Beschreibung:

SOPHOCLES (c.496-406 B.C.). Tragediae septem cum commentariis , in Greek. Edited by John Gregoropoulos of Crete. Venice: Aldus Manutius August 1502 [or the following winter]. Aldine 8° (163 x 95mm). General title, Latin dedication to Janus Lascaris, epigrams, woodcut dolphin-and-anchor device (Fletcher no.2) on verso of final leaf. English 19th-century blue morocco gilt, lozenge on sides formed of repeated small ornament, gilt edges. Provenance : occasional contemporary marginal annotations (washed) -- George Paget (armorial bookplate) -- A. Lancia, Paris (small stamp) -- FS, Bibliotheca Aldina (circular label) -- Amsterdam, Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica (J.R. Ritman sale, Sotheby's, 6 December 2000, lot 71). EDITIO PRINCEPS. The Aldine edition of the plays of Sophocles was of long-standing importance. It formed the basis of successive editions of Heath and Brunck, its influence thus enduring for over 300 years until manuscripts superior to those known to Aldus were exploited in the 19th century. The scholia, announced on the title-page and promised in the preface to follow soon, were in fact never published by Aldus; they first appeared edited by Lascaris at the Medicean press at Rome in 1518. THE SOPHOCLES IS THE FIRST GREEK BOOK ISSUED IN THE ALDINE PORTABLE FORMAT, AND THE FIRST CLASSICAL TEXT PRINTED IN THE SMALLEST AND FINEST ALDINE GREEK TYPE. 'By any standards [the type] is a masterpiece, not only of engraving skill executed with marvellous homogeneity on a minute scale, but also of exquisitely planned letter fit. It is not surprising that after this no further development was undertaken: it was a ne plus ultra until the great French engravers of the mid-century, Garamond, Granjon and Haultin, bent their talents to the cutting of greeks' (Barker, Aldus Manutius and the Development of Greek Script and Type , New York: 1992, p.89). A substantial part of Aldus's printer's copy survives as St. Petersburg ms. gr. 731. Adams S-1438; Renouard Alde , 34:6.