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Raymundus Lullus (1235-1315)
Lavinheta (de), Bernardus (b. ca. 1475)
PRACTICA COMPENDIOSA ARTIS RAYMUNDI LUL.
EXPLANATIO COMPENDIOSAQUE APPLICATIO ARTIS
ILLUMINATI DOCTORIS MAGISTRI RAYMUNDI LULL.
AD
OMNES
FACULTATES:
PER
REUERENDUM
MAGISTRUM
BERNARDUM DE LAUINHETA ...
LUCUBRATA: ET AD COMMUNEM OMNIUM VTILITATEM
EDITA. HUIUS OPERIS NOUEM SUNT LIBRI. ... –
Impressum in edibus Ioannis Moylin al's de Cambray. Anno a virginis
partu, 1523 Die XXX mensis Maij.
Lyons, Joannis Moylin als de Cambray, M.D.XXIII (1523).
Description: [in 4to] - leaves [6], CCLXIII.
(including 2 leaves of uncut volvelles).
Collation :  6, a-z 8, A-K8 .
Note : Missing leaf K(8) of the last gathering, blank on recto and bearing the printer’s
device of Simon Vincent on verso, otherwise complete.
SUBJECT : ALCHEMY. PHILOSOPHY. THEOLOGY. LOGIC. ARS COMBINATORIA
Post incunable. Text in gothic letters; title leaf printed in
red and black, many large woodcut diagrams and
pictures included in the texts many on full page
representing wheels, astronomical and astrological
diagrams, combinatory tables and other pictures
illustrating the trees of science, virtues and knowldge,
the general structure of the human body, the five senses
as well as other subjects. Original latin edition by
Bernardo de Lavinetha of this comprehensive exposition of
Lullian Methods and Art, based on his masterwork Ars
Generalis (composed between 1305 and 1308) and
including also an extensive coverage of the many
original and spurios works attributed to the vast
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production of Raymund Lull including De Mathematica, (mathematics) De Musica, (music)
De Perspectiva, (perspective) De Artis Mechanicis, (mechanics) De Navigatione, (navigation)
De Theologia, (theology), De cura Morborum,(medical art and taking care of sickness), De
Philosophia Naturalis (Natural philosophy), etc.
First complete edition by the Lullist Bernard de Lavinheta, of the EXPLANATIO
COMPENDIOSAQUE APPLICATIO ARTIS ILLUMINATI DOCTORIS MAGISTRI RAYMUNDI LULL. AD
OMNES FACULTATES (a second complete edition of Lavinheta Compendium will be reprinted
again in 1612 in Cologne under the title Opera omnia quibus tradidit Artis Raymundi Lulii
compendiosam explicationem, Colonia MDCXII, 1612). The entire work is organized in nine
parts whith the aim to cover in a general compendium the contents of the Ars Magna
Generalis et Ultima. Ars Generalis is Lull’s greatest contribution to science, his attempt to
unify all knowledge into a single system. Raymond Lull invented an ‘art of finding truth’
through mathematical relations and combinations
which subsequently inspired Athanasius Kircher
(1602-1680) with his tables of alchemic
combinations and later Leibniz’s dream of a
universal algebra (Ars Combinatoria, 1666) . The
most distinctive trait of his production is its
combinatory nature and the use of complex
semimechanical techniques sometimes requiring
mobile figures with separately revolving concentric
wheels or interconnected diagrams and the
symbolic notation of the alphabet. These features
justify its classification among the forerunners of
both modern symbolic logic and computational
theories with its systematic and exhaustive
consideration of all possible combinations of the
knowledge under examination previously reduced
to a symbolic coding . The Art’s function as a means
of unifying all knowledge into a single system remained
viable throughout the Renaissance and well into the
seventeenth century. The editor of this edition, the Franciscan Bernard de Lavinheta (d. c.
