This is a stolen book!

MODESTI, Publio Francesco.. Pub. Francisci Modesti Ariminensis, ad Antonium Grimanum. P.S.Q.V. Venetias

RIMINI, Bernardino Vitali cura et impensa Sebastiano Modesti., 1521

Folio (305 x 210 mm.), [258] leaves. Title-page printed in red and black, title-border with dolphins, a continuous design in four parts with a woodcut vignette in the upper part representing Saint Mark in the studio writing the gospel; woodcut of a winged lion, the lion of St. Mark, symbol of the city of Venice and the Venetian Repubblic on page ++6. The title-page dolphins frame is the same used by Giovanni Tacuino in his 1511 edition of Vitruvius' De Architectura; “there are a number of variations on this dolphins composition, and if the Tacuino border is the original, it was one of the most influential pieces of ornamentation of the sixteenth century.” (Mortimer).

Very light marginal foxing at the beginning and at the end but a very fine copy in XVIII straight-grained red morocco possibly by David Weir for Michael Wodull with his gilt armorial device at center of front panel, three single fillet gilt frames on sides, spine in compartments with gilt title, gilt edges. In a modern red morocco box. Provenance: Maffeo Pinelli (1736-1785); Michael Wodull (1740-1816) and Erich von Rath (1881-1948).

Very rare first edition of the long epic poem Venetias, as well as the first book printed at Rimini. The most well-known work by Modesti, Venetias is written in Latin hexameters, and recounts the mythical stories of creation and the triumphant history of Venice, offering a reconstruction of history in a celebratory light. The work is divided into twelve books following the example of Virgil's Aeneid and, according to its preface, was composed in twelve years, potentially between 1507 and 1520. The work is dedicated to Leonardo Loredan, Doge of Venice until 1521, and Antonio Grimani, his successor. It was edited and sponsored by Francesco's brother, Sebastiano.

Francesco Modesti originated in an affluent patrician family from Saludecio near Rimini, having studied Latin and Humanist literature in his youth, but choosing to enter the Dominican Order when coming of age. In 1503, when Rimini came under Venetian rule, Modesti was forced to maintain relations on two fronts, both with the ruling Venetians, as well as his relations with Rome, given his status as an ecclesiastic member. It is said that Venetias, despite having been written as an ode to Venice, contained anecdotes which displeased some noble Venetian families, who suppressed the work and withdrew copies from circulation, dooming it to fade into obscurity. Notwithstanding, in the years prior to the poem's publication, Modesti presented the draft chapters to Francesco Bragadin in the Maggior Consiglio in Venice, who rewarded him with a generous pension for the heroic verses.

“Among Modesti's works, all in Latin, the Venetias is certainly the most famous and of greatest poetic value. [It] tells the story of Venice in Latin hexameters, from its mythical foundation to the war events of the League of Cambrai. In the description of contemporary events, attention is focused on the heroic deeds of Venice, which resisted the German army of Maximilian I and his men: Niccolò Pitigliano, who was captain of the Franco-Venetian troops on the Veronese front, and Bartolomeo Alviano, who led the resistance in Friuli and is praised as a new Caesar, rising to the status of main hero. […] After an initial success, however, the Veneziade was ignored for a long time, perhaps due to the limited number of copies in circulation: many copies had in fact been withdrawn and suppressed by the will of the patrician families who had considered themselves ‘offended by the unfavorable mention made of they'. (Tonini, p. 342) in the review of the Venetian nobles offered by M. in the tenth book.” (DBI 75) Meanwhile, these events are interweaved with accounts of Juno's hatred, first for the Trojans, then for the Romans and Venetians. The Venetias, which could be thought as having been the first part of an intended longer historical poem, can be compared to the Rerum Veneticarum libri XII by Pietro Bembo, but also inspired the posterior celebratory work by Girolamo Vannino, Vinetiade Leggiadrissima.

Our copy has a very interesting provenance:  it was in the library of Maffeo Pinelli (manuscript note on front fly-leaf by Wodhull), one of the most important private libraries assembled in Europe. Maffeo Pinelli was born into a wealthy family, whose members for almost two centuries were the official Ducal printers to the Republic of Venice. Beside the family business, Maffeo assembled a valuable collection of coins, medals, books, prints, statues and paintings that were put up for sale after his death in 1785. In the same year, his fellow student and friend Jacopo Morelli compiled the catalogue of the paintings (Catalogo di quadri raccolti dal fu Signor Maffeo Pinelli ed ora posti in vendita, Venezia 1785) and, upon request of Maffeo's stepfather, Daniele Zanchi, the catalogue of the library (cf. L. Borean & S. Mason, Il collezionismo d'arte a Venezia. Il Settecento, a Venice, 2009, p. 289). The catalogue was published for the sale of the library, which was actually purchased soon after, for £6000, from Maffeo's heirs by the British bookseller James Edwards together with his partners Robson and Clarke to be sold at auction in London. The auction took place in two sessions in 1789 and 1790. It was then purchased by Michael Wodhull (1740-1816), “Dibdin's Orlando, poet and the first translator into English of the extant works of Euripides. Wodhull haunted the London sale rooms between 1764 and 1815, amassing a remarkable collection of early-printed books, many of which he subsequently had bound by Roger Payne”. (https://inc-blog.lib.cam.ac.uk/?p=1992). Very rare, only 1 copy in the US (Yale) and 2 in the UK (St. Andrews and BL).

Brunet III, 1783; EDIT16 CNCE 57903;  STC Italian (BL) 442; C. Tonini, La coltura letteraria e scientifica in Rimini dal secolo XVI ai primordi del XIX, I, Rimini 1884.