[Colophon] Salamanca, (Juan de Porras), 1517.. First edition in this form. Folio (29.5 x 20 cm.), contemporary blind-tooled morocco over boards, complex interlacing roll alternating with rows of circular punches between sets of 3 parallel lines; expertly rebacked, and corners mended; metal clasps refurbished. Magnificent large woodcut on first leaf of a scholar at his desk in a carefully depicted study, above the title (which runs to 6 lines of gothic type), all within woodcut borders. On verso of first leaf, a large Crucifixion above a smaller vignette of the Last Supper, all within woodcut borders. Full-page woodcut logical charts on ff. 54r and 119v. Text in 2 sizes of gothic type (for the Aristotle text and the commentary), woodcut initials, 2 columns. An extremely rare work, in very fine condition. Contemporary ink notations on front pastedown. 128 ll. [xciii misfoliated xcix, cxvii misfoliated cxviii], signed a4, b-q8, r4. *** First edition in this form of Aristotle's logical work De interpretatione, with commentary by Dullaert. It was edited by Dullaert's pupil Juan Martínez de Siliceo, who later became one of Spain's most famous Renaissance scholars. According to the Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Dullaert's commentary on De interpretatione was first published in Paris, 1509; the only copy of that edition we have been able to trace is located at the B.U.-Lille. The Catálogo colectivo lists Dullaert's commentary published by Étienne Baland (active in Lyons) in 1515, apparently edited by one Clodoaldus: the title-page reads, "a magistro Clodoaldo cenalis ... de nouo puribus mendis absterse." This Salamanca, 1517 edition, according to the title-page, was edited by Juan Martínez Siliceo "ut paulo tersiora quaeque fuerint excuderentur." We have located no other edition of Dullaert's commentary edited by Martínez Siliceo. Aristotle's Peri hermeneias, also known under its Latin title De interpretatione, deals with language as the expression of mind, beginning with the definition of noun, verb, denial, affirmation, proposition and sentence. Although at least one early authority doubted its authorship, there is strong external evidence that it is by Aristotle (i.e., Theophrastus and Eudemus wrote works that presuppose it), and the style and grammar seem genuinely Aristotelian. It is generally considered an early work of Aristotle, still showing Plato’s influence. The magnificent title-page woodcut had already been used at Salamanca late in the fifteenth century. The Crucifixion - Last Supper cut on the verso is closely copied after the material used in the missals printed for Lucantonio Giunta at Venice. The complex diagrams are probably original blocks for this publication. Jean Dullaert (1470-1513), an Augustinian friar born in Ghent, is known for his contributions to logic and natural philosophy. "The logical subtlety of Dullaert's endless dialectics provoked considerable adverse criticism from Vives and other humanists, but otherwise his teachings were appreciated and frequently cited during the sixteenth century" (DSB IV, 237). He published commentaries on Aristotle's Physica and De caelo in 1506 (subsequent editions in 1511 and 1512) and on Aristotle's Meteorologica in 1512 (reissued by Vives in 1514), as well as editions of works by Jean Buridan and Paul of Venice. The editor, Juan Martínez Siliceo (1486-1557), was an outstanding pupil of Dullaert's; the Dictionary of Scientific Biography notes that he and Juan de Celaya were "both important for their contributions to the rise of mathematical physics." In this posthumous edition of Dullaert's commentary, Martínez Siliceo apparently cut some parts he felt were repetitive or unnecessary. A native of Villagarcía in Extremadura, he studied and taught at the Sorbonne before moving to the University of Salamanca, and then serving as tutor to the Infante D. Felipe. In 1541 he was named bishop of Cartagena, and in 1545, bishop of Toledo. The year before his death he was raised to the rank of cardinal, an event celebrated with an eighty-foot arch and an elaborate procession that was so well attended that several people were asphyxiated. Aside from his commentaries on Aristotle, he published several important works on mathematics, including Arithmetica, Paris 1526. The binding closely resembles one done in Salamanca, ca. 1503, illustrated in Penney's Album of Bookbindings (plate VII). Three different sizes of the interlacing roll used in the Hispanic Society's binding are used on our binding. NUC lists no edition of this commentary by Dullaert, and only one copy each of a few of his other works: his commentary on Aristotle's Meteorologica, Paris 1514, at NN; and editions of his commentary on Aristotle's Physics, (Paris) 1506, at NNAM and (Lyons 1512) at MH. A microfilm copy of the British Library's copy of Dullaert on Aristotle's Physics (Paris: G.L. Nicolaus Depratis, 1506) is at NNC. *** Norton 507: citing copies at Barcelona-Biblioteca Universitaria; León-San Isidoro; Oviedo-Biblioteca del Cabildo; Seville-Biblioteca Universitaria; Lisbon-Biblioteca Nacional; and an incomplete copy at Burgos, Biblioteca Provincial. Ruiz Fidalgo 117: adds a copy at Salamanca-Biblioteca Universitaria; on Juan de Porras, see I, 37-43. Witten, Catalogue Six: One Hundred Important Books and Manuscripts 32 (1975). Not in Palau. Not in the Catálogo colectivo, which locates Dullaert's commentary edited by Clodoaldus, (Lyons): Bland, 1515, at the Biblioteca Pública of Palma de Mallorca (D.1638). Not in Adams. This work not listed with Martínez Siliceo's others by Simón Díaz (cf. XIV, 361-2). Cf. Picatoste y Rodríguez, Biblioteca científica española pp. 183-5 for other works by Martínez Siliceo. See also Lohr, Latin Aristotle Commentaries, II: Renaissance Authors, pp. 128-9; 246. CCPBE locates three copies: Oviedo Cathedral, Biblioteca Pública del Estado en Burgos, Real Colegiata de San Isidoro-León. Not located in Jisc. Not located in KVK worldwide (51 databases searched). Not located in NUC.
