Theotocodia sive Parthenodia opus eximium in laudem deparae Virginis. Rome, Francesco Zanetti, 1583. [Bound with]: Poemata diversa cum Graeca, tum Latina, quae quidem magna ex parte divina sunt & sacra. Rome, Francesco Zanetti,

Two full-page engravings in second work. 2 works in one. [4]ff. 280pp.; [3] (of 4)ff. 198pp. [1]f., later carta rustica, uncut.

Two works by the Benedictine monk and Brescian nobleman Tito Prospero Martinengo (d. 1590), both of them first editions. Martinengo was a scholar who came under fire in the Roman Inquisition for his membership in the sect of mystic reformer and fellow Benedictine Giorgio Siculo. Siculo, who had claimed that Christ had come to him and showed him the meaning of the scriptures, advocating free will and undermining clergy authority, was killed, along with his followers who refused to recant (though his influence lasted after his death). Martinengo and others were more lucky, and he came out of the inquisition, likely after some recanting and apparent re-training, pretty well, getting involved in religious texts and eventually writing these two poetry books of his own, all his work heavily connected to the study of Latin and Greek.

The Poemata diversa (1582) are selected poems in Greek, but with two longer poems on the Virgin Mary, and SS. Peter and Paul in a Latin translation opposite the Greek text. Although most of the poems are on religious topics, this part ends with Greek poems on classical subjects. This edition is quite rare, with no other copies found in OCLC—finding the two works bound together is unusual. This Theotocodia (1583) lacks the fourth preliminary leaf with full-page engraving. Somewhat water-stained in places. Censimento CNCE 38668 & 38674.

Stock Code: 45075