Logica suis ipsius instrumentis formata auctore Foelice Vero Siceno: the editio princeps of Faust Vran？i？’s autograph in the State Archives in Zadar

Sa？etak Accompanied by introduction, notes and facsimiles, here presented is the editio princeps of a recently discovered and so far completely unknown Faust Vran？i？’s autograph treatise on logic that was purchased (along with the meagre remains of his personal archive) in 1948 from Vran？i？’s distant descendants in Prvi？ ？epurine, the Island of Prvi？, in the vicinity of ？ibenik. Other than being the only surviving autograph―in addition to the two thus far well-known printed editions, Logica suis ipsius instrumentis formata a Yusto Verace Siceno (Venice, 1608) and Logica nova suis ipsius instrumentis formata et recognita a Fausto Verancio episcopo Chanadii (Venice, 1616)―the manuscript in the State Archives in Zadar, transcribed and published in this volume contains arguably the oldest version of Vran？i？’s Logic. The examination of external features of the manuscript shows that the text of the treatise itself―although being identical in title and quite analogous in structure―is considerably shorter in length and accordingly of an earlier date than the text of the 1608 edition. It should, however, be explicitly stressed that the autograph script in Zadar is not a draft of the latter, but, quite the contrary, a completed, fully finalized work in its own right. In fact, judging from the manuscript’s thoroughly considered layout and different, ‘hierarchically’ arranged and used types of handwriting, it was prepared by the author himself in order to be sent directly to the printer and used by the typesetter as a template for the final layout of the book. However, given the fact that there is no evidence of the opposite, it should be inferred that this manuscript version of Vran？i？’s Logica never came to be printed. In the concluding part of the article some preliminary thoughts regarding the dating of the manuscript are briefly formulated. On the one hand, the name by which Vran？i？ signed his treatise―the until recently otherwise unknown pseudonym Foelix Verus―matches the name Felice Vero under which he supplicated and eventually obtained the patent privilege from the Venetian Senate for his own invention of the mill mechanism in 1590. Thus, the possibility that he was working on his treatise on logic by the beginning of the last decade of the sixteenth century should not be dismissed. Another potential clue, perhaps not for the dating of the particular manuscript, but certainly for the enquiry regarding the time in which Vran？i？ wrote his ‘first’ Logic, is the identity of the still enigmatic Antonius Cornicinus, the author of the dedicatory four-verse