Greece—Pausanias | Atticae descriptio. Trans. Domitius Calderinus, [Venice, c.1500], very rare first edition of the first travel book published about Greece

Greece—Pausanias

Atticae descriptio. Trans. Domitius Calderinus. [Venice: Otinus de Luna, c. 1500]

4to (210 x 156 mm). Collation: A-M⁴: 48 leaves. Many marginal annotations in the same sixteenth-century hand, early ownership inscription on title, limp vellum, housed in a modern cloth slipcase, first few and last few leaves slightly dust-soiled, first two leaves neatly repaired in the margins, very minor foxing

VERY RARE FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST "TRAVEL BOOK" PUBLISHED ABOUT GREECE. The editio princeps of Pausanias was edited by Musurus and issued by Aldus in 1516. Calderinus, a humanist and philologist, translated part of Pausanias from Greek into Latin, publishing the present volume in Venice about 1500. His text includes Book 1, "Attica," and Book 2, "Corinth and the Argolid," to section 6 (Epopeus stealing the beautiful Antiope from Thebes). Along with Greek history and myth, the book describes altars, statues, temples, roads, harbors, etc. Much of this information was pertinent to sixteenth-century readers thinking of traveling to Greece, and it was picturesque indeed, for example: "Nowhere in Greece but in Megara do you find shell stone, and a lot of the building in the city has been done with it. It is extremely white, softer than any other, and has sea-shells all the way through it" (Loeb translation).

PROVENANCE:

Sale in our New York rooms, 10 December 2003, lot 85

LITERATURE:

ISTC ip00238000