Carmina, by Marco Antonio Flaminio 1727. This book is titled “Carmina”, written by Marco Antonio Flaminio and published in 1727. It is written in Latin and the title page reads “M. Antonii Flaminii Forocorneliensis, Poetae Celeberrimi, Carmine Libri VIII, Nunc meliori or-dine digesti, aucti & illustrati, A Francisco Maria Mancurto Forocorneliensi … Patavii, CCXXVII. Excudebat Josephus Cominus Superiorum Permissu”, which means this book of poems was written by Marco Antonio Flaminio, a most renowned and celebrated poet, with Eight books of Poems never put together before, enlarged and edited by Francisco Maria Mancurto … in Padua in 1727, printed by Josephus Cominus, and the book icontains Epistles and Letters. The covers appear to be vellum, with five raised bands and “Flam. Carm.” in gilt letters on the spine, it has blank endpapers, the title page, seven pages dedicated to Cardinal and Archbishop Ulysses Josephus Gozzadino (iii-viii), twenty-one pages about the life of M. Antonii Flaminii (xi - xxxi), seven pages about the works of Flaminii (“Opera” from xxxii - xxxviii), there’s a full-page engraved portrait of Flaminius before the text, 341 pages of text, with an obituary about him (pages 309 - 320 as part of “In Obitum M. Ant. Flaminii Clarorum Virorum Epistolae”), selected testimonies or examples of famous poets (Selecta Illustrium Poetarum Testimonia from 321 - 341), an eight-page list of profane poems (Index Carminum Prophanorum from 343 - 350), a two-page list of sacred songs (Index Carminum Sacrorum), a list of things that are memorable (Index Rerum Memorabilium from 353 to the top of 365), like a general index, then an alphabetical list of psalms (Index Psalmorum Alphabeticus), a list of Famous Men (Index Clarorum Vivorum from 368 to page 369), errata on page 370, a two-page list of books printed at the Cominian Press (Libri Impressi Nella Stamperia Cominiana) at the rear, and marginalia by the printer. Profane poems do not mean there’s a lot of swearing in a poem, but refer to a lack of respect for things that are held to be sacred or revered, the book is complete - all eight books of poems are included here, as called for - and the second edition was printed in 1743. Marco Antonio Flaminio, also known as Marcus Antonius Flaminius, was an Italian humanist poet, and known for his Latin works that flourished during the European Renaissance. He was born in Padua in 1498 and grew up in Serravalle, a small village in the northern part of Italy, and he died in Rome in 1550. His first collection of poems was published in 1515, somewhere along the way he contracted syphilis and he wrote an elegy about that; he translated several works from other languages into Latin and Italian, and all his Latin poetry has been brought together in this collection of poetry titled “Carmina” (some people call it “Carmina, Libri Octo”, which means “Poems in Eight Books”). He also edited a popular devotional work, the "Beneficio di Cristo" (the “Benefit of Christ”), which was one of the most influential religious books in sixteenth century Europe: it reflected Italian radical or evangelical thinking of the time, and it offered hope that the Catholic Church would move closer to some of the ideas of the Protestant reformation. Josephus Cominus (“Giuseppe Comino” in Italian) was an Italian engraver, printer and publisher who founded a publishing house in 1717 along with Giovanni Antonio Volpi and Giovanni’s brother. They operated in Padua and Venice and specialized in high quality classics. The book measures 8 1/8 x 5 1/2 in. wide and is in very good condition. The binding is tight, with light soiling on the spine and covers, the gilt is lightly faded, with small pinholes on the edges of the spine, small dark spots on the endpapers, bookplate remnants on the front paste-down, a narrow L-shaped paper loss at the bottom of the paste-down, a large chip at the top of the title page and a rectangle cut out below the vignette on the title page, “99133” in ink on the dedication page, bumps on the tips and a couple of tips are slightly turned in, faint brown spots or toning on some of the pages, but most of the pages are very clean, there’s a small tear at the bottom of the rear endpaper, paper wear on the rear gutter and a pencilled number on the rear paste-down, and overall the book is solid. The book is also very rare. There are no copies offered for sale on the rare book web-site we use, except for modern reprints, and we found only one copy from 1727 in Special Collections around the world, according to WorldCat, at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Library (the Bavarian State Library) in Munich. #229 #4997