Opus Merlini Cocaii Poetæ Mantvani Macaronicorum. by COCCAIUS (Merlinius [pseudonym of Teofilo Folengo, 1496-1544])

Totum in pristinam formam per me Magistrum Ac- Quarium Lodolam optime redactum, in his infra no- Tatis titulis diuisum. ZANITONELLA, quæ de amore Tonelli erga Zani- Nam tractat. Quæ constat ex tredecim Sonolegijs, septem Ecclogis, & vna Strambottolegia. PHANTASIAE Macaronicon, diuisum in vigintiquin- Que Macaronicis, tractans de gestis magnanimi, & pruden- Tissimi Baldi. MOSCHAEAE [sic] Facetus liber in tribus partibus diuisus, & Tractans de cruento certamine Muscarum & Formicarum. LIBELLVS Epistolarum, & Epigrammatum, ad varias per- Sonas directarum. [Woodcut device with legend ‘SCIENTIA IMMVTABILIS’]. Venetijs, apud Beuilacquam. 1613. Pott 12mo format (watermarked ‘B b’ and something uninterpretable between that may perhaps be a pot); text and wood-engraved illustration on verso of title-page (repeated on C11); twenty-five other wood-engraved illustrations in the text; decorated initial letters and tailpieces throughout; pp.541+[i (blank)]+[vi (Tabvla (not paginated)]+[i (Registrvm and publisher’s imprint)]+[iii (blank)]; A - I, K - T, V, X - Z¹²; old full dark brown polished sheep, elaborately tooled blind on sides, spine with four bands raised over the cords, tooled blind, lettered directly, gilt; later end-papers laid over the old paste-downs the seventeenth or eighteenth printed pattern of which shows faintly through. Two pinprick-size wormholes to leather of joins only noticed because the later end-papers are wormed at gutters, as are the first few leaves of text, unobtrusively, at extreme inner margins; title-leaf strengthened at long edges and lightly dusty; insignificant damp-staining to a few leaves; otherwise a nice copy, very prettily bound. First published in 1517 in seventeen books, and expanded in 1521 to twenty-five, this is at least the sixth printing of the expanded edition. It is based on the one published in Venice in 1581, but the wood-engravings differ from their originals in detail and must have been re-cut. The device on the title-page is that of Lazarus Zetzner of Strasbourg, who is generally reckoned, therefore, to have been the printer of the volume. Macaronic poetry, was developed from the comic Latin verse form by the introduction of vernacular words with appropriate but absurd Latin endings, and the application by Folengo of Latin rules of form and syntax to the Italian language popularised it for a time within that country. ‘Opus Merlini Cocaii’ is a kind of fantasy, relating the adventures of a fictitious hero named Baldo, who suffers imprisonment; battles with local authorities, pirates, shepherds, witches, and demons; and takes a journey to the underworld. Throughout his adventures Baldo is accompanied by various companions, among them a giant, a centaur, a magician, and his best friend Cingar, a trickster. It is best remembered now for providing a model for Rabelais to whom it appealed by its, at times, gross, mockery of the clergy. In this copy p.85 is mis-paged ‘83’, p.365 is mis-paged ‘395’, and p.339 is mis-paged ‘739’. Brunet, II, pp.1318-9. All books listed by Robert Temple are first editions unless otherwise stated.