Ein schönes Büchlin der kunst Chiroma[n]tia deß wolgelerte[n] Magistri Andree corui vo[n] Mira[n]dula

THE SECOND COPY KNOWN OF THE SECOND TREATISE ON PALMISTRY IN THE GERMAN LANGUAGE

8vo (147x100 mm). [104] leaves. Collation: A-N⁸. Colophon on l. N8r. Woodcut decorated initials. With overall 168 woodcut illustrations in text including the one on the title page. The woodblocks cover approximately two-thirds of the page. The title woodcut (l. A1r), showing a closed fist surrounded by a floral pattern on a black background, is repeated on l. N7r. At the end of the theoretical section, the illustrated part of the treatise begins on l. C4v with a full-page illustration of a hand, in which the five basic lines, the mountains, and the fingers are named in captions within the image. This is followed on ll. C5r-N7v by 166 woodcuts on a black background depicting hands with various lines and symbols, surrounded by floral patterns. The illustration on l. D4v is the only one not printed on a black background. Next to each woodcut is one or two decorative borders. Below the woodcuts is the letterpress text providing an interpretation of the hand. Right and left hands are shown alternately: on ll. M7v-N4r, two right hands are followed by two left hands. Contemporary half calf over wooden boards, later rebacked, original metal clasp preserved, hardly readable manuscript notes in German and Greek on the front panel. Some light foxing. A very good, genuine copy.

Incredibly rare first edition in German, first issue, of which only one copy is recorded at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek of Munich. A second issue, significantly reset and with the addition of two leaves in quire L, was published by Grüninger in 1515 (cf. VD16, C-5543 and J. Benzing, Bibliographie Strasbourgeoise, Baden-Baden, 1981, no. 424). Of the second issue, only two copies are recorded, one at Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire of Strasbourg and the other at the University of Amsterdam (cf. OCLC, 491221309 and 1262642211). G. Sabbatini (Bio-bibliografia chiromantica, Reggio Emilia, 1946, no. 102) mentions a copy of the 1515 issue sold by the Antiquariat J. Halle of Munich in 1934, but doesn't seem to be aware of the existence of the 1514 issue. In 1514 Grüninger also issued a Latin edition of this text, of which only one copy is know in Bamberg (cf. VD16, ZV-33904). Finally, he published Corvo's treatise again in 1524 together with Cocles' Physiognomie.

A French edition of the original Latin text and another edition of the text in the French translation by Jehan de Verdellay, both undated, are usually ascribed to the Lyon presses of Jean Pivard or Jean de Vingle, and variably dated between 1500 and 1515. The Lyon Latin edition, in which the hands are also shown against black backgrounds decorated with floral motifs, may not be the first overall of this text, but is considered to have probably served as a model for Grüninger editions. Debated it is also whether the 1513 Venetian edition by Agostino de Zannis may be the first or, as stated by Th. Musper (Das Original des Titelholzschnittes von Andreas Corvos ‘Chiromantia', in: “Gutenberg-Jahrbuch”, 1944/49, pp. 126-127), the undated Niccolò & Domenico dal Gesù Venice edition was printed before (cf. ISTC, ic00942500; Edit 16, CNCE14018). The Dal Gesù brothers also printed in 1519 the first edition in Italian of the text.

The work is dedicated by the author, of whose life very little is known, to Gianfrancesco II Gonzaga (1466-1519), Marquess of Mantua. Corvo's seems to be the second printed book in German on palmistry after J. Hartlieb's Buch von der Hand (Augsburg, ca. 1488-1490).

Andrea Corvo was born in Carpi around the middle of the 15^th century and settled in Mirandola, probably in 1470 when Antonio de' Corvi da Carpi, possibly his brother-in-law, was appointed provost of the city. Nothing else is known about Corvo's education or activities, except that he practised palmistry for many years. Neither the place nor the date of his death are known. He is renowned for the present work on palmistry, which establishes him as one of the earliest writers on the subject in Europe.

This also suggests that many later writers drew on his work, which puts the accusations made by Bartolomeo della Rocca (also known as Bartholomaeus Cocles), a famous Bolognese astrologer of the time, into perspective. In his Anastasis (1504), Cocles often plays on the name Corvo (‘Raven') to undermine his originality and accuses him of drawing on other authors without citing them. Cocles himself acknowledges Corvo's excellence in the practice of palmistry, but states that he is weak and of no value in theory. Moreover, many editions of Corvo's Chiromantia were printed under Cocles's name. This generated misunderstanding and cast doubt on the existence of Corvo, who some believed to be a pseudonym for Cocles; others argued that Corvo used the pseudonym Cocles, but this is unlikely given that, as mentioned, Cocles speaks of Corvo in unfriendly terms. Another famous palm reader, Patrizio Tricasso, also criticised him harshly, but controversies between palm readers and astrologers were well known to be frequent. Corvo's book was placed on the Index by the Church, alongside the works of Cocles, Tricasso, Giovanni da Indagine and Pietro d'Abano. On the other hand, Corvo was defended by Campanella in his Atheismus triumphatus because, in his opinion, palmists merely observe the signs of God in nature, and therefore only fall into sin if they claim to extend those signs to effects with which they have nothing to do. Also Agrippa of Nettesheim ranks Corvo among the most important palmists of his time, while Taisnier says that he excels above all in the graphic demonstration of palm reading. Corvo's palmistry was specifically practiced for use in medicine and surgery (cf. De Ferrari, Andrea Corvo, in: “Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani”, vol. 29, Rome, 1983, s.v.).

H.C. Agrippa di Nettesheim, De incertitudine et vanitate omnium scientiarum et artium liber, [1527], p. 83; J. Taisnier, Opus mathematicum, Cologne, 1562, I, p. 7 and II, pp. 26; C. Gesner, Bibliotheca instituta et collecta, Zürig, 1583, p. 42; T. Campanella, Atheismus triumphatus, Paris, 1636, p. 266; J.J. Manget, Bibliotheca scriptorum medicorum, Geneva, 1731, I, p. 121; G. Tiraboschi, Biblioteca modenese, Modena, 1782-1786, II, p. 191 and VI, p. 98; V. Lancetti, Pseudonomia, Milan, 1836, I, p. 66 and II, p. 359; J.G.T. Graesse, Bibliotheca magica et pneumatica, Leipzig, 1843, pp. 100 and 107; Nouvelle biographie générale, XI, Paris, 1855, col. 17; F. Ceretti, Biografie mirandolesi, in: “Memorie storiche della città e dell'antico ducato della Mirandola”, Mirandola, 1901, I, pp. 189-92; L. Thorndike, A history of magic and experimental science, New York, 1941, V, pp. 55ff., 64ff., 586ff.; VI, pp. 147, 163, 177, and 510; Th. Musper, Das Original des Titelholzschnittes von Andreas Corvo's ‘Chiromantia', in: “Gutenberg-Jahrbuch”, 1944/49, pp. 126-127; G. Sabattini, Bio-bibliografia chiromantica, Reggio Emilia, 1946, pp. 25-29; P. Gerlach, Bibliographie von Texten zur Physiognomik, 400 v. Chr.-1999, online.

VD16, C-5542; USTC, 646484; Index Aureliensis, 145.698.

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