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From then on, this, and not Brassicanuss letter, was published in the follow¬
ing editions: 1623 (Nuremberg), 1645 (Paris), 1688 (Bremen)."" After the 1688
edition by Etienne Baluze (1630-1718) which includes a long summary of the his¬
tory of editions, * both texts disappear (Venice, Pisa, Prague, Olomouc, Passau,
Vienna). Mention of Matthias’s library only reappears in the editios of Nagyszom¬
bat (Tyrnau) (1752, 1773)'°* in the prefaces based on Rittershausen’s biography of
Salvianus. There are, of course, editions in which references to the Buda library
occur, but this fact is not emphasised. One example is the edition published by the
Vienna Jesuit order’s patronage where Buda is mentioned, but Brassicanus is not
named in the foreword:
„Latuit thesaurus hic sane pretiosus annos omnino mille quinquaginta, tumulo partim
ibrario, partim oblivionis sepultus, donec cum litterata Respublica, cui praeter no¬
men Viri®? vix aliud reliquum erat, inter manuscripta Bibliothecae Regiae Budensis
unice superstitem feliciter reperisset, atque e vetustissimis illis pulveribus erutum
anno primum 1530, typis Basiliensibus in lucem protraxisset, temporibusque posteris
communicasset "9
Similarly, some critical editions mention how Brassicanus obtained the manuscript
for the first edition when listing editions. An example of this: the work of Karl
Traugott Gottlob Schoenemann (1752-1802),'! a text which was also adapted by
Jacques Paul Migne (1800-1875) to his edizio.!‘?
I find it particularly significant that the French editions also mention the Cor¬
vina Codex, similar to the preface of the translator Pierre Gorse (1590-1661),
in the book which was dedicated to Pierre III de Bertier (1606-1674), the Bishop
of Montauban (1652-1674):
Preface du traducteur sur les escrits et sur la vie de Salvian [In this preface Gorse
translates in an abbreviated form the Salvianus biography written by Konrad Rit¬
tershausen (1611)
Mais je sgay par quel malheur ou negligence des hommes lettrez de son siecle et
des suiuans, il à demeuré inconnu l'espace de mille et cinquante ans, apres lesquels
loannes Alexander Brassicanus la tire des tenebres, ou il estoit enseuly. Cest luy qui
trouua dans la Bibliotheque de Bude, Ville Capital de là Hongrie, dressée par le roy
156 Sarvianus (ed. RirrersHusius) 1623, fol. *2r—v.; Satvianus (ed. PrrHou) 1645, 3—4.; SALVIANUS (ed.
Bazuze) 1688, fol. IVr. I note that Jean Osmont, who reprinted Pithou’s edition, omitted this biography,
Satvianus (ed. PrrHou-Osmont) 1627; as did the Oxford editio, Satvianus (ed. Brassicanus—
PırHov) 1633, the latter including the original Brassicanus notes, but his paratext is missing.
I only mention a few previous publications that do not have this publication history: SALVIANUS (ed.
Baruze) 1663, 1669, 1684. After the Bremen edition of 1688 (opera omnia), an unchanged reprint of the
previous editions (1663, 1669, 1684) was published, entitled as the fourth edition, without changes for
two years, also without reference to the Corvina: Saıvıanus (ed. BaLuze) 1742, 1743.
158 SaLvIANus 1752, fol. 5r—-v.; Sarvıanus 1773, fol. 5r-v.
159 Jomannes Alexander Brassicanus.
160 Sarvıanus 1750, fol. [4]r.
161 SaLvIANUS (ed. SCHOENEMANN) 1794, 827-828, 845.
162 SALVIANUS (ed. MiGNE) 1847, 14-15.
16 "Tre first translation does not contain anything like that.: SALVIANUS (ed. BAUFFREMONT) 1575a.
157
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