![EPISTOLAE GRAECAE — Epistolae diversorum philosophorum, in Greek. Edited by Marcus Musurus (c.1470-1517). Venice: Aldus Manutius, [29] March 1499; [not before 17 April 1499].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/CKS/2018_CKS_16018_0168_000(epistolae_graecae_epistolae_diversorum_philosophorum_in_greek_edited_b100707).jpg?w=1)
Details
EPISTOLAE GRAECAE — Epistolae diversorum philosophorum, in Greek. Edited by Marcus Musurus (c.1470-1517). Venice: Aldus Manutius, [29] March 1499; [not before 17 April 1499].
Editio princeps of the great majority of the letters. Musurus brought together 35 authors in his extensive collection, ranging from Plato, Aristotle, Isocrates and Aeschines to later authors such as Alexander the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, St Basil, and Procopius of Gaza; other letters are spurious and attributed to Hippocrates and Euripides, inter alia. Letter-writing, allied to rhetoric, was an important element in a humanistic education, and compendia of letters circulated as model precedents. The Aldine Epistolae Graecae 'was not replaced by an equally useful collection until 1873, the date of R. Hercher's Epistolographi graeci' (Wilson, Byzantium to Italy, p.150). HC *6659; GW 9367; BMC V, 560; IGI 3707; Klebs 379.1; Hoffmann II, p.30; Renouard Alde, p.18, 1; Ahmanson-Murphy 24; Goff E-64.
2 parts in one, super-chancery quarto (216 x 154mm). Part 2 bound before part one, with both blank leaves. Initial spaces with guide-letters (very occasional spotting, light browning in 2 quires). Renaissance Italian gold- and blindtooled panels preserved in tan calf with blind palmette border by C. Kalthoeber (ticket on flyleaf), gilt- and blindtooled spine (covers detached, a few chips at spine). Provenance: monastery of St Salvator (contemporary inscriptions partly removed) – early foliation – Sir Robert D’Arcy, 4th Baronet, of Hildyard (1743-1814; armorial bookplate).
Editio princeps of the great majority of the letters. Musurus brought together 35 authors in his extensive collection, ranging from Plato, Aristotle, Isocrates and Aeschines to later authors such as Alexander the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, St Basil, and Procopius of Gaza; other letters are spurious and attributed to Hippocrates and Euripides, inter alia. Letter-writing, allied to rhetoric, was an important element in a humanistic education, and compendia of letters circulated as model precedents. The Aldine Epistolae Graecae 'was not replaced by an equally useful collection until 1873, the date of R. Hercher's Epistolographi graeci' (Wilson, Byzantium to Italy, p.150). HC *6659; GW 9367; BMC V, 560; IGI 3707; Klebs 379.1; Hoffmann II, p.30; Renouard Alde, p.18, 1; Ahmanson-Murphy 24; Goff E-64.
2 parts in one, super-chancery quarto (216 x 154mm). Part 2 bound before part one, with both blank leaves. Initial spaces with guide-letters (very occasional spotting, light browning in 2 quires). Renaissance Italian gold- and blindtooled panels preserved in tan calf with blind palmette border by C. Kalthoeber (ticket on flyleaf), gilt- and blindtooled spine (covers detached, a few chips at spine). Provenance: monastery of St Salvator (contemporary inscriptions partly removed) – early foliation – Sir Robert D’Arcy, 4th Baronet, of Hildyard (1743-1814; armorial bookplate).
Special notice
No VAT on hammer price or buyer's premium.
Brought to you by
Robert Tyrwhitt