In 4to; cartone antico; cc. (54). Marca tipografica al verso dell’ultima carta. Minime fioriture e bruniture sparse, ma ottima copia.
RARISSIMA PRIMA EDIZIONE IN TEDESCO. Questa traduzione tedesca, da alcuni (cfr. Deutsches Literatur-Lexikon, a cura di C.L. Lang, Bern-Stuttgart, 1988, vol. 11, p. 694) attribuita al celebre romanziere, poeta e drammaturgo tedesco Georg Wickram (m. ca. 1562), originario di Colmar in Alasazia e autore del famoso romanzo Rollwagenbüchlein (1555) e delle novelle Der Knabenspiegel (1554), Vom guten und bösen Nachbarn (1556) e Der Goldfaden (1557), considerati come i primi esempi di narrativa moderna in lingua tedesca, fu in realtà realizzata da Gregor Wickram, secondo cugino del sopradetto Georg e cugino dello stesso Obsopoeus. Gregor, funzionario della corte di Colmar e traduttore dell’epistola di Erasmo sulla morte di Thomas More (1535), scrisse e pubblicò questa sua fatica, che più che una traduzione, è in realtà un libero adattamanto dell’Ars bibendi, fino al punto da potersi considerare un prodotto letterario a sé stante. Il poema è inoltre accompagnato da numerose e divertenti note dello stesso Gregor Wickram (cfr. E. Waldner, Zur Biographie Jörg Wickrams von Colmar, in: “Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins”, Neue Folge, 46, 1892, p. 328).
Il
De arte bibendi di Opsopoeus, composto ad imitazione dell’Ars amandi
ovidiana, fu stampato per la prima volta nel 1536. He
«called himself a moderationist but actually, he was an exuberant drinker who
thought that one could stay just this side of the borderline. Of the same ilk
was his translator Gregorius Wickram... Among the writings on wine drinking the
Ars bibendi of Obsopoeus occupies a unique place, not so much as a valuable
historical document of the period, nor as a literary production, but rather
because of the character of the poem... Obsopoeus undertook a task as hopeful as
the quest for the fountain of youth. He gave what he thought to be the means to
drink all a man could want without becoming a habitual inebriate. That he
thought of himself as a moderationist is understandable, but it is curious that
historians of literature refer to him as an exponent of moderation. What
Obsopoeus meant by the “art” of drinking is to avoid becoming a sot. In the
first book of the Ars bibendi the author promises: “I will give you fixed
bonds for drinking so that mind and feet may perform their duty”. What these
bonds are, remained rather vague. The nearest he came to any rule is: “Don't
get intoxicated or do so to the extent that drives away your cares. The amount
that lies between these limits is harmful”. Occasional gross intoxication did
not seem to him to be dangerous: “Let a fault which occurs rarely be excusable.
I revile daily intoxication”. The most important measure for achieving this
goal seems to have been, in the view of our lusty philologist, to avoid
situations in which a man may be forced to drink beyond his limits. In order to
avoid such situations Obsopoeus advised that scholars should drink with scholars,
merchants with merchants, carpenters with carpenters... In choosing his company
the drinker should not only seek men of similar educational and social level,
but should avoid men of certain personality types. Obsopoeus seems to have
sensed on type of alcoholic addict, the type sometimes referred to nowadays as
the “conflict drinker”... In the second book Obsopoeus dwells largely on
descriptions of the evils of excess. There are many passages which are
illustrative of the mores of his times and the study of that book is well worth
the reader's time. In the third book there is more advice on how to keep within
reasonable limits and how to avoid intoxication. The drinker should eat well
before drinking; he should eat bitter almonds, radishes, wild cabbage and chives...»
(E.M. Jellinek, Classics of Alcohol Literature. A Specimen of
Sixteenth-Century German Drink Literature: Obsopoeus’ “Art of Drinking”,
in: “Addiction”, a cura di M. e M. Plant,
Il
bavarese Vincentius Opsopoeus, figlio di un cuoco, studiò a Salisburgo, Lipsia,
Wittenberg e Norimeberga, dove entrò a far parte del circolo di Willibald
Pirkheimer. Nel 1524 cominciò a pubblicare una serie di autori greci, a volte
in traduzione latina, presso l’editore Johann Setzter di Haguenau. Dal 1528
fino alla morte fu rettore della scuola di latino appena fondata di Ansbach (cfr.
A. Jegel, Der Humanist Vinzenz Heidecker gen. Opsopoeus,
in: “Archiv für Kulturgeschichte”, 20, 1940, pp. 27-84).
VD16,
O-