Details
[not before 31 October 1504]
HOMER. Opera, Gk. Ed. Aldo Manuzio from Demetrius Chalcondylas' 1488 ed. princ. printed by Demetrius Damilas at Florence (IGI 4795). Aldine 8° (163 x 100mm). 2 vols. Collation: vol. I 1-78 (1r blank, 1v Herodotus's life of Homer, 2/2v Plutarch's life of Homer), A-Z AA-LL8 MM6 (Iliad, A1r title in Greek and Latin Homeri Ilias and woodcut Aldine dolphin-and-anchor device Fletcher no. 3, A1v-2r publisher's dedicatory letter to Girolamo Aleandro [Motta di Livenza 1480-1542 Rome], MM6 blank); vol. II a-z A-G8 H10 (a1r title in Greek and Latin Ulyssea. Batrachomyomachia. Hymni xxxii and device 3, a1v-2r second dedication to Aleandro, a3r-D5v Odyssey, D6r-E2v Batrachomyomachia, E3r-H10r Homeric Hymns, H10v blank). 56, 278 and 250 leaves. Greek type 4:79 (text), italic 1:80 (dedication). 30 lines and headline. Initial-spaces with guide-letters
Bound with vol. II: [1505]
QUINTUS Smyrnaeus (fl. 4th cent. A.D.) Posthomerica, Gk. -TRYPHIODOROS the Egyptian (fl. 5th cent. A.D.) Excidium Trojae, Gk. -COLUTHOS of Lycopolis (fl. late 5th cent.) De raptu Helenae, Gk. Aldine 8°. Collation: a-t8 (Quintus, a1r title in Greek and Latin Quinti Calabri Derelictorum ab Homero libri quatuordecim and device 3, a1v blank, t8v blank); u-x8 y4 (Tryphiodoros, x5r Coluthos, y4v device 3). 172 leaves. Greek type 4:79. 30 lines and headline. (Small wormhole at the end.)
PREFACE: Aleandro, the dedicatee of Homer, was a precocious scholar, giving his first public lecture at fifteen. He learnt Hebrew from a Jewish refugee from Spain and Greek from Carteromachus and Musurus. Soon he was adding Arabic and Chaldee. He did editorial work on the Aldine Plutarch (see lot 56) and helped Erasmus with the Adagia (lot 53). Aldus writes in these two letters that he ought to be allowed to choose his dedicatees at his own discretion and without criticism, because it is he who brings books to new life by their painstaking production. He has wanted to dedicate his Homer to Aleandro, obviously not because he needs any encouragement in his literary studies, but rather to show everyone in what great affection he holds him on account of his prodigious talent and his wideranging linguistic skills. His pronunciation of Greek and Hebrew is such that one would guess that he had grown up in Athens or Jerusalem. Many reasons influence parents in the coice of names for their children, but Girolamo Aleandro's father chose well as he resembles St. Jerome both in wisdom and honesty. Aldus would have liked to finish by saying something about Batrachomyomachia and the Homeric Hymns, but how can one improve on Chalcondylas' introduction to the Florence edition of Homer?
BINDING: FINE CONTEMPORARY VENETIAN 'ALLA GRECA' BINDINGS of blind-tooled darkened olive goatskin over wooden boards, raised headcaps, cover-edges grooved, fore-edges flush with those of the leaves, panelled sides decorated with foliate and arabesque tools, blue edges, those at the bottom inscribed with the title, original endpapers and flyleaves, (skilfully restored at joints and spine-ends, clasps removed, but in bright condition). PROVENANCE: Antonio Covi, who bought the set at Venice in 1513 for 8 lire (i.e. a good discount from Aldus's publication price of 1 ducat 3 lire for Homer and 3 lire for Quintus), six inscriptions including one recording his ownership while eating a whole capon for lunch, Antonij Covi comedentis unum caponem in prandio liber grecus Homerus; Antonio da Casteno 1516, perhaps identical with the above, but the inscription is in a different hand.
