The copy of Aphthonii clarissimi rhetoris Progymnasmata Ioanne Maria Catanaeo interprete from Salamanca (BG/221825) written by Juan Lorenzo Palmireno: the recovery of a lost work

Abstract

In 1552, Juan Lorenzo Palmireno publishes in Valencia his Aphthonii Clarissimi Rhetoris Progymnasmata, together with Joannes Maria Catanaeus’ version, however no surviving copy is known to exist so far. The aim of this work is to present the copy I have found in 2014 at the University Library of Salamanca, BG/221825 (8). The text is bound with other eight works and comes from the Colegio Mayor of Cuenca. It begins with a dedicatory epistle to Jerónima Ribot y Ribelles, «señora de Alcudia y Rassalany» (1v-2v), dated 23 September 1522. Afterwards, we find Joannes Maria Catanaeus’ translation of Aphtonius’ Progymnasmata, which takes up most of the book (Aphtonii Rhetoris Progymnasmata, Ioanne Maria Catanaeo interprete); it is worthy to note that the humanist from Alcañiz preferred this translation to the ones by Agricola, Bonfini and Prisciano (sic). Following the translation, we find the Ioannis Laurentii Palmyreni Scholia in Aphthonium (23r-26v), which are preceded by a letter to the reader in which Palmireno explains the nature of his commentary and its distinctive features in comparison with other ones. The volume ends with a letter by the bookseller Antoni Sanahuja (Antonius Sanahuia Bibliopola studioso, 28r-28v).