1530), was the greatest Lullist of the early 16th century. "Almost nothing is known of [his]
background, nor even whether he was Spanish or French. We only know that before
coming to Paris he taught at Salamanca. The brand of Lullism he brought there was that of
the Lullist school of Barcelona and its interest in the Art. He was the first, as a trained
theologian, to teach the Art at the University of Paris. His publication of Lullian works at
Lyon, Paris and Cologne in was very influential throughout Europe" (Cfr. Anthony Bonner,
Selected Works of Ramon Llull (Princeton University Press, 1985), vol. 1, p. 80).
The four diagrams titled PRIMA FIGURA , SECONDA FIGURA , TERZA FIGURA and
QUARTA FIGURA represent the four basic combinatory tools invented by Lull to illustrate
the logical connections between subjects, predicates, premises and conclusions in logical
sentences. Lull set himself to construct a method which, by mechanically presenting all
predicates which could attach to any subject was able to answer any questions on virtually
any topic. Applying his tecnique he uses a combination of 9 letters B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I and
K to symbolize on different levels a set of basic universal concepts, bonitas (goodness),
magnitudo (greatness), duratio (duration), potestas (power), sapientia (wisdom) voluntas
(will), virtus (virtue), veritas (truth) and gloria (glory) as well as their contraries and show all
the possible relations existing between the different parts of the discourse. He envisioned
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this system upon return from one of his voyages in the middle east, inspired by the Zairja, a
mechanical device used by medieval Arab astrologers to ‘calculate’ ideas by mechanical
means. It used the 28 basic letters of the Arabic alphabet to signify 28 categories of
philosophic thought. By combining number values associated with the letters and
categories, new paths of reasoning and deductions were explored.
Among other things Lull achieved a great reputation as an educator and christian
missionary, learning Arabic with the purpose of converting the Arab populations of the
Middle East. He travelled extensively and was active in Rome, Paris and Montpellier, the
latter city at that time belonging to Aragon. He headed three apostolic missions to Africa,
in the last of his travels he was attacked by
local muslims armed with stones and fatally
injured. Lull composed some 150 works,
treatises and poems, his writing spanning
widely on most areas of human knowledge
from logic, philosophy, theology, apologetics,
chivalry,
grammar,
geometry,
physics,
astrology, medicine and alchemy. His
knowledge of medicine and medical practice
though was superficial and his writings on the
subject archaic (Cfr.Sarton). His reputation as
an alchemist became very great after his death
although, during his lifetime, he attacked the
alchemy of his time and did not believe in the
transmutation of metals. He has been credited
with the discovery of 'sweet vitriol' (sulphuric
ether) even though a search through his works
reveals no description of this discovery. In the
years following his death, his reputation as a
scholar and alchemist was very great, his fame
equalling that of the other grear Catalan,
Arnald of Villanova" (A History of Medicine,
Major). Among the later editions of the famous
"Art" and the "Lullian method" deserve a note those subsequently revised and improved
by Giordano Bruno. The present edition by Bernard de Lavinheta includes sections on
geometry, arithmetic, music, astrology, perspective, hunting, architecture, navigation,
medicine, law, etc. The ninth book is on artificial memory. The handsome woodcuts,
mostly with bold decorative borders, include several representations of trees systematising
branches of learning, four large astrological woodcuts, and two large anatomical woodcuts
in a section on medicine extending to 30 leaves.
The present edition also includes the 2 untouched leaves k(4) and k(5) bearing the internal
circles of the volvelles on leaves CL ( De Medicina) which has the daily 24 hours on the
external part, a revolving calendar on the middle section and the table of the four elements (
fire, air, earth and water) in the inner part used to assess the patient condition and humor
based on informations related to the moment of his birth, the time of the year, the seasons,
the astrological celestial situation and hour of the day. The other 2 uncut revolving circles
belongs to the inner parts of QUARTA FIGURA depicted on leave LVI verso which
represents the last of the four fundamental figures on which Lull’s Ars Generalis is based.
Rare to find intact and virtually in pristine state as in the present copy.
