THESAURUS ARTIFICIOSAE MEMORIAE

(MEMORY). ROSSELLI, COSIMO

Published by Antonium Paduanium, Venice, 1579

About this Item

210 x 155 mm. (8 1/4 x 6 1/4"). [16], 145, [1] leaves. Recent stiff vellum, yapp edges, red edges. Numerous woodcut initials, headpieces, and tailpieces, three woodcut plates (one folding), 25 full-page woodcut illustrations or diagrams, and one half-page diagram. Verso of title with "Duplicate" stamp of the library of Bernard Zufall. Young, p. 307; Wellcome I, 5572; Durling 3947; BM STC Italian, p. 588; Adams R-803; EDIT16 CNCE 27839; Rosenthal, Bibliotheca Magica 6083 ("Ouvrage très-remarquable"). See also: Yates, "The Art of Memory" pp. 128-29. â A few leaves browned near the end (infrequent faint browning elsewhere), but the majority of the contents clean and crisp, and the retrospective binding altogether satisfactory. This important and intriguing work on the art of memory contains an array of striking woodcuts, including the earliest known representation of a digital sign language. Written by the Dominican friar Cosimo Rosselli (d. 1578) and published posthumously, the "Treasury of Artificial Memory" educates the user on different systems to aid the memory, including the use of loci, mnemonic devices, and cryptography. The woodcuts here are very appealing in general, but a few deserve special mention. The first is a map of Hell, neatly divided into an outer ring with separate sections for each of the seven deadly sins, and inner rings for hypocrites, idolators, Jewish infidels, and heretics, leading to a fiery well at the center of it all. As Yates translates for us, "Rossellius cheerfully observes 'the variety of punishments, inflicted in accordance with the diverse nature of the sins, the different situations of the damned.'" He says that "their varying gestures" will offer numerous avenues to aid the memory. There is also a map of Heaven, or Paradise, arranged in a similar fashion as Hell, with the Throne of Christ at its center, the Apostles, Patriarchs, Prophets, Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins, and Sacred Hebrews arranged around the exterior ring, and the Innocents, Virtues, Angels, et al. around the inner ring. This "map" serves a similar function to its infernal companion, suggesting various loci that one could use to arrange one's thoughts and stimulate the memory. Other images of note include a diagram of the universe arranged in half-circles (like an amphitheater), a visual alphabet that associates various letters with objects they suggest (a crescent moon suggesting a "C," the head of a crozier suggesting a "P"), and, of course, a digital sign language showing how various finger positions can represent letters of the alphabet. Perhaps most significantly, among its illustrations of the human form, there is a phrenological depiction demonstrating an understanding that the brain's different areas perform differing operations. Our copy comes from the library of magician and memory expert Bernard Zufall (1894-1971), known as the "Human Encyclopedia." Zufall amassed the largest known collection of books on mnemonics, in excess of 1,000 titles, which (except for duplicates like the present volume) he donated to Yale University. Seller Inventory # ST19498

Bibliographic Details

Title: THESAURUS ARTIFICIOSAE MEMORIAE

Publisher: Antonium Paduanium, Venice

Publication Date: 1579

Edition: SOLE EDITION.