Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica, [Venice, Aldo Manuzio, 1505?], French straight-grained red morocco by Simier R. du Roi

Quintus Smyrnaeus. Kointou Kalabrou Paraleipomenon Omerou, biblia tessareskaideka. Quinti Calabri Derelictorum ab Homero libri quatuordecim [Greek and Latin]. [Venice: Aldo Manuzio, 1505?]

Editio princeps, the Renouard-Fortescue copy.

Quintus Smyrnaeus, or Quintus Calaber, was a late antique Greek epic poet whose Posthomerica (Derelicta ab Homero) continued the Iliad, bridging the narrative gap to the Odyssey. Composed in Homeric style between the 3^rd and 4^th centuries AD, the fourteen-book epic recounts key events of the Trojan War. One of the few extant later Greek epics, it remains a vital source for the post-Homeric tradition.

8vo (160 x 94 mm). Greek type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: a-x⁸ y⁴: 172 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device to title-page and verso of last leaf, guide letters in initial spaces. (Marginal repairs to first two and last three leaves, occasional small spots.)

binding: French straight-grained red morocco by Simier R. du Roi (fl. 1809-1826) (166 x 105 mm), gilt border roll flanked by two gilt fillets, two inner blind frames formed by floral roll and pointed arch roll, spine gilt, green marbled endpapers, vellum endleaves, gilt edges. (Joints starting, some light shelfwear.)

provenance: Evidently Antoine-Augustin Renouard (1765-1853), without his inventory number — Hon. George Matthew Fortescue (1791-1877), his inscription on endleaf in pencil "Bt. of Renouard, Paris 1821"; by descent to — John Bevill Fortescue (1850-1938); by descent to — his son John Grenville Fortescue (1896-1969)]; by descent to — John Desmond Grenville Fortescue (1919-2017); his sale, Christie's London, 24 March 1971, lot 32. acquisition: Purchased at Christie's via Quaritch. references: UCLA 95; Renouard 261/14; Edit16 36102; USTC 851779