Books and Manuscripts

The Final Published Work By Aldus Manutius

Lucretius
(De rerum natura)
Venice: Aldus Manutius and Andreas Torresanus, January 1515. Second Aldine edition. 8vo. (vii), 125, (3) l.; without blank *8. Edited by Andrea Navagero. Woodcut printer's device on title-page and verso of final leaf. Full modern vellum, titled in ink along spine; text washed; fore-edge of first leaf repaired, faint contemporary inscription on same and verso of *ii. Goldsmith 111; Renouard 74/11

The final published work by Aldus Manutius, his second edition of Lucretius's poem on atomism and Epicurean philosophy. The first edition was printed in 1500, and this second edition was published in January 1515, only a month before Aldus's death. It was edited by Italian poet Andrea Navagero, whom Aldus praises in the preface for making Lucretius more accessible to readers. Lucretius was the first of the classic Latin poets published at the Aldine press.