Euripides. Euripidis tragoediae septedecim, 2 vol., collation: ?-?⁸, ?¹⁰, ?-P⁸ ?¹⁰, ?-?⁸, ?⁶, ?-?⁸, ??-??⁸, ??⁶, ??-??⁸, ??⁶, ??-??⁸, ??¹⁰, [?]⁴; ??⁸, ??¹⁰, ??-??⁸, ??¹⁰, ??⁸, ??6, ??-??8, ??⁴, ??8, ???-???8, ???6, ???-???8, ???6, ???-???8, ???4 (?⁴, ?⁶, ??⁶, ??¹⁰, ??⁶ blank), Greek, Roman and italic types, initial spaces with guide-letters, woodcut printer's device to KK^10v of the first volume and ???^4v of the second, occasional light staining or spotting, [Venice], [Aldus Manutius], 1503; Euripidis Electra. Nunc primum in lucem edita, collation: A-?8, ?8 (fols. A1v, ?7 and ?8 blanks), Greek and italic type, title with woodcut coin of Caesar Augustus (Cohen 228), and woodcut coat of arms of the dedicatee Cardinal Ardinghelli, woodcut historiated initial, initial spaces with guide-letters, lacking final 2 blanks, Rome, [Antonio Blado], 1545, together 2 works in 3 vol., uniformly bound in handsome 19th century dark blue morocco, gilt, spine in compartments and richly so, rubbed at extremities, g.e., 8vo (160 x 97mm. and 155 x 92mm.)

⁂ A handsome set with a distinguished provenance of the first Aldine edition of the plays of Euripides, containing eighteen plays instead of the seventeen announced on the title. It lacks only Electra; provided here in the Blado edition.

Provenance: Sir Robert Peel, Bt. (1788-1850), British Conservative stateman, who served twice as Prime Minister and twice as Home Secretary, as well as founding the Metropolitan Police Service (Drayton Manor armorial bookplates to each vol.).

Literature: I: Adams E-1030; STC Italian 239; Renouard Alde, 43:10; Ahmanson-Murphy 69; Sicherl Manutius, pp. 291-309; Hoffmann ii, p. 68; Legrand i, 31; Layton, The Sixteenth-Century Greek Book in Italy, p. 383; Staikos, Charta of Greek Printing, p. 343; Staikos, The Greek Editions of Aldus Manutius and his Greek Collaborators (1495-1515), New Castle, DE 2016, 33 II: Adams E-1052; Fumagalli 79 ("rarissimo"); Ascarelli, p. 100; Hoffmann ii, p. 82.