Della rhetorica [...] libri tre, ne' quali, oltra i precetti dell'arte, si contengono Vinti Orationi tradotte de' più famosi, et illustri Philosophi, et Oratori: con gli Argomenti loro, Discorsi, Tavole, et Ruote, ove si potrà facilmente vedere l'osservatione, et l'essecutione di tutto l'artificio Oratorio: utilissimi à Predicatori, à Giudici, ad Avocati

4to (206x143 mm). [4], 264, [2] leaves. Collation: a⁴ A-Z⁸ Aa-Kk⁸⁺¹ Ll². Of the three full-page numbered engravings in the text with movable parts, this copy has only engraving I (added as an additional leaf at the end of quire Kk) and engraving III (repeated twice, one at l. 262r and one at l. 264v), but is lacking engraving II on l. 560v, which is blank but for the running title; the volvelles are also lacking. With the printer's device on the title page and at the end, and numerous diagrams in the text. Later stiff vellum with inked title on spine. Light damp stain to the upper outer corner of several leaves at the beginning and at the end of the volume, some quires more heavily browned, all in all a genuine copy.

First edition (first issue), dedicated to Tommaso Contarini of Denores' comprehensive manual of rhetoric, the plan of which had already been developed in his Introduttione sopra i tre libri della Rhetorica di Aristotele published in 1578. “Since action, elocution, and disposition contribute nothing to rhetorical proof, be it demonstrative, ethical, or pathetic, and since they have as their sole purpose to give pleasure, to add beauty, to beguile the listener, their affiliation is clearly much closer with poetics than with its sister art; in fact, they belong primarily to poetics, and their use in rhetoric is accidental. The implication is that the specific domain of poetry is the pleasurable, the amusing, the idle and that it is not concerned with more serious purposes” (B. Weinberg, A history of literary criticism in the Italian Renaissance, Toronto-Chicago, 1961, p. 205).

“Secondo un modello già aristotelico, la società umana è vista organizzata da leggi concernenti prima il piano familiare, poi via via gli altri livelli di comunità, tutte ispirate ad un ideale di felicità che è sempre più perfezionato a mano a mano che si salgono i gradi della gerarchia. E la retorica è progressivamente finalizzata a questi diversi piani della felicità. Nel primo libro si discutono i generi delle orazioni e la tipologia dell'argomentazione; nel secondo le figure della dispositio; nel terzo l'elocutio con esempi tratti dagli autori classici. Anche al termine di questo trattato, la materia analizzata è riassunta nel motivo grafico di una ruota, al cui interno si collocano tutte le categorie precedentemente illustrate” (Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 38, p. 771).

Giason Denores was born in Nicosia (Cyprus). He studied literature at Padua under Trifone Gabriele and philosophy under Sperone Speroni. In 1553 he returned to his native island and after it was taken by the Turks in 1570. He found refuge and support in Venice, where he was active as tutor to various noble families. In 1573 he was reader of rhetoric of the newly founded Academia de' Rinascenti and later was given the chair of moral philosophy at Padua.  He was a prolific writer, published commentaries on Aristotle and was engaged in the last years of his life in a long polemic with Giovanni Battista Guarini about tragicomedy and pastoral (cf. F.E. Budd, A Minor Italian Critic of the Sixteenth Century: Jason Denores, in: “Modern Language Review”, XXI, 1927, pp. 326-328).

Edit16, CNCE16816; Adams, D-302; B. Gamba, Testi di lingua, Venezia, 1839, no.  1348.

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