Beschreibung:

LUCANUS, Marcus Annaeus (39-65). Pharsalia sive Bellum civile . Edited by Joannes Andreae de Buxiis (1417-1475), bishop of Aleria. Rome: Conradus Sweynheym and Arnoldus Pannartz, 1469. Median 2° (319 x 225mm). Collation: [π 1 1-11 10 ] (π1r dedicatory letter by Bussi to Pope Paul II, π1v Pomponius Laetus (1428-1498) Life of Lucan, 1/2r epitaph of Lucan, followed by book I, 11/8r colophon, 11/8v tabula, 11/9,10 blank). 108 (of 111, lacking 5/1 and without final blank 11/9,10) leaves. 38 lines. Type 2:115R. Initial spaces with ms. guide-letters, 6- and 7-line initials in colours with white-vine decoration (some washed out), two 2-line initials supplied in red, spaces for headings and paragraph marks left blank, catchwords written sideways at end of each quire. (Lower margins repaired on fos.1-3, 11-12, 21, 42, 102, front flyleaf rather foxed, tiny wormholes in first 25 and last 9 leaves affecting some letters, those in the first and last (11/8) leaves filled.) Late-18th-century gold-tooled olive smooth morocco over pasteboard, panelled sides with wide border and corners built up with a variety of tools, spine blind-tooled in compartments, wide gilt inner dentelles, pink endpapers, green silk ribbon marker, gilt edges, possibly by Roger Payne. Among the tools reproduced in Davenport ( Payne ) are the triple curve (fig.26) and drawer handle (plates 4, 15, 22). In addition, a leaf tool and trefoil are shared with a copy of Peter Leycester Historical Antiquities (London 1673), and a flower tool with a binding on Lysias Orationes (London 1739), both at the Rylands Library [rubbings at the British Library provided courtesy of Philippa Marks]. Provenance : some contemporary marginal annotations; possibly the George Hibbert (1757-1837) copy, the description in his sale catalogue (1829, no.5001) reading: "very beautiful copy in Venetian morocco with joints, borders of gold, richly tooled, with gilt leaves by Roger Payne." It sold for #38.6.6 to "MB". FIRST EDITION. Considered the greatest Latin epic after the Aeneid , the Pharsalia is the only surviving work of the prolific Lucan, grandson of Seneca the Elder and nephew of Seneca the Younger. It was much praised for its style by contemporaries, and the large number of manuscripts attests to its popularity both in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The name, Pharsalia , stems from a misreading of a line in book 9; it was probably not named by Lucan, who died before it was completely finished, but in early manuscripts it is entitled Bellum civile . Pomponius Laetus calls himself in the prefatory life of Lucan "Pomponius Infortunatus", a play on his name which would not have been lost on Pope Paul II, the dedicatee of this edition. Only one year earlier, Pomponius had been suspected of conspiracy along with fellow members of the Roman Academy and imprisoned under Paul II, although released after a few months. Pomponius is also drawing a parallel between his own experiences and that of Lucan. Once a favourite of Nero, Lucan fell out of favour and was accused of complicity in the Pisonian conspiracy; he was forced to commit suicide. HC *10231; BMC IV, 9 (IB. 17133-4); Goff L-292; IGI 5810; Flodr, Lucanus 1; Botfield 98-99