VOLUME THE FIRST

OF THE DIVINE

LETTERS OF THE GREAT

MARSILIO FICINO

Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) was a preeminent Italian philosopher and the head of the Platonic Academy in Florence. His "Letters" were not merely personal correspondence but served as philosophical essays and spiritual guides for the European elite.

Felice Figliucci (1500–1595) was a humanist scholar and translator. By translating these letters into the "Tuscan language" (the dialect that became standard Italian), he made Ficino's Neoplatonic philosophy accessible to a wider lay audience who did not read Latin.

Small decorative woodcut fleuron.

H. l. 2. L. a. b. 811
These are library shelfmarks, likely added by a later librarian to indicate the physical location of this copy on a shelf.

A "privilege" was an early form of copyright granted by a sovereign or governing body (in this case, Venice) protecting the printer from unauthorized copies being sold by competitors.

The printer's mark of Gabriel Giolito de' Ferrari. A phoenix with outstretched wings rises from flames atop a globe. The globe is inscribed with the initials "G G F". Decorative scrolls surrounding the phoenix contain Latin and Italian mottoes. The entire device is set within an ornate frame with a pedestal base containing the publication details.

ETERNAL
LIFE I LIVE
FROM MY DEATH
original: "ETERNA VITA I VIVO DE LA MIA MORTE"
ALWAYS THE SAME
original: "SEMPER IDEM"
The phoenix was the symbol of the Giolito press, representing rebirth and the enduring nature of the printed word. The mottoes play on the theme of immortality through literature.

Initials for the printer, Gabriel Giolito de' Ferrari.