POMPONAZZI, Pietro — Opera. De naturalium effectuum admirandorum causis, seu de incantationibus liber. item de fato: libero arbitrio: praedestinatione: providentia dei, libri V. In quibus difficillima capita & quaestiones theologicae & philosophicae ex sana orthodoxae fidei doctrina explicantur ... Basel, Heinrich Petri, (colophon:) March 1567. 8vo. With the woodcut printer’s device of Petri on the verso of the last leaf, several woodcut historiated initials throughout. 17th-century overlapping vellum.
[60], 1015, [1] pp.Rare edition containing the first appearance in print of Pomponazzi's Libri quinque de fato, de libero arbitrio, et de praedestinatione ("Five Books on Fate, Free Will, and Predestination"), together with the De naturalium effectuum admirandorum causis ("On the causes of natural effects"), better known as De incantationibus. Written around 1520, both works were published posthumously, De incantationibus first appearing in 1556 under Protestant rather than Catholic auspices. Together they form the principal philosophical works of one of the leading Aristotelian thinkers of the Renaissance.In De incantationibus, Pomponazzi sought natural explanations for phenomena traditionally regarded as miracles, arguing that seemingly supernatural events could be understood within the framework of Aristotelian natural philosophy. His views helped pave the way for the new, secular and exact scientific conception of natural occurrences.In De fato he presents a double investigation of religious and philosophical determinism, examining each of these traditions in relation to free will. It is one of the earliest attempts to reconcile God’s omniscience and omnipotence with free will, one of the best-known and most controversial issues that repeatedly stirred emotions during the Renaissance and Reformation.Both texts were edited by Pomponazzi's pupil Guglielmo Grataroli (1516-ca. 1568), who introduced minor alterations. Their publication marked a milestone in Renaissance philosophy and cemented Pomponazzi's reputation as one of the foremost Aristotelian thinkers of the period.With an owner's inscription on the title page and a stamp of the library of "Holstein Holsteinborg", probably the stamp of Ludwig Holstein-Holsteinborg (1815-1892), a Danish politician, noble landowner and Council President of Denmark (1870-1874). The vellum is somewhat stained and soiled. The leaves are somewhat browned, lacking the two blank leaves a7 and a8 at the start of the work. Otherwise in good condition.l Adams, P-1826; BL, STC German, p. 710; Caillet, no. 8810; Rosenthal 3020 (“très rare et fort recherché”); USTC 683647; VD 16, P 4143 and P 4145; Wellcome, no. 5154; cf. Bietenholz, Der Ital. Humanismus und die Blütezeit des Buchdrucks in Basel (1959), pp. 131-134; DSB XI, pp. 71-74; Thorndike, Hist. of magic and experimental science, V, pp. 94-110.