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Well restored contemporary monastic binding with heavy wood boards and blindstamped
pigskin with leather titlepiece on spine, three raised band and two clasps. Book spine
skillfully restored in contemporary style. Good fresh interiors a part for a few light water
stains mostly on the external margines of some leaves and a few not disturbing marginal
wormholes, copy with generous margins, a few antique handwritten notes, in the overall
very attractive and well preseved.
Cfr.: SARTON Introduction to the History of Science, II, 1-2 (1931; reimpr. 1950), pp. 900-914; M. D. JOHNSTON The
Reception of the Lullian Art, 1450-1530, Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Spring, 1981), pp. 31-48;
LLINARÈS, Armand Ramon Llull. Barcelona, Edicions 62. (1968) ; PRING-MILL, Robert Studies on Ramon Llull.
Barcelona, Curial, Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat. (1991); RUBIÓ BALAGUER, Jordi. (1985). Ramon
Llull i el Lullisme. Barcelona, 1985; BONNER, Anthony: Selected Works of Ramon Llull, 2 vols. Princeton
University Press, Princeton, (1985) vol I , p 80 ; FIDORA, Alexander, El Arte luliana, in Revista Española de
Filosofía Medieval 10 (2003) pp. 227-243.; GLYMOUR CLARK; FORD, KENNETH M, HAYES, Patrick J.: “Ramón
Lull” in AI Magazine Vol. 19, No.2: Summer 1998, p.136.; JAULENT, Esteve: “Fundamentos epistemológicos del
diálogo lulliano” (Epistemological fundaments of lullian dialog) en Anales del Seminario de Historia de la
Filosofía; E. ROGENT , DURÀN, Bibliografia de les impressions lullianes (Barcelona, 1927); R. BRUMMER,
Bibliographia Lulliana: Ramon-Llull-Schrifttum 1870-1973 (Hildesheim, 1976); M.SALLERAS, CAROLÀ,
"Bibliografia lulliana (1974-1984)", Randa 19 (1986), pp. 153-198.
BOUND WITH :
MARIANGELI ACCURSIO (ca.1489-1546)
DIATRIBAE IN AUSONIUM SOLINUM ET OVIDIUM
Romae : in aedibus M. Argentei, [1524]
Description : [in quarto] leaves [102] .
First and sole edition, Mariangelo Accursi was an italian humanist and roman epigraphist, born in
Aquila on 1489, also known with the pseudonim Velustius Metianus. Accursius was a favourite of
Charles V at whose court he resided for thirty-three years and by whom he was employed on various
foreign missions. To a perfect knowledge of Greek and Latin he added an intimate acquaintance with
several contemporary languages. In discovering and collating ancient manuscripts, for which his
travels abroad gave him special opportunities, he displayed uncommon diligence. His works include
a Treatise on the Soul (1538) an edition of Ammianus Marcellinus (1533) and a satyrical dialogue in
which the affected use of antiquated terms, introduced by some of the Latin writers of that age, is
humorously ridiculed by him Osco, Volsco Romanaq. eloquentia interlocutoribus, dialogus ludis Romanis
actus (1531). Accorso was accused of plagiarism in his notes on Ausonius, a charge which he most
solemnly and energetically repudiated. Usual foxing due to the aging of paper and a few light
marginal waterstains, for the rest a nice copy in good aniquarian conditions.
Cfr.: EDIT 16 Censimento Nazionale delle Edizioni del XVI Secolo, CNCE 171; BORSA Clavis typographicum
librarorumque Italiae 1465-1600 - Bibliotheca Bibliographica Aureliana 35, 2 vols. ( 1980); A.TINTO Annali
Tipografici di Marcello ed Eucario Siber. Biblioteca Bibliografica Italiana, Oslchi, (1968) ; A. CAMPANA, s. v.
Accursio (Accorso), Mariangelo, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Roma 1960 (t. 2), 126-132; G. FABRE,
Accursius, Hübner et l’ épigraphie de Conimbriga, in Épigraphie Hispanique. Problèmes de méthode et d’ édition
(Table Ronde Internationale, Bordeaux 1981) Paris 1984, 61-67.
Attractive Copy in good antiquarian conditions
RARE
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