Comicorum Graecorum (3 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. FIRST EDITION. 24mo, pp. (xxxii) 635 [misnumbered 633] (v), missing a1 blank. Roman, Italic and Greek letter, woodcut headpieces and ornaments. Age yellowing, small tear from outer blank margin of one fol., occasional light soiling mainly marginal. A very good copy in contemporary French calf 'a la cire', covers double gilt ruled, inner panel with gilt interlaced strapwork design, partly infilled in black, gilt pointille tools. Spine with gilt raised bands, double gilt ruled compartments with gilt flower at centres, tiny repair to one corner, a.e.g. Contemporary ms. index to last leaf. First edition of this pocket collection of 'sententiae' and proverbs from the Greek and Latin comic authors, edited by Henri Estienne. The volume is in a lovely contemporary painted strapwork binding, probably from a Lyonese or Parisian workshop, the principal sources of production of these charming bindings around the mid 16th century. Although the technical procedure of gilding and painting had been developed in Italy, similar 'relieures à la cire' with coloured or uncoloured geometrical interlacings quickly came to typify the elegance of the French Renaissance binders. Enamelled onlays and fine gilt borders were particularly appreciated by the grandest patrons of the day - Grolier, Henry II, Catherine de Medici - and realised only by a handful of skilled 'doreurs sur cire'. The main feature of these bindings is that each one is unique: this is a simple and elegant example, with a peculiar three dots pattern filling in the spaces of the design instead of the more common dense single dots pattern. 'Comicorum Graecorum Sententiae' is an entertaining anthology of Greek aphorisms ('sententiae' in Laitn, 'gnomai' in Greek), selected, translated and commented on by Henri Estienne. This is one of Estienne's tiniest books, defined 'pusillus' (i.e. very little) in the dedication to the Duke of Bavaria. It begins with a short introductory treatise by Estienne on aphorisms, outlining what they are and how to select them. Then, a few chapters are dedicated to Greek New Comedy playwrights in alphabetical order (e.g. Apollodorus, Antiphanes, Diphilus, Menander, etc), containing a list of their 'sententiae' with a Latin translation and a brief explanation. Another series of chapters contains aphorisms, mainly from Menander, organised by subject, e.g. on "the future", "friends", "drunkenness", "luck", "wealth", "anger", "laughter". At the end, a separate section not indicated in the title page contains a similar collection derived from Latin authors (including Naevius, Ennius, Terence, Plautus etc.), including a selection of Publius Syrus' sententiae with a commentary by Erasmus. "These sorts of compilations were very popular in their day, and Henri Estienne may have issued them as 'bread-and-butter' publications, in order to raise the capital (which he had lost with the patronage of Fugger) necessary to meet the printing and publication costs of his magnum opus now nearing completion: the Thesaurus Graecae Linguae" (Schreiber). Interestingly, several pages were deliberately left blank to allow for the reader's notes: in this copy, the last blank leaf is annotated in a contemporary hand, and it contains an index of contents from page 190 to 271. USTC 450582; BM STC Fr. C16 Supplement, p. 32; Brunet II, p. 1080; Graesse II, p. 508; Renouard 132:3; Schreiber 175.

Hardcover. Condition: Very good. 16mo, pp. (xxxii) 633 (i.e. 635), (v) last blank. Italic, Greek, and Roman letter. Woodcut headpieces, with Shirburn Castle North Library label, armorial bookplate of the Earl of Macclesfield on fly. Late mediaeval rubricated vellum manuscript stubbs at end. Slight water stain to lower outer corner of final ll., fly loose. A very good copy in contemporary English vellum, yapp fore edges. Edges speckled red. This little book, 'pusillus liber' as Estienne terms it in his dedication, contrasting it with his great folio of the epic poets printed in 1566, is nonetheless important in content. It contains sententiae (gnomai in Greek), culled from plays written by Menander et al., promoters of the New Comedy that came into fashion in the third century B.C. In the sixteenth century, such sententiae were collected and cultivated as suitable for quotations in speech and writing, and little collections such as this were very convenient for busy men of affairs; indeed blank pages were left so that further sententiae could be added by the reader, a point made at the end of the section on the playwright Philemon (pp. 316-417). The work consists of chapters, each devoted to a different New Comedy playwright (Alexis, Apollodorus, Diphilus i.a.), with by far the longest given to Menander, probably because more of his work survived, albeit in fragments, than any of the others. A short biographical introduction by Gregorio Giraldi precedes a list of sententiae taken from each author, the original Greek followed by a Latin translation and explanation. An alphabetical list of subjects, e.g. friendship and drunkenness, are followed by suitable sententiae (for laughter: 'malum grave est ridere non in tempore'), mostly taken from Menander. Henri Estienne's own notes on the interpretation of the sententiae follow, with examples from Latin comic playwrights, such as Plautus, author of the Asinaria, some of whom are only known in this fragmentary form. Those from Publius Syrius are again organised by subject. Greek New Comedy largely differed from the Old Comedy of e.g. Aristophanes by its focus on middle-class Athenian life and the comedy of social errors. The plays are populated by a stock cast of foolish young men, wily slaves, kind-hearted prostitutes, and put-upon fathers. The Roman playwrights Plautus and Terence were responsible for translating the Greek works into Latin. Most of the surviving fragments of New Comedy have come down to us through collections of sententiae such as this; happily some larger fragments have recently been discovered on papyri. Renouard 132:3. Adams P1694. Brunet II 1080. Latin, Greek.

X,807 p. Cloth. 24.5 cm (Reprint edition Paris 1855) 1500 gr.