Libellus de utilitate et harmonia artium tum futuro iurisconsulto, tum liberalium disciplinarum politiorisve literaturae studiosis utilissimus.

8vo: [68] ff. (ff. E1, 8 and I8 from another copy; occ. staining).

Mod. quarter vellum, marbled paper on covers, flat spine. In all a good copy.

Rare emblematic educational work by the Douai teacher Brontius, tutor of the young Charles de Croÿ (to whom the work is dedicated). Large title woodcut and 12 half-page woodcut emblems (incl. repeats) illustrating the Artes Liberales. Large imperial arms at the end. The illustrations, all of which are accompanied by verses, include a frontispiece of a couple gathering acorns, three bee hives (representing the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages), a professor pulling a boy out of a maze (dialectic), a woman with two swords (rhetoric), a scene with a musician, astronomer, merchant, and a man using a quadrant (for arithmetic, and repeated for geometry, music, and astronomy), a "Zodiac man", showing which organs and body parts are governed by which sign in the Zodiac, a shepherd among animals (including an elephant) in a landscape (natural philosophy), and a scene with female personifications of Temperance, Modesty, Justice, Prudence, and Fortitude (ethics). Printed in italics.
Ref. BT 423. - Adams B-2900. - Buisson 90. - Funck 123. - Hoogendoorn (Exact Sciences) Bront01. - Pettergree NB 5944. - Not in Landwehr.
Prov. Contemp. schoolboy’s notes, reader’s marks, and scribbling (incl. attempts at drawings).