The 19th Book: Tesoro de Poveri

Washington DC: Library of Congress, 1961. First Edition. Tall 8vo. 123 pp., with 13 plates. Original light-brown cloth (front cover a little stained, spine somewhat darkened). NOT ex-library! ONE OF THE EARLIEST PUBLISHED READING LISTS. Rosenwald, the great benefactor of the Library of Congress, here compares two copies of the "Libro delli Comandamenti di Dio," perhaps the oldest recommended reading list, printed in Florence in 1494. Naturally both copies belonged to Rosenwald.

¶ The title of the present work, "The 19th Book - Tesoro de Poveri," comes from the fact that the number of "recommended" books varied between the two copies; in the (truncated) first there were 18, in the second there were 19. The name of the 19th book is the "Elthesauro de poueri in medicicina" or "Tesoro de poveri." Rosenwald gives transcriptions of the original texts, translations into English, appendices and useful notes.

¶ From the famed Bibliotheca Bibliographica Breslaueriana (sale at Christies NY, 2005, lot 1255) and with B.H. Breslauer's circled accession number in pencil inside front cover. (Inventory #: 3136)