Beschreibung:

GNOMAE -- Gnomae monostichae ex diversis poetis , in Greek: \kGnvmai monostixai ek diaforvn poihtvn\K. -MUSAEUS -- Opusculum de Herone et Leandro , in Greek: \kTa kau' 'Hrv kai Leandron\K. [Edited by Janus Lascaris (1445-1535). Florence: Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, ca. 1494-95]. Chancery 4° (197 x 136mm). Collation: a-b 8 c 2 (a1r Greek alphabet, diphthongs, list of contents, a1v Gnomae, b4v Musaeus). 18 leaves. Type 5a and b:114Gk. 27-29 lines. Initial-spaces. (First page lightly soiled.) Early-19th-century English gold-tooled red straight-grained morocco over thin pasteboard, floral roll borders, flat spine. Provenance : sold by Payne & Foss for 20 gns. to; Beriah Botfield (P. & F. Acquisitions p. 40). EDITIO PRINCEPS of the aphoristic verses or moralising epigrams known as gnomes, a collection from various early Greek poets that will be catalogued by the editors of GW under "Menandrus: Sententiae." Probably also the EDITIO PRINCEPS of the hexameter poem on Hero and Leander. "The latter was not yet seen to be a product of the early Byzantine era. Lascaris could follow in the footsteps of Ficino and regard it as the work of the mythical associate of Orpheus, entitled to respect for its exceptional antiquity. It is in any case a work of a certain charm." (Wilson p. 100). The Aldine edition of Musaeus (HC 11653) can be shown to date from shortly after Constantine Lascaris' Erotemata of February-March 1495 from the same press (HC 9924) and before part I of the Aristotle, dated 1st November 1495 (see lot 39); this edition from the Janus Lascaris - Lorenzo di Alopa press, like their Euripides (lot 43), typographically belongs with the Greek Anthology of August 1494 (lot 45) and is highly unlikely to be later than early 1495 (Proctor, Printing of Greek p. 80). FINE COPY. Despite the usual trinity at the British Library (George III, Cracherode, Grenville), the edition is quite RARE (six copies in Italian and only two in American libraries). HC 7787; BMC VI, 667 (IA. 28012, 28013a-b); Goff G-309; IGI 4344; Rhodes, Annali 350; Pellechet 5267.