Zodiacus vitae, hoc est. De hominis vita, studio, ac moribus optime instituendis, libri XII.

16mo: 315-[37] pp. (bookpl. removed from flyleaf, notes on title).

18th-c. gilt red morocco (sl. rubbed), richly gilt spine with 5 raised bands, gilt sides & inside dentelles, a.e.g. Very good copy.

Very rare edition of of this satirical philosophical poem on "how to live well" and on contemp. conventions, very popular in Latin schools. The initial letters of the first 29 verses form an acrostic spelling of the pseudonym of the author. When the acrostic is read as an anagram, it spells Piero Angelo Manzoli (1500-1543), humanist and physician to Hercules II of Ferrara, generally accepted as the real author of this work. Using the zodiac as an organising principle only, the poem is full of didactic writing on the subject of human happiness in connection with scientific knowledge. Engr. title showing the 12 zodiacal signs.
Ref. STCN (i.a. BL). - Cp. Oberlé 156.