Aristotle | Opera, Venice, Aldus, 1496–1499, 4 volumes (of 5), nineteenth-century calf gilt

Aristotle.

Opera [Greek]. Contains also works of Galenus (II); Philo Judaeus (II); Theophrastus (II-IV); Alexander Aphrodisaeus (IV). Venice: Aldus Manutius, 1 November 1495–June 1498

Four volumes of five (I, II, III, and V), super-chancery folio (325 x 225 mm), Greek type, 30 lines plus headline, (I) 234 leaves, A-K⁸ L-N⁶ a-c⁸ d-e⁶ f-q⁸ r-s⁶ (II) 298 leaves (of 300), *3-8 X⁸ +⁸ O⁸ aα-zψ⁸ (lλ8 blank) &ω⁸ A-B⁸ C⁶ D-I⁸ K⁶ (III) 468 leaves, aaαα-zzψψ¹⁰ &&ωω¹⁰ AA-ΠΠ¹⁰ PP¹² ΣΣ-ΦΦ¹⁰ XX⁸ (XX8 blank) X⁸ (V) 330 leaves, αααα-ιιιι¹⁰ kkkk⁴ (kkkk4 blank) λλλλ- ΦΦΦΦ¹⁰ χχχχ⁶ (χχχχ6 blank) ψψψψ¹² ωωωω¹⁰ AAAA-BBBB¹⁰ ΓΓΓΓ⁶ ΔΔΔΔ-IIII¹⁰ KKKK¹², woodcut initials and headpieces, woodcut diagram in volume I, wide margins, some uncut edges, first 17 lines of text on yχ2 verso (volume II) have not printed, last line of text on kk10 (volume III) pasted in, first leaf of quire PP (volume III) printed on recto, verso blank, final leaf as uncancelled blank conjugate of first, marginal annotations and corrections in a few early hands in Latin and Greek, nineteenth-century diced calf with gilt Aldine printer’s device lettered “ALDVS”, third volume with foreedge title in red and black, green endpapers, covers detached, bindings somewhat rubbed, (I) water stains to outer corners of some leaves, (II) first two leaves excised, some dampstaining, mostly marginal, a few small wormholes, mostly marginal, 30 x 55 mm tear to E4 removing an annotation but not affecting text, (III) marginal dampstaining and some light spotting, a few very small mostly marginal wormholes, small wormtrack affecting a few letters from quire OO to end, (V) first and final leaf inserted from another volume, some very light spotting to a few leaves, rust stain to FFFF10 affecting c. 6 letters, spine defective

THE EDITIO PRINCEPS OF THE WORKS OF ARISTOTLE. Volumes I, II, III, and V; lacking the fourth volume, dated: (I) 1 November 1495; (II) February 1497; (III) 29 January 1497; (V) June 1498.

The fame of Aldus rests on the books he printed in Greek. Others had printed a few books in Greek, one very substantial, the 1488 Homer, but Aldus's grandest project was, without doubt, the printing of the works of Aristotle in the original Greek, to which were added works by Theophrastus (not the famous Charakteres), Galen, Porphyry, Philo Judaeus and others, but from which were omitted the Poetics and Rhetoric. This undertaking, huge in terms of both extent of text and the technicalities of printing, was spread over several years. It was a landmark in humanist scholarship, which held its position until Immanuel Bekker's edition of Aristotle of 1831. Coming some years after the controversy of the 1450s and 1460s as to the respective position of Plato and Aristotle, it provided a handsomely printed version of the original Greek texts, many of which were currently available in manuscript copies, made by many of the leading Greek scribes of the period. 

PROVENANCE:

(III) Library at Santa Maria in Traspontina, Rome; "Hieronymus Gratianus", possibly Jerónimo Gracián (Jerónimo Madre de Dios; 1545-1614), collaborator with St. Teresa of Ávila and first Provincial of Discalced Carmelites (1581); Monastery of San Salvatore, Bologna; (V) First leaf and final leaf from Königliche Bibliothek zu Berlin copy with library stamp and sale stamp.

These volumes, together with lots 96, 97, and 98, all Niels Hansen Christensen, sale, Sotheby's Park Bernet, New York, 28 November 1978, lot 415.

LITERATURE:

 ISTC ia00959000 (all 5 volumes); GW 02334