4to. pp. (24), 320, (2). Contemporary vellum, gilt-stamped with a female saint holding a lily (Catherine of Siena?). First edition. A remarkable work by this early modern champion of the female sex. Marinelli’s Life of Catherine of Siena betrays its author’s agenda on the title page, by comparing Catherine’s ‘heroic feats’ to male heroes of medieval lore. “Marinella demonstrated extraordinary scholarship by the standards of her day, particularly with respect to the variety of sources she was able to cite, and with greater accuracy than many of her contemporaries. Many defenders of women had contented themselves with responding to vaguely defined opponents; Marinella, by contrast, cited her authors and their texts with some precision. This indicates both that she had access to the texts themselves, and not only to reports on the texts, and also that she understood the scholarly force of accurately and precisely representing the claims of an author. This is one aspect of her methodology that serves as a strength, and singles her out from the crowd of pro-woman writers.”

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