Palingenio Stellato (Marcello) - Marcelli Palingenii Stellati Poetae Zodiacus vitae.

Marcelli Palingenii Stellati Poetae Zodiacus vitae: id est de hominis vita, studio, ac moribus optime instituendis libri XII.  Nunc demum ad exemplaria primaria sedulo castigati, centenis aliquot mendis expurgati, aliisque accessionibus aucti. 8vo, 16, 407, [51] p, errata on final leaf, 15cm, Rotterodami: Apud Joannem Hofhout, 1722.

Title-page printed in red and and black. Additional title-page engraved by J. Goeree. Decorated with head- and tail-pieces and initials. Contemporary speckled calf recently rebacked, red morocco label, gilt, to spine. Marbled edges,pencilled notes on this curious volume. A very good copy

Referenced by: Brunet IV col. 317. A rare work of which copies were gathered in by the Church and destroyed. See Isaac D'Israeli's 'Curiosities of Literature' under 'Literary Follies'. The initial letters of th first twenty-nine verses of the poem form the author's name.'  The Zodiac of Life was first published in 1530 and comprises twelve 'books', each of which is named after one of the Zodiacal constellations. The author's unorthodox beliefs about the nature of the heavens and thinly veiled attacks on the clergy roused the ire of the Church, and "Zodiacus Vitae" was one of the first works to be placed on the Papal Index of Forbidden Books, which was established in 1558. The author, usually identified as Pier Angelo Manzoli (ca. 1502- ca. 1543) escaped the full wrath of the Inquisitors by having died some fifteen years earlier, although according to some sources they nonetheless achieved a punishment of sorts by disinterring and burning his bones. The book became enormously popular and went through a number of editions.