1568 ESTIENNE GREEK/LATIN APHORISMS Ancient Philosophy PLUTARCH DIOGENES Erasmus

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1568 ESTIENNE GREEK/LATIN APHORISMS Ancient Philosophy PLUTARCH DIOGENES Erasmus:
$610.00

[Early Printing - Estienne press] [Humanism - Classical Philology] [Aphorisms & Apothegms] [Ancient Greek Philosophy] [History - Ancient]

[Geneva:] printed by Henri Estienne Jr., 1568.
First Edition thus. Parallel Greek and Latin text.

A very attractive example of this very elegant pocket-size edition presenting an extensive collection of sayings, aphorisms and life anecdotes of various ancient rulers and thinkers, compiled by Henri Estienne from the writings of the great ancient Greek writers: Plutarch (c. AD 46 - AD 120), the author of the Parallel Lives and Moralia, and Diogenes Laertius (3rd century AD) known for his Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers.

\"Henri Estienne\'s popular collection of Greek anecdotes, modelled after Erasmus\'s Aphothegmata, which, however, consisted only of Latin texts. Estienne\'s Greek texts (with facing Latin translations) are taken primarily from Plutarch and Diogenes Laertius, both of whose texts he was then preparing, as he states on the title and in his preface. The texts of Plutarch consist of the Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata, Aphothegmata Laconica, Instituta Laconica, and Lacaenarum aphothegmata; these are accompanied by the facing Latin translation by Raphael Regius.\" (F. Schreiber, The Estiennes, pp. 152/3.

The Latin translations, here printed in parallel with the original Greek text, are by Raffaele Regio, latinized as Raphael Regius (c. 1440 - 1520), an Italian Renaissance humanist, who was active first in Padua, where he made a reputation as one of the outstanding Classical scholars, then in Venice. (The most famous achievement of Regius is his demonstration that the Rhetorica ad Herennium, traditionally ascribed to Cicero in the Middle Ages, was not actually written by him.)

The printer and editor of this volume, Henri Estienne Jr. (1531? - 1598), was a member of the great family of Parisian and Genevan printers in 16th century, distinguished through five generations by their scholarship and craft. He inherited the celebrated Estienne press from his father, Robert. Exceedingly well-trained, Henri was, perhaps, the greatest humanist scholar of the family, and devoted years to searching for manuscripts. His editions of Greek and Latin works are remarkable for their accuracy and textual criticism.

The preliminaries of this edition include an editorial preface by Henri Estienne, two prefatory epistles by the translator Raphael Regius (dedications from earlier editions, dated May and September 1507), and an introductory epistle by Desiderius Erasmus from an early edition of his Apophthegmatum opus.

Bibliographic references:

Adams, A1329; Renouard, Annales de l\'imprimerie des Estienne II, p.131 no.5; Schreiber, 172.

Physical description:

Sextodecimo; leaves measure 12 cm x 7½ cm. Very attractively bound in early 18th-century red morocco; spine with four raised bands; tooled and lettered in gilt; boards with double-fillet gilt borders and gilt dentelles to edges. Marbled endpapers. Green silk bookmark attached.

Pagination: [32], 703, [1] pp. (final p. blank).
Signatures: *-**8 A-Z8 Aa-Xx8.
Collated and COMPLETE.

Woodcut Estienne\'s \"olive tree\" device on the title-page with the \"Noli album sapper\" motto; several decorative woodcut initials.Printed in roman and Greek types; Greek text and Latin translation on facing pages.

Preliminaries include H. Estienne\'s poem (\'Tetrastichon\') on this compilation of apophtegms (title verso *1v); his preface to the reader (*2r-*4r); Regius\'s two dedicatory prefaces from earlier editions (dated May and Sept. of his translations from Plutarch (*4v-**2r); Erasmus\'s introductory epistle to his Apophthegmatum opus (**2v-**5r); index of names (**5r-**8r); **8v blank. A1r is a divisional title.

Condition:

Very Good antiquarian condition. Binding slightly rubbed; corners a bit bumped; joints and top of spine inconspicuously repaired; still the binding is very fresh, solid and quite pleasing. Light soiling to title-page and occasionally elsewhere (mostly marginal); occasional minor spotting, otherwise text block remarkably clean and unmarked. A very early erased inscription to top margin of title-page. Front fly-leaf with a small tear at top edge, and a small and rather whimsical stamped monogram (unidentified), which is also embossed in the top inner corner of front cover. A genuinely attractive exemplar of this elegant and uncommon edition.

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