Description

Pindar. [Odes] (graece), collation: ?4, ?-?8, ?6, ?-?8, ?-?6, ?-?8, ?10, ?-?8, complete with blanks ?6 and ?10, in this copy final quire P has been misbound before quire O, [204]ff., Greek text, Kallierges' woodcut double-headed-eagle device and Benigno's serpent-wreathed staff both on title, Kallierges' device repeated on fol. P8v, fols. ?2r and A3r headings and 6-line initials in Byzantine style printed in red, 6-line initials on fols. I2v and O1r printed in black, numerous smaller initials in the same style, some browing and foxing, title stained and spotted, strengthened along gutter, small ink stain on fol. L8v, a few contemporary notes, underlinings and reading marks, modern limp vellum with ties, 4to, 228 x 159mm., Rome, Zacharias Kallierges for Cornelio Benigni, 13 August, 1515.

The first all-Greek book printed in Rome. The volume was edited and published by the Cretan Zacharias Kallierges who was active in Venice between 1499 and 1509, and moved to Rome in the 1510s, as a director of the press of the Collegium Graecum, established by Pope Leo X. The press was housed in the palace of the rich banker and patron of the arts, Agostino Chigi, and lasted until 1523. The Pindar was printed, like the Theocritus of 1516 (see lot 28) in partnership with Cornelio Benigni, Agostino Chigi's protegé. From a textual point of view the Roman edition is more accurate than the Aldine princeps (1513), and Pindar's works are for the first time supplemented with the scholia. The text was set in the Greek font used by Kallierges in the last volumes issued from his Venetian press in 1509. "The most distinctive feature of the Pindar is Kallierges's original idea for the layout of the title page, where for the first time in a Greek book the title, the devices both of the co-editor and publisher and of the co-editor and printer, the place of publication, the printer's name and the statement of copyright all appear together" (K. Staikos, Charta of Greek Printing, p. 414).

The Rome Pindar of 1515 is known in various variants (no priority). In this copy fols. A1 and A2 are signed, and on fol. A3r the heading and initial are printed in red.

Provenance: The New York bookseller Bernard Rosenthal.

Literature: Adams P-1219; STC Italian, 520; K. Staikos, Charta of Greek Printing, Cologne 1998, pp. 413-414.

Lot 24

Pindar. [Odes] (graece), The first all-Greek book printed in Rome, Rome, Zacharias Kallierges for Cornelio Benigni, 13 August, 1515.  

Estimate: £2,000 - 3,000

Description

Pindar. [Odes] (graece), collation: ?4, ?-?8, ?6, ?-?8, ?-?6, ?-?8, ?10, ?-?8, complete with blanks ?6 and ?10, in this copy final quire P has been misbound before quire O, [204]ff., Greek text, Kallierges' woodcut double-headed-eagle device and Benigno's serpent-wreathed staff both on title, Kallierges' device repeated on fol. P8v, fols. ?2r and A3r headings and 6-line initials in Byzantine style printed in red, 6-line initials on fols. I2v and O1r printed in black, numerous smaller initials in the same style, some browing and foxing, title stained and spotted, strengthened along gutter, small ink stain on fol. L8v, a few contemporary notes, underlinings and reading marks, modern limp vellum with ties, 4to, 228 x 159mm., Rome, Zacharias Kallierges for Cornelio Benigni, 13 August, 1515.

The first all-Greek book printed in Rome. The volume was edited and published by the Cretan Zacharias Kallierges who was active in Venice between 1499 and 1509, and moved to Rome in the 1510s, as a director of the press of the Collegium Graecum, established by Pope Leo X. The press was housed in the palace of the rich banker and patron of the arts, Agostino Chigi, and lasted until 1523. The Pindar was printed, like the Theocritus of 1516 (see lot 28) in partnership with Cornelio Benigni, Agostino Chigi's protegé. From a textual point of view the Roman edition is more accurate than the Aldine princeps (1513), and Pindar's works are for the first time supplemented with the scholia. The text was set in the Greek font used by Kallierges in the last volumes issued from his Venetian press in 1509. "The most distinctive feature of the Pindar is Kallierges's original idea for the layout of the title page, where for the first time in a Greek book the title, the devices both of the co-editor and publisher and of the co-editor and printer, the place of publication, the printer's name and the statement of copyright all appear together" (K. Staikos, Charta of Greek Printing, p. 414).

The Rome Pindar of 1515 is known in various variants (no priority). In this copy fols. A1 and A2 are signed, and on fol. A3r the heading and initial are printed in red.

Provenance: The New York bookseller Bernard Rosenthal.

Literature: Adams P-1219; STC Italian, 520; K. Staikos, Charta of Greek Printing, Cologne 1998, pp. 413-414.

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