[Opera]. Opus Vtrumque Homeri Iliados Et Odysseae [Graece], Diligenti Opera Iacobi Micylli & Ioachimi Camerarii recognitum. Adiecta Etiam Est Eivsdem Batrachomyomachia. Porphyrij philosophi Homericarum quaestionum liber

HOMER (1551)

£6750.00

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HOMER'S ILIAD & ODYSSEY FINELY BOUND

Herwagen's device on titles with another version at the end of each part, numerous historiated and ornamental initials, text in greek letter.

2 parts in one volume. Sm. folio (273 x 172mm). [10]ff, 394 (i.e. 410)pp. [1]f. 314pp. [1]f. Contemporary Wittenberg blind-tooled pigskin over wooden boards from the workshop of Caspar Genseler (EBDB w007729), panelled by fillets and rolls, ornamental and historiated (see below), central panels infilled with repeated small floral stamp, upper cover with ownership initials 'NKL' and date '1560', clasps and catches intact (a little rubbed, some minor marks and stains).

A finely bound copy of the second corrected edition of Joachim Camerarius and Jacob Molsheym, printed in Herwagen's elegant Greek type, praised by Erasmus for its graceful design and compactness.

Their first edition of Homer in 1541 corrected many errors found in Herwagen's earlier edition of 1535, the first to print the scholia alongside the text. Joachim Camerarius (1500-74) was professor of classics at Nuremberg, Tübingen and Leipzig, of whom Sandys writes, "his editions of the classics are characterised by acumen and good taste". Jacob Molsheym of Strasbourg (1503-1558) studied under Camerarius' friends Eobanus Hess and Melanchthon. At the end are found two short works of Porphyrius, Homericae quaestiones and De nympharum antro in Odyssea, and in addition to the text, this beautifully printed edition contains the scholia of Didymus.

The well-preserved German Renaissance binding is from the workshop of the Wittenberg bookbinder Caspar Genseler (d. 1588) and is decorated with a fine historiated roll-tool depicting detailed representations of the Crucifixion (Ecce Agnus/ Dei Qui Toli), Annunciation (Ecce Virgo/ Concipiet), Baptism (Hic Est Filiv/Mevs Dilec) and the Resurrection (Mors Ero Mo/rs Tva Mors). The roll is signed in the Crucifixion scene with the monogram of Genseler's initials "CG" dated "1557" (Haebler I, 136, 2 & EBDB r005137).

Provenance: Initials and date on upper cover 'NKL' and '1560'. Front endpaper with ownership entries of 'J. Gottf. Geisler, 1776', and 'J.V. Lux', title-page 'Jacobi Jungman' and 'C. Schardel'; contemporary Latin motto, occasional marginalia.

Hoffmann II, 316. VD16, H-4593. Schweiger I, p. 156. Dibdin II, p. 47. Hieronymus Griechischer Geist aus Basler Pressen 169 and Graecogermania No. 81 (both 1541 edition). Sandys II, pp. 266-7.

Stock Code: 252643