Les livres de Polydore Vergil d'Urbin, des inventeurs des choses

The work was placed on the Index and reissued in 1575 in an expurgated version. The first French translation appears to have been published in 1527, according to a copy held at the University of Glasgow, although another source gives 1528 as the date of the first French edition in Latin by Robert Estienne. Rare, like all editions. Not listed in the BnF or in French library catalogues (with the exception of a 1586 Lyon edition), nor in many other library holdings. Brunet gives 1499 as the original date, V, 1135. Le Grégoire cites 1571 for the first edition...
Bound in full brick paper-covered boards, late 18th or early 19th century; title in ink faded and illegible.

Polydore Vergil (1470–1555) was born and died in Urbino. After studying in Bologna and Padua, he became secretary to the Duke of Urbino and chamberlain to Alexander VI. His first two works brought him fame and enjoyed wide popularity: 'Proverbiorum libellus' and 'De inventoribus rerum', translated into French as 'Les inventeurs des choses'. In 1501, the Pope sent him to England, where he became a close associate of Henry VII. The king commissioned him to write a history of England, through which Polydore Vergil became the first modern historian—not merely compiling a chronicle, but analyzing events. In doing so, he influenced all future historians, including Shakespeare in his historical vision. He returned to his homeland during England’s religious upheaval. (Catholic Encyclopedia).
Presented in the form of articles, the work covers a wide array of inventions: salt, pottery, painting, linen, music... The book also serves as a history of medicine and magic. Polydore Vergil drew extensively on classical sources.