Justin Croft : Rare & Fine Antiquarian Books - Specialist in antiquarian books, especially in the field of literature, history, social sciences, religion, art and architecture, science and medicine

Scarce Lyon edition of Polydore Vergil's second and most famous book De inventoribus rerum ("History of Inventions") in French, with an interesting later Lyonnais provenance. In this ambitious work, Vergil addresses questions of origin, from the origin of the gods, man and languages to the origin of wine and liqueurs, marriage, magic, medicine, poetry, drama, geography and law. Drawing extensively on the Bible and original Greek and Latin texts, the title was one of the new encyclopaedias which attempted to disseminate the learning made available by the Renaisance humanists. The title was first published in Venice in 1499, with a revised and expanded edition appearing in 1521 (with the origins of the Christian Church); our edition was translated into French by Belleforest. An Italian by birth, Vergil spent much of his life in Britain, principally working as a Papal envoy under the direction of Adriano Castellesi da Corneto. Feted on his arrival as a cultured Italian, he enjoyed enduring royal favour of Henry VII and went on to write an important English history, the Anglica historia.The book contains the bookplate of Justin Godart, lawyer and Mayor of Lyon, who was a leading figure in the French Resistance (heading the Comité du Front National clandestin de libération de la France Zone Sud) during the Second World War.