BÉROALDE (Philippe).

Opusculum eruditum Quo continetur Declamatio Philosophi, Medici & Oratoris De excellentia disceptantium. S.l.n.d. [at the end] : Paris, Denis Roce for Jean Barbier, September 1507. Booklet in-4 of 8 leaves, paperback, marbled paper cover. Moreau, 1507, n°20. Rare post-incunabula edition printed in Paris by Denis Roce whose typographical mark adorns the title. A humanist born in Bologna, Philippe Béroalde l'Ancien (1453-1505) taught rhetoric and poetry in his native city, in Parma and in Milan. He was responsible for a large number of editions and scholarly commentaries of ancient texts (Pliny, Lucretius, Sallustus, Virgil, Caesar, Cicero, etc.). In his Opusculum, he discusses the superiority of philosophy and medicine, tackles subjects such as dietetics, plague, surgery and quotes great physicians (Avicenna, Galen and Hippocrates). A unique copy, which passed through the hands of the famous forger Vrain Lucas, who made it Galileo's personal copy: he affixed the bookplate Galileo Galilei to the title page in pen and copied a long note on the verso of the last leaf, which he also signed with the astronomer's name. Vrain Lucas (1816-1881) remained famous in the history of bibliophily for having made about 27,000 forged autographs in French of famous people (Charlemagne, Vercingetorix, Dagobert, Caesar, Cleopatra, St. Peter, Lazarus the risen, Pluto, Pontius Pilate, Vespucci, Dante, Dürer, Moliere, Buffon, Cervantes, etc.) that he sold progressively to the mathematician Michel Chasles, remained credulous to this incredible deception. The fraud was revealed in 1867: Vrain Lucas was convicted during a trial in 1870 and the false documents were seized and destroyed by order of the court, except for 180 of them which were kept at the request of the National Library as a testimony of this extraordinary affair (these 180 pieces are gathered in a volume under the title Specimen of the false autographs made by Vrain Lucas, which can be consulted on the Gallica site). Vrain Lucas was not content with autographs alone, he also attacked books by attributing false origins to certain copies, like our Opusculum: these copies are very rare on the market and have become precious. Some spotting.