Rare Book Acquisitions

Abstract

The rebirth of interest in classical literature, the discovery of new lands with exotic customs, early investigations in the medical sciences and a nationalistic philological enterprise in a young country are the dominating themes of the rare books acquired for Special Collections & Archives this year. These volumes have been purchased with a view to enhancing those areas in which there are good base collections, areas in which Special Collections & Archives can make a contribution both to preserve a part of our cultural and intellectual heritage and to interpret our holdings to those in the Rutgers community and those outside. This revitalized rare book collection, through steady growth, can become an essential part of the library and an asset to the scholarly world. Accordingly, rare books are carefully selected for purchase each year, purchases made possible by the generous bequest of Charles H . ('25) and Mary Elizabeth Brower and, just this year, the Cameron Memorial Fund.1 The following is a discussion of the volumes thus acquired. The Venetian printer/publisher Aldus Manutius (1449/50-1515) and his heirs were among the driving forces in the popularization of classical literature in the sixteenth century. Aldus himself was responsible for the coming together of elements critical to both the quality and visual enjoyment of a text: stringent scholarly editing, an easy-to-read italic typeface and the handy octavo (pocketbook) format. The Aldine volume acquired this year consists of two classical texts, the De coniuratione Catalinae. Eiusdem De bello lugurthino of Sallust (86-35 B . C . ) and the De rebus gestis Alexandri Magni of Quintius Curtius Rufus (1st cent. A . D . ) , published in Venice in 1509 and 1520, respectively. Neither were simply reproduced from earlier printed or manuscript editions; Aldus and his associates brought their own expertise to bear on the texts. Aldus and Francesco Torresano (d. 1546), the son of his partner Andrea Torresano (1451-1529), edited the Sallust texts, incorporating two previously un-