Telesio, Libellus de coloribus, Paris, 1529, later mottled sheep

TELESIO, ANTONIO. Anthonii Thylesii Cosentini Libellus de coloribus, ubi multa leguntur praeter aliorum opinionem. Paris: Chrétien Wechel, (27 November 1529)

Telesio (1482-1534), a humanist scholar and poet, from Cosenza, taught in Milan before moving to Rome where he taught at the Gymnasium and became acquainted with learned clerics at the pontifical court. After the Sack of Rome in 1527 he went to Venice, where this work on colours was first printed. Telesio opens the work with a list of colour terminology in Latin, followed by a description of the meaning and correct usage, as well as groupings of colours by similarity or origin. This is the third edition, following another 1529 edition printed in Basel, and its popularity meant that there were numerous other editions in the following decades, and it was also included with later printings of Baif's works edited by Charles Estienne (for example VD16 B 157, printed in Basel in 1537).

8vo (153 x 95 mm). Roman and italic type, 23 lines plus headline. Collation: A-C⁸ D²: 26 leaves. Title within woodcut border, woodcut initials, woodcut printer's device on final verso. 

Binding: Later mottled sheep (158 x 101 mm), red edges. (Neatly rebacked, a few small scrapes to covers.)

Provenance: Hugues-François Verchère de Reffye, eighteenth-century armorial bookplate — Henry Duhamel (1853-1917), booklabel, sale, part 2, Lyon, 15-20 May 1922. Acquisition: Purchased in 1994 from Bruce McKittrick Rare Books Inc., Narberth, PA. References: BP16 106116