THE GIUNTINE EDITION OF GAMBIGLIONI COMMENTARY ON JUSTINIAN'S INSTITUTIONS

Gambiglioni, Angelo. In quatuor Institutionum Iustiniani Libros Commentaria. Ex vetustissimis exemplaribus repraesentata, & accurata diligentia & studio ab omnibus erroribus nuper castigata. Adiecto Indice [...] Accesserunt excellentissimorum I. C. D. Antonij Caij, ac D. Francisci Purpurati, eruditissimae adnotationes, ac eiusdem Caij subtilissimus Substitutionum Tracta. Venetijs, Apud Iuntas, 1574 (al colophon: Venetiis, Apud Hieronymum Polum, 1574).

Folio (325x220 mm), XVII century stiff vellum (lightly worn, reinforced by vellum at spine), author name handwritten in sepia ink at spine, ff. 365, [1], 32. At leaf. 100v a fine woodcut with a Arbor Substitutionum.

Scarce Giunti’s edition of the important Gambiglioni’s commentary on Justinian's «Institutiones».

In the same period in which the reorganization of the law in the Pandette was started, Justinian asked the jurists Trebonianus, Teofilo e Doroteo to create a manual that summarized all the items of Roman Law to be used by students in the Empire. That book, the Institutiones, remained in the centuries as a cornerstone of the matter for its completeness and clarity, and it was, for that reasons, utilized by scholars as a skeleton on which to structure their own commentaries.

Angelo Gambiglioni named l'Aretino (m. 1465 ca.) was an Italian jurist and magistrate, teacher of law both at Bologna and Ferrara universities. He wrote many consilia and other law treatises as the famous De Maleficiis (1472), the Tractatus de criminibus (1476) and De testamentibus (1486).

Provenance: brown ink handwritten ownership signature beside the printer device, at title page, Tullius Tertius and, under printing place, another handwritten annotation Ex Lib. D. F (?) Meoni.

References: Only one copy in Italian public libraries, at Università degli Studi di Milano (CNCE 22422). OCLC locates 3 copies in USA (Harvard Law Library, George Washington University Law Library Washington, DC and Pitts Theology Library Candler School of Theology, Atlanta).

A water-stain at the lower margin of the volume and minor traces of use, but overall a very good and crisp copy.