Venice: heirs of Aldo Manuzio and Andrea Torresano, Feb. 1518, Dec. 1517 & Nov., 1517. The first Aeschylus in print Editio princeps of the plays of Aeschylus, bound together with two related poetical texts, the volume encompassing several key aspects in Greek mythology ranging from the punishment of Prometheus, through Agamemnon's murder by Clytemnestra after his return from the Trojan War and the tale of Jason and the Argonauts, to the romance of Hero and Leander. Chronologically the first of the three major Greek tragedians, Aeschylus was the last to be published by the Aldine press, printed by the heirs of Aldus after his death in 1515, completing their father's project. The Greek Aeschylus was edited by Giovanni Francesco d'Asola, Aldus's brother-in-law, and it contains six plays (Prometheus Bound, Seven Against Thebes, The Persians, Agamemnon, The Eumenides, and The Suppliants). As the original manuscript used by d'Asola was missing several pages at the end of Agamemnon and the beginning of the Choephoroi, these two tragedies are here merged into one. In the introduction, d'Asola recalls the care and enthusiasm that Aldus used to put into printing his editions, and assures the reader that the great printer's passion in still present in his successors. The third work in this volume is the first Aldine edition of Orpheus, comprising the Orphic Hymns and the Orphic Argonautica, an epic poem based on Apollonius Rhodius's famous myth of the same title. Traditionally attributed to the legendary Thracian bard Orpheus, these are the only texts which have survived whole from a rich Orphic literary tradition which dates back to the sixth century BCE. The influence of Orphic doctrines and theogony on Aeschylus have been pointed out by scholars, particularly in relation to Agamemnon and Prometheus. The present edition also comprises the second printing by Aldus of the popular version of the story of Hero and Leander by Musaeus Grammaticus, one of the most beautiful love myths of Greek literature. Although bound without the first gathering, the present copy preserves the striking woodcut depicting Leander drowning in the Hellespont, and Hero throwing herself over the edge of the tower to follow him. Also included is Oppian's Halieutiká ("De piscibus", On Fishing), first published by Giunta in Florence in 1515. The present Aldine edition, with two prefaces by d'Asola, was enlarged with the addition of Lorenzo Lippi's Latin translation (originally published in 1478), and with the later didactic poem Kyn getiká ("Cynegetica", On Hunting), previously attributed to Oppian of Anazarbus, but now generally ascribed to a different author, the Greco-Syrian poet Oppian of Apamea, or Pseudo-Oppian. Three works bound in one vol., small octavo (141 x 85 mm). Aldine anchor device to title pages and versos of final leaves, large woodcut in the third work. Early 18th-century vellum, manuscript lettering and decoration to spine, edges sprinkled red. From the library of the distinguished American classical scholar Thomas Day Seymour (1848-1907), professor of Greek at Yale, best known for his studies on Homer, who published an essay on the dating of Aeschylus's Prometheus in 1879. Oppian bound without blank leaf n8; Musaeus lacking gathering a. Extremities rubbed, superficial split to front joint discreetly repaired, intermittent and mainly marginal foxing and damp stains to contents, spotting to one leaf not affecting legibility, overall remaining quite bright, neat repair to lower corner of Aeschylus title page, a very good, well-margined copy. 1) EDIT16 CNCE 328; Renouard Alde 193:2; USTC 807822. 2) EDIT16 CNCE 37566; Renouard Alde 189:8. 3) EDIT16 CNCE 37563; Renouard Alde 188:7; USTC 843820.
