PLATINA. VITA DEI PONTEFICI PRIMA EDIZIONE 1479. Venezia Johannes de Colonia and Johannes Manthen, 11 giugno 1479

248 cc Complete

Initials finely decorated in blue and red

Full in vellum binding from the 18th century

First edition of the Lives of the Popes by Bartolomeo Platina, from the library of Joseph Smith, consul in Venice with his ex libris present. Platina was an Italian humanist and gastronome. After studying in Florence, he obtained a position in the papal chancellery under the noted humanist Pope Pius II. Dismissed from this position by the anti-humanist Pope Paul II, he found his fortunes restored when the strongly pro-humanist Pope Sixtus IV appointed him to the position of Vatican librarian. His Lives of the Popes, written at the request of Sixtus IV, were the first work to systematically present the history of the papacy from the time of Saint Peter to the reign of Paul II, also giving space to Roman history and the themes of antiquity. Platina is also known as the author of De onesta voluntate et valetudine, the first printed cookbook, which went through numerous editions.