Aristophanes, Comoediae novem, Venice, Aldus, 1498, brown morocco gilt by Clarke and Bedford

ARISTOPHANES. Αριστοφανους κωμωδιαι εννεα. Aristophanis Comoediae novem [Greek], edited by Marcus Musurus, with the scholia. Venice: Aldo Manuzio, 15 July 1498

EDITIO PRINCEPS of nine of the eleven surviving comedies of Aristophanes, in the recension of the fourteenth-century Byzantine scholar Demetrios Triklinios; edited by Marcus Musurus with his preface. The two plays missing from this collection, Thesmophoriazusae and Lysistrata, were first printed by Giunta in Florence, 28 January 1515/16, 8vo (Adams A1722). Aldo’s dedication to Daniele Clario, teacher of classical languages in Ragusa, commends the plays of Aristophanes as necessary for pupils to immerse themselves in pure Greek, in the way that Terence serves for Latin: such was not only Aldo’s opinion, but that of Theodore Gaza. Aldo adds that St John Chrysostom always had a copy of Aristophanes by him, and used it as a pillow when he slept.

The edition contains also two Greek epigrams by Scipio Fortiguerra and other introductory material of the Triclinian recension: a life of Aristophanes and grammatical and metrical sections by or attributed to Hephaestion, Triclinius, Platonius, and Thomas Magister. Aldo noted that he had omitted the Lysistrata, as he had only been able to find about half the text. A tall and clean copy.

Super-Chancery folio (317 x 208 mm). Greek type, 42 lines (commentary) plus headline. Collation: [*]⁸ α-γ⁸ δ¹⁰ ε-ξ⁸ o¹⁰ π-υ⁸ φ⁶ χ-ω⁸ Α-Ε⁸ Ζ⁶ Η-Λ⁸ Μ⁴ Ν-Ο⁸ Π¹⁰ Ρ-Σ⁸ Τ⁶: 347 leaves (of 348, without T6 blank; preserves k8 blank). Woodcut initials and headpieces. (A few small light stains.)

Binding: Brown morocco gilt by Clarke and Bedford (327 x 223 mm), tooled in imitation of an early sixteenth-century Venetian binding, spine gilt in compartments, gilt edges. (Extremities slightly rubbed.)

Provenance: Bartholomaeus Paravicinus (Bartolomeo Pallavicino), son of Joannes Jacobus, early inscription on title-page — William Targ (1907-1999), bookplate. Acquisition: Purchased from Thomas Taylor, Austin, 1977. References: UCLA 25; Aldo Manuzio tipografo 26; BMC V 559 (IB.24467); Goff A958; GW 2333; ISTC ia00958000; Renouard 16/3. See Martin Sicherl, Griechische Erstausgaben des Aldus Manutius (Paderborn, 1997), ch. 3