MELANCHTON (Ph.): Rhetorices Elementa. Lyon, Gryphe, 1539. I - Lot 40

MELANCHTON (Ph.): Rhetorices Elementa. Lyon, Gryphe, 1539. In-12 old vellum but post, 135 pp. text ruled. (some passages underlined at the time). First edition of this philosophical teaching treatise. Philippe Schwartzerd, whose name Mélanchthon is Hellenized, was born in Bretten (today's Grand Duchy of Baden) in 1497. From his earliest years, he received a meticulous education. Although he belonged to a family of craftsmen and merchants, his grandmother was the sister of the famous Reuchlin, and the great Hebraist and Hellenist of the German Renaissance always supervised his grand-nephew's education with particular care. A doctor of theology, university professor and disciple of Martin Luther, Melanchthon is best known for writing the Augsburg Confession in 1530. He is also the creator of the term psychology, coined from the Greek. A fine copy.