Orationes (Orations)
Title
Orationes (Orations)
Description
In the incunable period, it was common practice for a small number of copies of a single edition to be printed on parchment, rather than on paper. These could be specially commissioned by discerning bibliophiles, offered to prized patrons by booksellers, or given to the sponsors of that particular print run. This copy of Cicero’s Orations, printed in Venice in 1471, is an example of just such a phenomenon. Its opening page has been transformed into an elaborate architectural frontispiece by the Veneto-Paduan illuminator Giovanni Vendramin (act. 1466–ca. 1509), a prolific artist who embellished numerous other incunables in the 1470s, as well as the occasional manuscript. This incunable edition contains twenty-eight of Cicero’s Orations, edited by Ludovico Carbone (ca. 1430–85), a humanist orator in the service of the d’Este court in Ferrara.
Creator
Author: Cicero; Illuminator: Giovanni Vendramin; Printer: Christophorus Valdarfer
Date
Printed not after 9 November 1471
Format
Illuminated printed book on parchment, 275 fols.
Identifier
The Rosenbach Library and Museum, Inc 471ci (1062/24)
Coverage
Venice, Italy
Tags
Citation
Author: Cicero; Illuminator: Giovanni Vendramin; Printer: Christophorus Valdarfer, “Orationes (Orations),” Making the Renaissance Manuscript, accessed December 31, 2024, http://makingrenmanuscripts.exhibits.library.upenn.edu/items/show/23.
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