48 - Lilio, Zaccaria. *Orbis breviarium*. Naples, Ayolfus de Cantono, 1496. An important miscellany of ancient texts

Lilio, Zaccaria. *Orbis breviarium*. Naples, Ayolfus de Cantono, 1496. An important miscellany of ancient texts Lilio, Zaccaria. *Orbis breviarium*. Naples, Ayolfus de Cantono, 1496. Quarto (200 x 138 mm); [112] leaves. Title within an elegant woodcut border, text in Roman type, 2 geographical diagrams—one depicting the different regions of the Earth and the other a T-shaped world map—printers’ mark in the colophon, annotations, and maniculae (some halos, small spots). 18th-century binding in mottled calfskin, with dry-stamped ironwork decoration on the covers, a 4-rib spine, and spray-cut edges. Second edition, far rarer than the editio princeps published in Florence by Miscomini in 1493, whose typographical layout it replicates. It is a sort of scholarly geographical dictionary arranged alphabetically, one of the few books printed in Naples by Cantonio. Compiled shortly before the discovery of the New World, the work aimed to gather in a single volume the geographical knowledge handed down by ancient and medieval authors, offering a snapshot of the knowledge of the era on the eve of the new discoveries brought about by Columbus’s voyages. Goff L-219; Sabin, 41066. The volume contains several other works, including three printed by Eucharius Silber—two of which are unfortunately incomplete—titled *Quinti Sereni Sammonici liber*, the *Coena seu de cibariorum virtutibus* (without a title page), and Ludovico Lazzarelli’s *Opusculum de bombyce*, the *Vocabularium Piladae* printed in Milan by Alessandro Minuzioano, an incomplete copy of Pacifico Massimi’s *De componendo hexametro et pentametro libellus* with 5 large woodcut plates, with red headings, and finally, the single folio “g” containing a text by Giovan Battista Valentini titled *De re metrica canones*, printed in Venice by Giovanni Tacuino da Tridino in 1503 with his printer’s mark. A fine collection. An important collection of ancient texts