Second edition in Greek of the Iliad and Odyssey, FIRST ALDINE EDITION. Although Bessarion's now-famous Venetus A 10th-century codex of the Iliad could have been collated in the Ducal palace near the shop, Aldus reprinted the text from the Florentine ed. pr. The same collection contained a complete manuscript of Quintus of Smyrna, a text on which Aldus worked from a defective manuscript (see Lowry p. 230-31). EDITIO PRINCEPS of the post-classical epic writers Quintus, who bridged Homer's gap between the Iliad and the Odyssey; Tryphiodorus, who tells the story of the destruction of Troy; Coluthos, whose short Rape of Helen is written in a simple style. The first and third work had been recovered by an agent for Cardinal Bessarion at the monastery of St. Nicholas outside Otranto, Apulia, before the town was briefly captured by the Turks in 1480 (see Wilson p. 143). COMPLETE SETS OF THE FIRST ALDINE HOMER IN CONTEMPORARY BINDINGS IN THE GREEK STYLE ARE OF THE GREATEST RARITY. Isaac 12802, 12813; Adams H-741, Q-77; Hoffmann II 315, III 337; Dionisotti & Orlandi LIV-LV; Murphy 68, 71; Sansoviniana 98-102; Laurenziana 88, 97; R 46:6, 261:14
HOMER. Opera, Gk. Ed. Aldo Manuzio from Demetrius Chalcondylas' 1488 ed. princ. printed by Demetrius Damilas at Florence (IGI 4795). Aldine 8° (163 x 100mm). 2 vols. Collation: vol. I 1-78 (1r blank, 1v Herodotus's life of Homer, 2/2v Plutarch's life of Homer), A-Z AA-LL8 MM6 (Iliad, A1r title in Greek and Latin Homeri Ilias and woodcut Aldine dolphin-and-anchor device Fletcher no. 3, A1v-2r publisher's dedicatory letter to Girolamo Aleandro [Motta di Livenza 1480-1542 Rome], MM6 blank); vol. II a-z A-G8 H10 (a1r title in Greek and Latin Ulyssea. Batrachomyomachia. Hymni xxxii and device 3, a1v-2r second dedication to Aleandro, a3r-D5v Odyssey, D6r-E2v Batrachomyomachia, E3r-H10r Homeric Hymns, H10v blank). 56, 278 and 250 leaves. Greek type 4:79 (text), italic 1:80 (dedication). 30 lines and headline. Initial-spaces with guide-letters
Bound with vol. II: [1505]
QUINTUS Smyrnaeus (fl. 4th cent. A.D.) Posthomerica, Gk. -TRYPHIODOROS the Egyptian (fl. 5th cent. A.D.) Excidium Trojae, Gk. -COLUTHOS of Lycopolis (fl. late 5th cent.) De raptu Helenae, Gk. Aldine 8°. Collation: a-t8 (Quintus, a1r title in Greek and Latin Quinti Calabri Derelictorum ab Homero libri quatuordecim and device 3, a1v blank, t8v blank); u-x8 y4 (Tryphiodoros, x5r Coluthos, y4v device 3). 172 leaves. Greek type 4:79. 30 lines and headline. (Small wormhole at the end.)
PREFACE: Aleandro, the dedicatee of Homer, was a precocious scholar, giving his first public lecture at fifteen. He learnt Hebrew from a Jewish refugee from Spain and Greek from Carteromachus and Musurus. Soon he was adding Arabic and Chaldee. He did editorial work on the Aldine Plutarch (see lot 56) and helped Erasmus with the Adagia (lot 53). Aldus writes in these two letters that he ought to be allowed to choose his dedicatees at his own discretion and without criticism, because it is he who brings books to new life by their painstaking production. He has wanted to dedicate his Homer to Aleandro, obviously not because he needs any encouragement in his literary studies, but rather to show everyone in what great affection he holds him on account of his prodigious talent and his wideranging linguistic skills. His pronunciation of Greek and Hebrew is such that one would guess that he had grown up in Athens or Jerusalem. Many reasons influence parents in the coice of names for their children, but Girolamo Aleandro's father chose well as he resembles St. Jerome both in wisdom and honesty. Aldus would have liked to finish by saying something about Batrachomyomachia and the Homeric Hymns, but how can one improve on Chalcondylas' introduction to the Florence edition of Homer?
BINDING: FINE CONTEMPORARY VENETIAN 'ALLA GRECA' BINDINGS of blind-tooled darkened olive goatskin over wooden boards, raised headcaps, cover-edges grooved, fore-edges flush with those of the leaves, panelled sides decorated with foliate and arabesque tools, blue edges, those at the bottom inscribed with the title, original endpapers and flyleaves, (skilfully restored at joints and spine-ends, clasps removed, but in bright condition). PROVENANCE: Antonio Covi, who bought the set at Venice in 1513 for 8 lire (i.e. a good discount from Aldus's publication price of 1 ducat 3 lire for Homer and 3 lire for Quintus), six inscriptions including one recording his ownership while eating a whole capon for lunch, Antonij Covi comedentis unum caponem in prandio liber grecus Homerus; Antonio da Casteno 1516, perhaps identical with the above, but the inscription is in a different hand.
Second edition in Greek of the Iliad and Odyssey, FIRST ALDINE EDITION. Although Bessarion's now-famous Venetus A 10th-century codex of the Iliad could have been collated in the Ducal palace near the shop, Aldus reprinted the text from the Florentine ed. pr. The same collection contained a complete manuscript of Quintus of Smyrna, a text on which Aldus worked from a defective manuscript (see Lowry p. 230-31). EDITIO PRINCEPS of the post-classical epic writers Quintus, who bridged Homer's gap between the Iliad and the Odyssey; Tryphiodorus, who tells the story of the destruction of Troy; Coluthos, whose short Rape of Helen is written in a simple style. The first and third work had been recovered by an agent for Cardinal Bessarion at the monastery of St. Nicholas outside Otranto, Apulia, before the town was briefly captured by the Turks in 1480 (see Wilson p. 143). COMPLETE SETS OF THE FIRST ALDINE HOMER IN CONTEMPORARY BINDINGS IN THE GREEK STYLE ARE OF THE GREATEST RARITY. Isaac 12802, 12813; Adams H-741, Q-77; Hoffmann II 315, III 337; Dionisotti & Orlandi LIV-LV; Murphy 68, 71; Sansoviniana 98-102; Laurenziana 88, 97; R 46:6, 261:14