Claudius Aelinus (1 results)
More imagesPublished by Rome: 1545., 1545
- Hardcover
- First Edition
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Hardcover. Condition: Good. 1st Edition. Rome: 1545, First Edition. New spines for older boards, gilt titles to leather label, five raised gilt lined bands, older boards with gilt decoration to the board edges. Title page repaired with some loss see photos; pages numbered to every leaf, ink underlining and marginalia throughout.… Varia Historia was first printed in 1545. Claudius Aelianus (Ancient Greek: Κλαύδιος Αἰλιανός, Greek transliteration Kláudios Ailianós; c.175 c.235 AD), commonly Aelian, born at Praeneste, was a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric who flourished under Septimius Severus and probably outlived Elagabalus, who died in 222. He spoke Greek so fluently that he was called "honey-tongued"; Roman-born, he preferred Greek authors, and wrote in a slightly archaizing Greek himself. His two chief works [De Natura Animalium and Varia Historia (this work)] are valuable for the numerous quotations from the works of earlier authors, which are otherwise lost, and for the surprising lore, which offers unexpected glimpses into the Greco-Roman world-view. It is also the only Greco-Roman work to mention Gilgamesh. Various History (Ποικίλη ἱστορία, Poikílē historía) for the most part preserved only in an abridged form is Aelian's other well-known work, a miscellany of anecdotes and biographical sketches, lists, pithy maxims, and descriptions of natural wonders and strange local customs, in 14 books, with many surprises for the cultural historian and the mythographer, anecdotes about the famous Greek philosophers, poets, historians, and playwrights and myths instructively retold. The emphasis is on various moralizing tales about heroes and rulers, athletes and wise men; reports about food and drink, different styles in dress or lovers, local habits in giving gifts or entertainments, or in religious beliefs and death customs; and comments on Greek painting. Aelian gives accounts of, among other things, fly fishing using lures of red wool and feathers, lacquerwork, and serpent worship. Essentially, the Various History is a classical "magazine" in the original sense of that word. He is not perfectly trustworthy in details, and his writing was heavily influenced by Stoic opinions, perhaps so that his readers will not feel guilty, but Jane Ellen Harrison found survivals of archaic rites mentioned by Aelian very illuminating in her Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (1903, 1922). [4], 111 (i.e. 222), [12] leaves; [8], 222, [24]pp. Very scarce FIRST EDITION. Provenance: C Lacey Hulbert-Powell bookplate to the front paste down. Approximately 8 inches (20.5cm) tall. Condition Report Externally Spine very good condition attractive new spine with blue leather title label and gilt titles, five raised gilt lined bands. Joints very good condition sound, professionally repaired. Corners good condition. Boards good condition polished calf with gilt decorated edges. Page edges good condition red. See above and photos. Internally Hinges good condition sound, repaired. Paste downs good condition marbled. End papers good condition marbled, a description of the book attached to a subsequent end paper. Title fair condition torn with loss and repaired, tanned and foxed. Pages good condition tanned and foxed, ink underlining and annotation throughout, mostly to the margin. Binding good condition attractive. See photos. Publisher: see above. Publication Date: 1545 Binding: Hardback.
