La cena de le Ceneri (The Ash Wednesday supper), the first of Giordano Bruno’s six Italian philosophical dialogues, was first published in London in 1584. The title page indicates neither the place of publication nor the publisher, but scholars agree that the book was printed at the London shop of John Charlewood. The work is dedicated to the French ambassador to the English court, Michel de Castelnau, sieur de la Mauvissière, who assisted Bruno after his arrival in London in 1583. The book is divided into five dialogues and ...

The present copy of the work commonly called the Tesoro Messicano (Mexican treasure), formally titled Rerum medicarum Novae Hispaniae thesaurus, seu, Plantarum animalium mineralium Mexicanorum historia (Inventory of medical items from New Spain, or, History of Mexican plants, animals and minerals) is also known as the “Esemplare Cesiano” for its rich handwritten annotations by Federico Cesi (1585‒1630), the Italian naturalist and founder of the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome. The Tesoro is a complex work: the events that culminated in its publication in 1651 date back to 1570, when ...