_{The Microcosm:}

The Collections have forty-four incunabula (books printed before 1500). One of these books from the early days of printing is this very rare book by Pietro de Crescenzi (ca. 1230-ca. 1320) on agricultural science, the Opus Ruralium Commodorum (1471).

Crescenzi lived near Bologna between 1230 and 1307 and studied animal husbandry and agriculture. His first books were handwritten manuscripts and this printed version imitated the manuscripts closely with its hand illumination. The verso of the first page is a manuscript on vellum of a tenth-century Easter chant.

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