[Early Printing in Greek - Aldine Press] [Greek Classics] [Greek Mythology] [Trojan War]
Homer.
[Opera graeca]
Ilias.
Ulyssea, Batrachomyomachia, Hymni XXXII
$8,500
Venice: Heirs of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, September 1524.
AN ATTRACTIVE COMPLETE SET OF THE THIRD ALDINE EDITION IN UNIFORM EARLY BINDINGS! Text entirely in Greek, except for the Latin/Greek titles and the dedicatory preface in Latin. Also includes the Greek text of the Lives of Homer by (pseudo-)Herodotus and Plutarch.
Printed at the celebrated Venetian printing house of Aldus Manutius, this lovely set presents the complete works of Homer - the first known literary author of Europe, who is central to the Western canon. Printed in the elegant Aldine Greek type, this 1524 edition reprints the text of the 1517 second Aldine edition, with a few textual corrections which are attributed to Aldus’s brother-in-law, Gian Francesco Torresani of Asola (1498 - 1557).
Also included is the important dedicatory epistle by Aldus Manutius to Girolamo Aleandro from the 1504 First Aldine edition. Cardinal Gerolamo Aleandro (1480 - 1542) was a brilliant Italian Renaissance scholar and, later, a cardinal. Born at Motta, he studied at Venice, where he became acquainted with Erasmus and Aldus Manutius, and at an early age was considered one of the most learned men of his time. He learned Hebrew from a Jewish refugee from Spain, and Greek from Carteromachus and Musurus; soon he was adding Arabic and Chaldee. He did editorial work on the Aldine Plutarch and helped Erasmus with his Adagia. In 1508 he went to Paris on the invitation of Louis XII as professor of literature, and held for a time the position of rector of the University of Paris. In 1519 Pope Leo X appointed him librarian of the Vatican. In the following year Aleandro participated in the diet of Worms, where he headed the opposition to Luther, advocating the most extreme measures to repress the doctrines of the reformer. His conduct evoked the fiercest denunciations from Luther, while also displeasing some moderates including Erasmus.
Homer (Ancient Greek: Ὅμηρος) is best known as the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. He was believed by the ancient Greeks to have been the first and greatest of the epic poets. When exactly he lived is unknown. Herodotus estimates that Homer lived no more than 400 years before his own time, which would place him at around 850 BC or later. Pseudo-Herodotus’ estimate (in his Life of Homer) places him at 1102 BCE, i.e. 168 years after the fall of Troy in 1270 BCE. Modern scholars are generally agreed that there was a poet named Homer who lived before 700 BC, probably in Asia Minor. Legends about Homer were numerous in ancient times. He was said to be blind. His birthplace has always been disputed, but Chios or Smyrna seem most likely.
The importance of Homer to the ancient Greeks is emphasized in Plato's Republic, where he is referred to as the protos didaskalos, "first teacher", of tragedy, the hegemon paideias, "leader of learning", and the one who ‘ten Hellada pepaideuken’, i.e. ”has taught Greece". Homer's works provided models in persuasive speaking and writing that were emulated throughout the ancient and medieval Greek worlds. The study of Homer was required of all Greek students in antiquity, and his heroes were worshiped in many parts of Greece
The two epic poems attributed to Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey, are composed in dactylic hexameter, in a literary type of Greek, Ionic, in basis with Aeolic admixtures.
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, set in the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of Ilium by a coalition of Greek states. The Iliad is among the oldest extant works of Western literature, and its written version is usually dated to around the 8th century BC. The Iliad contains approximately 15,700 lines, and is written in a literary amalgam of several Greek dialects. One of the foremost achievements in Western literature, Homer's Iliad tells the story of the darkest episode of the Trojan War. At its center is Achilles, the greatest warrior-champion of the Greeks, and his conflict with his leader Agamemnon. Interwoven in the tragic sequence of events are powerfully moving descriptions of the ebb and flow of battle, the besieged city of Ilium, the feud between the gods, and the fate of mortals. Although the story covers only a few weeks in the final year of the war, the Iliad mentions or alludes to many of the Greek legends about the siege.
The other of Homer’s two great epic poems, the Odyssey, mainly centers on the Greek hero Odysseus (or Ulysses, as he was known in Roman myths) and his long journey home following the fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus ten years to reach his native Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. In his absence, it is assumed he has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of unruly suitors competing for Penelope's hand in marriage.
The Aldine Press was the first to present Homer’s original Greek text in a portable and affordable octavo edition, making his complete works available for the first time to the wider public and thus playing a fundamental role in disseminating Greek literature. The desire to promote Greek studies was one of the main reasons behind Aldus's decision to establish his press in 1494; he chose Venice as the location because of its vibrant community of Greek immigrants and surrounded himself with Greek assistants and scholars.
Bibliographic references:
Adams H-745; Ahmanson-Murphy 226; Renouard 98:1; Brunet III, p. 269; Graesse III, 326; Hoffmann ii 460.
Physical description:
Two volumes. Octavo; leaves measure 15.5 cm x 9.6 cm. Bound in later 16th-century full mottled calf; boards within gilt-ruled fillet border with gilt fleuron corner-pieces and small lozenge-shaped arabesque gilt centerpieces (with design slightly varying between the volumes). Spines richly tooled in gilt, each with two gilt-lettered morocco labels. All edges mottled.
Vol.I:
Foliation: [56], 277, [1] leaves (forming 668 pages).
Signatures: 1-78 A-Z8 AA-LL8 MM6.
Vol. II:
Foliation: 251, [1] leaves (forming 504 pages).
Signatures: a-z8 A-H8 I4.
Both volumes collated and COMPLETE.
Woodcut Aldine ‘anchor and dolphin’ device on the title pages and verso of the final leaf of each volume.
Text in Greek type; printed in single column, 30 lines (plus headline) per page. 3- to 6-line initial spaces with guide letters (unrubricated).
The Odyssey volume contains a dedicatory epistle by Aldo Manuzio to Girolamo Aleandro, in Latin, printed in italic type (leaves a1v-2r).
The preliminaries to the Iliad vol. also include the Life of Homer by pseudo-Herodotus (11v-22v) and the Life of Homer by Plutarch (22v-78v), both in Greek.
Special divisional title for the Iliad on A1r (printed in capitals in both Greek and Latin).
Colophon and register on recto of the final leaf in each volume (MM6r in the Iliad volume; I4r in Odyssey volume), both with the woodcut device on verso.
Condition:
Very Good antiquarian condition. Both volumes complete. Bindings slightly rubbed; light edge-wear; Iliad vol. with front joint partially cracked at head and foot, front hinge a bit tender but holding; Odyssey vol. with front joint repaired (and quite solid); all boards attached. Internally very clean and bright, with only very light occasional marginal soiling; a few pages at opening of the Iliad with very faint races of early manuscript marginalia. Title page in the Iliad volume with a short tear in inner margin (at foot of the gutter), not affecting text. In all, an attractive, genuine, well-margined set in pleasing uniform near-contemporary bindings.
