased by this erudite volume. The text consists of 2370 questions (Quaestiones), a method representing the standard educational practices of the time. The book's basic tenet uses the University of Parma's method of teaching from the three branches of Aristotle's philosophy (rational, natural, and moral) by proposing questions and eliciting answers. These Quaestiones led to verbal discourse and instructive philosophical discovery. The tour de force of this precious book, however, is found in the artistic calligraphic illustrations, perhaps the earliest of their kind. The refined woodcuts depict full human figures, a seated lion, frogs, grasshoppers, birds, musical instruments, a sphinx, harpies, an axe and hammer, putti playing tambourines, turtles, storks, roosters, vases, skull and cross-bones, etc., withal created by a single uninterrupted line. The larger illustrations are signed "Ferrarius incid." after "Brondulus invent." (G.F. Brondolo?). The artist Brondulus has never been identified. The impressive allegorical title-page was designed by Malosso of Cremona, i.e. Giovanni Battista Trotti (1565-1619) and engraved by Francesco Villamena (1566-1624). The large, folding dedicatory engraving is unsigned, although stylistically it can safely be attributed to the artists of the title-page Trotti and Villamena. Its design incorporates 18 allegorical muses seated on top of or within niches of a triumphal arch or frons scenae; at center is the Borghese Pope's coat-of-arms placed over a central archway in which reclines the Borghese dragon before a scene of the Vatican garden in the distance. With wood-engraved printer's device at colophon (unicorn in country landscape). Ottavio Farnese (1598-1643) suffered an ill-starred life. He was the illegitimate son of the reigning Duke of Parma, Ranuncio I Farnese. In 1600 his father married Margherita Aldobrandini, and due to the fact that their marriage produced no offspring, in 1605 Ottavio was legitimized by Ranuncio, who groomed him to be his successor as Duke. However, in 1612 Margherita conceived a legitimate heir Odoardo. One year later, shortly after the publication of this brilliant disputation in 1613, Ottavio was incarcerated in the notorious prison in Parma La Rocchetta by the oppressive and paranoid Duke. The young prince was stripped of his feudal titles (Fiorenzuola, Borgo San Donnino, Ortona, Altamura, Castellamare, Leonessa, Cittaducale, Val di Nure, etc., etc.) and was left to languish in the prison for the next thirty years, dying there in 1643, probably of the plague. Ottavio's name survives in history books only as a melancholy footnote. Exceedingly rare: only one copy sold at auction as listed in ABPC (1987). OCLC lists six copies in the U.S.: the Getty Research Institute, Harvard (lacking large dedicatory plate), Newberry and St. Bonaventure Library, The Morgan, and LOC; 3 in Germany: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich, Sachsische Landesbibliothek Dresden, and Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen -Nürnberg and 3 in Great Britain: Wellcome Library, Victoria and Albert, and the National Art Library. Brunet II, 1185. Bernard Quaritch, Exhibition of Early Woodcut Books, 15 Picadilly, London: 1869, lot #313, identified then as: "Extremely Rare." Not in Berlin Katalog, Bonacini, Morrison, Becker, Cicognara, Praz, Guilmard, Vinet.