ACCADEMIA DEGLI OCCULTI. Rime de gli Academici Occulti con le loro imprese et discorsi. In Brescia, 1568 (Colophon: In Brescia, appresso Vincenzo di Sabbio, 1568)4to, 235x170 mm. Legatura in piena pergamena rigida. Carte 6, 126 i.e. 128, 8, errori di numerazione. Frontespizio e 15 illustrazioni calcografiche a piena pagina realizzate da Bartolomeo da Brescia. Alcuni segni di umidità ma nel complesso buona copia ad ampi margini.Prima rara edizione di uno dei libri di emblemi italiani più famosi. Landwehr: “The first contribution to emblematics by a literary society”. Fondata a Brescia intorno al 1563, l'Accademia degli Occulti divenne il centro intellettuale e poetico della vita letteraria della città lombarda nella seconda metà del secolo. I suoi membri adottarono Sileno come loro Impresa: compare al centro del fantasioso Frontespizio, con il motto “Intus Non Extra”, il cui significato elitario è illustrato da Bartolomeo Arnigio, nel ‘Discorso attorno al sileno’ che apre il volume. Gli emblemi, fatti realizzare dai membri dell’Accademia, sono seguiti da un discorso esplicativo di Bartolomeo Arnigio. Tra questi c'è Il Desioso, il pittore Francesco Ricchini, seguace del Bonvicino, detto il Moretto. La sua impresa è incorniciata da un'elaborata composizione di ninfe e putti che reggono strumenti da disegno e da pittura. Il discorso di accompagnamento esalta il pittore e discute il rapporto tra poesia e pittura. Fleming: “Each of the 'hidden academics' (members of a private learned society) is represented by a gnomic engraving, a Latin motto, a vernacular gloss, various verses, and an esoteric sobriquet; they are The Abstruso, Adombrato, Arcano, Chiuso, Desioso, Incognito, Notturno, Nubiloso, Offuscato, Oscuro, and Sepolto. Their interests range from rhetoric to metaphysics to agriculture, but in every case, their goal is to understand 'all the worthiest matters that are allowed to the weak light of our Intellects,' via communion with 'superior and intellectual essences.' Ultimately -- as the lover becomes like the beloved, and the moon like the sun – the accademici occulti hope to transform themselves into 'the nature of God. Obviously, this is a highly Neoplatonic program.”Landwehr, Romanic emblem books, 1976, 10; Praz, II, pp. 3-4; Vaganay 1568, 4, James Gougal Fleming, “The Art del campo" in The Invention of Discovery 1500-1700, Surrey, 2011.Cfr. Françoise Lavocat, La syrinx au bûcher. Pan et les satyres à la Renaissance et à l’âge baroque, Droz, 2005, p. 23.

4to, 235x170 mm. Full stiff vellum binding. Leaves 6, 126 i.e. 128, 8, numbering errors. Title page and 15 etching illustrations on full page by Bartolomeo from Brescia. Some sign of humidity but overall a good copy with wide margins.
First rare edition of one of the most famous Italian emblem books. Landwehr: “The first contribution to emblematics by a literary society”. Founded in Brescia around 1563, the Accademia degli Occulti became the intellectual and poetic center of the literary life of the Lombard city in the second half of the century. Its members adopted Silenus as their mark: it appears at the center of the imaginative title page, with the motto "Intus Non Extra", whose elitist meaning is illustrated by Bartolomeo Arnigio, in the “Discorso attorno al sileno” which opens the volume. The emblems, commissioned by members of the Academy, are followed by an explanatory speech by Bartolomeo Arnigio. Among these is Il Desioso, the painter Francesco Ricchini, follower of Bonvicino, known as Moretto. His coat of arms is framed by an elaborate composition of nymphs and putti holding drawing and painting tools. The accompanying speech exalts the painter and discusses the relationship between poetry and painting. Fleming: “Each of the 'hidden academics' (members of a private learned society) is represented by a gnomic engraving, a Latin motto, a vernacular gloss, various verses, and an esoteric sobriquet; they are The Abstruso, Adombrato, Arcano, Chiuso, Desioso, Incognito, Notturno, Nubiloso, Offuscato, Oscuro, and Sepolto. Their interests range from rhetoric to metaphysics to agriculture, but in every case, their goal is to understand 'all the worthiest matters that are allowed to the weak light of our Intellects,' via communion with 'superior and intellectual essences.' Ultimately -- as the lover becomes like the beloved, and the moon like the sun -- the accademici occulti hope to transform themselves into 'the nature of God. Obviously, this is a highly Neoplatonic program.”