Ragionament Familiari di Diversi Autori.... (bound with) Oracoli de moderni ingegni si d'huomini come di donne....: Ortensio Lando, Humorist of the Renaissance

Lando, Ortensio. Ragionament Familiari di Diversi Autori, non meno dotti, che faceti, et dedicati alla rara cortesia del molto Reverendo & illust. Signore il Sig. Andrea Mattheo d'Acqua Viua. In Vinegia [Venecia] al segno del Pozzo, 1550

8vo, A-Q⁴; 64 leaves. Large printer's device on title-page and historiated initials.

OCLC 504326403

bound together with :

Lando, Ortensio. Oracoli de moderni ingegni si d'huomini come di donne, ne quali, unita si vede tutta la philosophia morale, che fra molti Scrittori sparsa si leggeva. In Vinetia [Venecia] appresso Gabriel Giolito di Ferrarii e Fratelli, 1550

8vo, A-L⁸ M4 [last leaf blank]; 91, [1] leaves. Large printer's device on title-page and historiated initials. A second (variant) printer's device also appears on the colophon at M3.

OCLC 29673198

Full calf, very rubbed and scuffed with loss to corners and spine. Splits to top board hinge. Small library label affixed to spine. Worm tracks to end-papers. Ink mark to title-page of 'Ragionament Familiari..' used to obscure written text (undecipherable), which has also seeped through to the lower margins of A2 and A3 with no impact on the text. Ink note to lower margin of title-page of 'Oracoli' identifying Lando as the author. A few ink notations to the end-papers. Text clean and unmarked with occasional slight staining to page top margins. Good condition with faults as described.

Ortensio Lando, (ca. 1512-1553) wrote many of his works pseudonymously. His writing made extensive use of the supposed 'voices' or words of others, deploying fictitious names as vehicles for discussion within his texts, enabling him to have a style often defined as paradoxical and humorous.

In 'Ragionament Familiari..' Lando constructs short discourses, attributed to various authors, for and against particular positions or views. Similarly his 'Oracoli' is constructed around the witty inter-play of thoughts attributed to others, for which he provides an extensive index of the supposed names of contributors.

Standing out from his contemporaries, Lando possessed a wide-ranging and 'free' intelligence particularly through his engagement with the female 'voice'. Latterly this has led to some criticism for the appropriation of women's voices. It is generally agreed however that he possessed a humorous critical capacity, and curiosity, for the social and literary life of his time.

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