Details
ALDINE PRESS. SOPHOCLES. Tragaediae Septem cum commentariis [in Greek, edited by Aldus Manutius]. Venice: Aldus Manutius, August 1502. 8vo, 162 x 100 mm. (6 3/4 x 3 7/8 in.), English nineteenth-century rust-brown morocco, Aldine anchor device gilt at center of covers within decorative gold-tooled borders, spine gilt-panelled, g.e., rubbed and faded, joints starting, inner hinges restored but weak, two or three minor marginal tears, a few marginalia shaved, first and last few leaves foxed, scattered marginal soiling and/or foxing throughout, occasional faint marginal dampstaining. EDITIO PRINCEPS, issue with the list of plays on title and text beginning on A1 recto. 196 leaves, including the 3 blanks, unfoliated. Greek and italic type, woodcut printer's device on verso of last leaf, spaces for initials with guide letters.
First edition of all the surviving tragedies: Ajax, Electra, Oedipus tyrannus, Antigone, Oedipus coloneus, Trachiniae, and Philoctetes. The title is misleading, as the text is printed without commentary. Adams S-1438; Isaac 12780; Renouard Alde, p. 34.6.
Provenance: Pietro Angelio da Barga (1517-96), Italian classical scholar and writer of Latin verse, ownership inscription on title and extensive marginal notes (in Greek) throughout -- Old (eighteenth-century?) manuscript foliation -- Lengthy nineteenth-century inscription on front flyleaf, stating that the copy was purchased in 1816 from the Canon Raffetti of Ligorno, a "lineal descendant" of Angelio -- Later nineteenth-century manuscript notes on facing flyleaf concerning the edition and the copy, initialed G.D. -- Leo S. Olschki, bookplate -- Cortlandt Field Bishop, morocco bookplate (sale, American Art Association/Anderson Galleries, New York, part 3, 14-15 November 1938, lot 2126).
First edition of all the surviving tragedies: Ajax, Electra, Oedipus tyrannus, Antigone, Oedipus coloneus, Trachiniae, and Philoctetes. The title is misleading, as the text is printed without commentary. Adams S-1438; Isaac 12780; Renouard Alde, p. 34.6.
Provenance: Pietro Angelio da Barga (1517-96), Italian classical scholar and writer of Latin verse, ownership inscription on title and extensive marginal notes (in Greek) throughout -- Old (eighteenth-century?) manuscript foliation -- Lengthy nineteenth-century inscription on front flyleaf, stating that the copy was purchased in 1816 from the Canon Raffetti of Ligorno, a "lineal descendant" of Angelio -- Later nineteenth-century manuscript notes on facing flyleaf concerning the edition and the copy, initialed G.D. -- Leo S. Olschki, bookplate -- Cortlandt Field Bishop, morocco bookplate (sale, American Art Association/Anderson Galleries, New York, part 3, 14-15 November 1938, lot 2126).