Details
GELLIUS, Aulus (ca.123-ca.165). Noctes Atticae. Edited by Joannes Andreae de Buxiis (1417-1475), bishop of Aleria. [Rome:] Conradus Sweynheym and Arnoldus Pannartz, 11 April 1469.
Median 2° (323 x 210mm). Collation: [16 210 36 4-810 912 10-2010 218] (1/1 blank, 1/2r dedicatory letter by Bussi to Pope Paul II, 1/6v blank, 2/1 blank, 2/2r tabula, 3/6 blank, 4/1r Noctes Atticae, 21/7v verses by Bussi in praise of Paul II, 21/8v blank). 201 (of 202, without first blank) leaves. 38 lines. Types 2:115R, 115Gk. 2- to 7-line initial spaces, spaces for headings. Unrubricated. (Small wormholes filled.) Gold-tooled green morocco over pasteboard, border of fillets on covers, spine tooled in compartments, gilt turn-ins, yellow glazed endpapers, gilt edges, (spine slightly faded), [bound by Charles Lewis].
FIRST EDITION. The Noctes Atticae, a work of short chapters on a variety of subjects such as philosophy, history, law, literature and grammar, was written in the latter half of the second century. Gellius began work during the winter nights in Attica and produced the book for the entertainment and instruction of his children. It enjoyed great success even in Antiquity and throughout the Middle Ages.
Some Latin and Greek works of Antiquity are known only from this work through Gellius's extensive quotations. Consequently, the text is heavily peppered with Greek: one lengthy passage of Plato's Gorgias takes up a complete leaf (fo. 109), printed entirely in Greek and continued on the next page. Sweynheym and Pannartz, the prototypographers of Italy, whose first press stood at the Benedictine Monastery in Subiaco, printed many first editions of the Latin classics (see lots 9 and 19). According to an appeal for financial help to the pope on their behalf by the chief editor to the press, Bussi, 275 copies of the Gellius were printed. Their list, including the edition sizes, appeared in the 1471-2 edition of Nicolaus de Lyra.
HCR 7517; GW 10593; BMC IV, 6 (IB. 17118-20); Goff G-118; Pellechet 5008; IGI 4186; Flodr, Gellius 1
Median 2° (323 x 210mm). Collation: [16 210 36 4-810 912 10-2010 218] (1/1 blank, 1/2r dedicatory letter by Bussi to Pope Paul II, 1/6v blank, 2/1 blank, 2/2r tabula, 3/6 blank, 4/1r Noctes Atticae, 21/7v verses by Bussi in praise of Paul II, 21/8v blank). 201 (of 202, without first blank) leaves. 38 lines. Types 2:115R, 115Gk. 2- to 7-line initial spaces, spaces for headings. Unrubricated. (Small wormholes filled.) Gold-tooled green morocco over pasteboard, border of fillets on covers, spine tooled in compartments, gilt turn-ins, yellow glazed endpapers, gilt edges, (spine slightly faded), [bound by Charles Lewis].
FIRST EDITION. The Noctes Atticae, a work of short chapters on a variety of subjects such as philosophy, history, law, literature and grammar, was written in the latter half of the second century. Gellius began work during the winter nights in Attica and produced the book for the entertainment and instruction of his children. It enjoyed great success even in Antiquity and throughout the Middle Ages.
Some Latin and Greek works of Antiquity are known only from this work through Gellius's extensive quotations. Consequently, the text is heavily peppered with Greek: one lengthy passage of Plato's Gorgias takes up a complete leaf (fo. 109), printed entirely in Greek and continued on the next page. Sweynheym and Pannartz, the prototypographers of Italy, whose first press stood at the Benedictine Monastery in Subiaco, printed many first editions of the Latin classics (see lots 9 and 19). According to an appeal for financial help to the pope on their behalf by the chief editor to the press, Bussi, 275 copies of the Gellius were printed. Their list, including the edition sizes, appeared in the 1471-2 edition of Nicolaus de Lyra.
HCR 7517; GW 10593; BMC IV, 6 (IB. 17118-20); Goff G-118; Pellechet 5008; IGI 4186; Flodr, Gellius 1