Αιλιανου ποικιλης ιστοριας. βιβλια ιδ. Εκ την Ηρακλειδου περι πολιτειων υπομνημα. Πολημωνος φισιογνωμονικων εγχειριδιον... Variae historiae libri XIIII.Rome: [Antonio Blado], January 1545

EDITIO PRINCEPS

Blado's naked man device on title-page and at end, printed in Greek letter throughout.

4to (232 x 165mm). [4], 111, [13] ff. (penultimate blank). Contemporary limp vellum (spine darkened, ties missing).

Editio princeps of this collection of excerpts and anecdotes of a moralising nature concerning human life and history.

Aelian's philosophical ideas derive from the Stoic school, and he is particularly bitter against the Epicureans. His excerpts are largely derived from intermediate sources, including Sostratus, Alexander of Myndos, Pamphilus, etc. and are important for preserving the works of earlier minor writers. Aelian (not to be confused with the author of Tactica) was a teacher of rhetoric in Rome, who turned to writing and his efforts enjoyed a reputation for purity of diction, simplicity and consequently enjoyed great popularity.

The text of Aelian is followed by some shorter pieces in Greek which according to Dibdin were not reprinted, and are all editiones principes: Heracleides' work on constitutions De rebus publicis, largely based on Aristotle but in the form a Platonic dialogue; a treatise on physiognomy by Polemon of Laodicea (117-161 A.D.) possibly the earliest preserved treatise on the subject; another work on the same subject by Adamantius, a Jewish physician from Alexandria, which is in effect a commentary on Polemon's work; two treatises by Melampus, another Alexandrian, on palpitations and birthmarks. Also included are a dedication to Pope Paul III, two lives of Aelian, a preface to the reader and three epigrams.

Printed without the name of the printer but identified as Antonio Blado from the printer's device of a naked man which was used by Blado solely in 1545. Blado became renowned for his Greek editions of which the finest example was the four volume of Eustathius printed 1542 and 1550. The Greek types especially cut for the Eustathius were subsequently used in later Greek editions printed by Blado. The enterprise was the result of the initiative of Cardinal Marcello Cervini who planned to publish the most valuable codices in the Vatican Library, and assigned the printing to the most notable printers of the time, with Blado's edition of Eustathius being without doubt the finest production of the enterprise (see: Alberto Tinto, The History of a Sixteenth-Century Greek Type in The Library, vol. XXV, December 1970, pp. 285-293).

Provenance: stamp of Hermann Funke on verso of title-page. Hermann Funke (1938-2015) was a German classical scholar and philologist, at the universities of Bonn and Mannheim, he was also a visiting researcher at the Center for Hellenic Studies of Harvard.   

Hoffmann I, p. 11. Adams, A221. Dibdin I, p. 229. Censimento Edit16 316.

Stock Code: 252645