Vaticinia,: sive Prophetiae abbatis Ioachimi & Anselmi episcopi Marsicani, cum imaginibus aere incisis.... Quibus Rota, et Oraculum turcicum maxime considerationis adiecta sunt.

Venice: Girolamo Porro, 1589. First printing of some material. Very Good. Quarto (21 cm); [140] pages, including 34 allegorical copperplate engravings with facing-page explanations. Text within typographical borders; in Latin and Italian. Woodcut decorated initials and tail-pieces. Manuscript marginalia in very neat and readable contemporary hand. Bound in plain vellum, titled in ink on spine (faded). Lower portion of spine ruptured in two places and along joint. Pages thumbed but unblemished, plates are crisp and contrasty.

References: Adams J-213; Landwehr, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese emblem books 415.

A first-wave example of baroque book illustration, and a stylistic breakthrough for the illustrator (and printer) Girolamo Porro, this strange book occupies an undefined space between emblem book and prophecy, between folklore and political propaganda.

Although the text is attributed to Joachim of Fiore, a 12th-century cleric, there is no connection, and the life of Joachim by the Neapolitan humanist Gabriele Barrio is equally fanciful. The text relies rather on a manuscript tradition of "prophecies" that always postdated the events they predict (but were attributed to an earlier speaker, such as Joachim, to make them seem premonitory), apocalyptic warnings, and moral advice couched in oracular statements by the popes of the Church. The allegorical emblems by Girolamo Porro are truly imaginative and mystifying. The series of illustrated "prophecies" also includes an "Oraculum Turcicum," predicting the fall of the Turkish empire, engraved with a caption in Turkish characters, transliterated into the Roman alphabet in the lower part of the plate, and translated on the facing page. Commentary on each prophecy is provided by Pasqualino Regiselmo, who also wrote the dedicatory letter (in Latin and Italian).