Lot 1

AGRIPPA, Heinrich Cornelius. Della Vanità Delle Scienze

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AGRIPPA, Heinrich Cornelius. Della Vanità Delle Scienze

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Estimate: A$4,000 - A$6,000

Starting Bid: A$2,000

(0 Bids)

17 June 2026 18:00 AEST
Timed Auction
Stanmore, Australia

Description:

AGRIPPA, Heinrich Cornelius. Della Vanità Delle Scienze,
Venetia: [Anton Francesco Doni], MDXLVI [1546; colophon 1549].
Early Italian edition of De vanitate scientiarum.

Small octavo (approx. 15 × 10 cm). Contemporary limp vellum, faintly titled in manuscript on spine; later endpapers, with early ink notes on front flyleaf dated 1740 and later collector's note (dated 1913) with the ex-libris of Luigi Strano. Text in italic type, 204 pp., with register and index.

This Italian translation of Agrippa's De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum—first published in Latin in 1526—is one of the earliest vernacular renderings of the most radical humanist critique of learning produced in Renaissance Europe. Agrippa's work systematically exposes the fallibility of all forms of human knowledge—astrology, law, medicine, theology, natural philosophy—and marks a decisive turning-point between scholasticism and early modern scepticism. His fusion of occult and Christian thought profoundly influenced later writers from Montaigne to Bacon and Browne.

The translator and printer Anton Francesco Doni of Florence, a noted polymath and member of the Accademia dei Pellegrini, issued this Venetian edition shortly after Agrippa's death, contributing his own dedicatory preface. The colophon bears the date MDXLVI di Fiorenza, though the edition is generally cited as Venice, 1549.

Provenance:
Giacomo (Jacopo) Soranzo (1686–1761), senator of the Venetian Republic—ink inscription dated 1740 on front endpaper; later bookplate of Luigi Strano.

  • Dimensions: 15 x 11 cm
  • Condition: Early limp vellum with yapp edges, faint ms. spine title. Missing Title page. Occasional light spotting and marginal toning; minor worming at foot of spine; rear inner joint sensitively split but holding; a few short marginal tears without loss.

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
A$0 A$19 A$20
A$20 A$49 A$5
A$50 A$99 A$10
A$100 A$299 A$20
A$300 A$499 A$25
A$500 A$999 A$50
A$1,000 A$1,999 A$100
A$2,000 A$4,999 A$200
A$5,000 A$9,999 A$500
A$10,000 A$19,999 A$1,000
A$20,000 A$49,999 A$2,000
A$50,000 A$99,999 A$5,000
A$100,000 A$199,999 A$10,000
A$200,000 A$499,999 A$20,000
A$500,000 + A$50,000