Vatican library.- Pansa (Mutius) Della libraria Vaticana ragionamenti, first edition, Rome, …

Vatican library.- Pansa (Mutius) Della libraria Vaticana ragionamenti, first edition, collation: *4 A-Z Aa-Yy4, woodcut printer's device to title and recto of final f., woodcut samples of Hebrew, Syriac, Coptic, Phoenician, Etruscan, Armenian, Illyrian, Gothic, Arabic and other alphabets in text, woodcut head- and tail-pieces and historiated and decorative initials, some spotting or staining (including water-stain to lower inner gutter in places), lightly browned, lacking front pastedown, 18th century calf, gilt, rebacked in lighter coloured modern gilt calf in compartments, corners little worn, some staining, rubbed and marked, small 4to (213 x 155mm.), Rome, [Giacomo Ruffinelli for] Giovanni Martinelli, 1590. ⁂ Important study of the Vatican library, its rich contents and projects. Includes ancient alphabets, the invention of printing in China, its later discovery by Gutenberg, and the arrival in Italy of the typographers Sweynheim and Pannartz in 1465. The recent establishment of the Vatican Press is also recorded. Literature: Adams P172; Cicognara 4662; Mortimer, Italian, 353; EDIT 16 CNCE 29725.