Details
SOPHOCLES (ca. 496-406 B.C.) Tragaediae septem cum commentariis, in Greek. Edited by John Gregoropoulos of Crete. Venice: Aldus Manutius, August 1502 [or the following winter].
Aldine 8 (148 x 91 mm). 196 leaves, including 3 blank leaves. General title, Latin dedication to Janus Lascaris, epigrams of Simonides, Erucius and Dioscorides the Alexandrian from the Anthology, 6 divisional titles, woodcut dolphin and anchor device (Fletcher no. 2) on verso of final leaf. (Occasional faint dampstaining.) 19th-century vellum over pasteboard, gilt spine, early ink-lettered title on lower edges. Provenance: Latin marginalia to Ajax and notes on first blank in an 18th or early 19th-century hand (slightly cropped); Herbert Thompson (19th-century inscription on front flyleaf); Charles James Stuart, Baronet (bookplate).
EDITIO PRINCEPS, of fundamental importance both textually and typographically. The Aldine edition remained the most readily available source for study of Sophocles's text until the 19th century, when superior manuscripts became the object of scholarly study. A portion of the printer's copy survives, as St. Petersburg ms. gr. 731. The edition was the first Greek book issued in Aldus's portable format, and the first classical text printed in Francesco Griffo's exquisite last type, the smallest and most delicate of the Aldine greek types. "By any standard it is a masterpiece... It is not surprising that after this no further development was undertaken; it was a ne plus ultra until the great French engravers of the mid-century, Garamond, Granjon and Haultin, bent their talents to the cutting of greeks" (N. Barker, Aldus Manutius and the development of Greek script and type, New York 1992, p. 89). Nevertheless, "what sales Aldus can realistically have expected must remain uncertain. One may speculate that for this and some of the other titles he ventured to issue he may have hoped to find some purchasers in the fairly substantial Greek emigr community in Venice or even to export a few copies to Crete" (N. G. Wilson, From Byzantium to Italy, Baltimore 1992, p. 138) Adams S-1438; Renouard Alde 34:6; Norman 1976.
Aldine 8 (148 x 91 mm). 196 leaves, including 3 blank leaves. General title, Latin dedication to Janus Lascaris, epigrams of Simonides, Erucius and Dioscorides the Alexandrian from the Anthology, 6 divisional titles, woodcut dolphin and anchor device (Fletcher no. 2) on verso of final leaf. (Occasional faint dampstaining.) 19th-century vellum over pasteboard, gilt spine, early ink-lettered title on lower edges. Provenance: Latin marginalia to Ajax and notes on first blank in an 18th or early 19th-century hand (slightly cropped); Herbert Thompson (19th-century inscription on front flyleaf); Charles James Stuart, Baronet (bookplate).
EDITIO PRINCEPS, of fundamental importance both textually and typographically. The Aldine edition remained the most readily available source for study of Sophocles's text until the 19th century, when superior manuscripts became the object of scholarly study. A portion of the printer's copy survives, as St. Petersburg ms. gr. 731. The edition was the first Greek book issued in Aldus's portable format, and the first classical text printed in Francesco Griffo's exquisite last type, the smallest and most delicate of the Aldine greek types. "By any standard it is a masterpiece... It is not surprising that after this no further development was undertaken; it was a ne plus ultra until the great French engravers of the mid-century, Garamond, Granjon and Haultin, bent their talents to the cutting of greeks" (N. Barker, Aldus Manutius and the development of Greek script and type, New York 1992, p. 89). Nevertheless, "what sales Aldus can realistically have expected must remain uncertain. One may speculate that for this and some of the other titles he ventured to issue he may have hoped to find some purchasers in the fairly substantial Greek emigr community in Venice or even to export a few copies to Crete" (N. G. Wilson, From Byzantium to Italy, Baltimore 1992, p. 138) Adams S-1438; Renouard Alde 34:6; Norman 1976.