Sebastien Gryphe

New edition. Publisher's marks on the title page and on the verso of the final leaves of each volume. A few historiated initials. Printed in italics.
Bound in full red morocco, c. early 19th century, smooth spine decorated in gilt, red morocco title piece, endpapers c. 1800, lower joint cracked at the head with a loss of 2 cm, some traces of rubbing, two areas of abrasion on the upper cover, a small loss to the title page of the Odyssey, a few millimeters over 3 cm in the upper margin.
Translation of the Odyssey by Volaterrano, accompanied by the Batrachomyomachia by Aldus Manutius and the Hymns by Iodocus Valaraeus. The Life of Homer by Herodotus is translated by Conrad Heresbach.
The second volume contains what is known as the continuation of Homer, or the Posthomerica; Quintus of Smyrna, a Greek author of the 3rd or 4th century, taking up the action of the Iliad where Homer had left it. Translated by Iodocus Valaraeus. The volume concludes with The Rape of Helen by Coluthus, a poet of the late 5th century, whose work was rediscovered in the 15th century.
A handsome copy.

New edition. Printed in italics. Latin translation by Ambrogio Traversari (1386-1439), known as Ambrose the Camaldolese.
Half-sheep binding with small corners, 18th century marbled. Rose paper on boards. Spine with raised bands decorated with fillets. Beige morocco title-label. Pale marginal foxing. Rubbing. Good copy.
The Lives of the Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius contains 83 entries, with biographies of the most celebrated philosophers such as Epicurus, Plato and Socrates. The work, written at the beginning of the 3rd century, is the unique source on the life and doctrines of numerous schools and philosophers. Gryphius's edition was important for the dissemination of Diogenes Laertius's work and was reprinted several times, notably by Marnef.

New edition for Polydore Vergil's book of inventions and first edition for Cicero's sentences. Fine italic impressions. Printer's devices on the title page. The Cicero edition is absent from English catalogues.

 

De rerum inventoribus was placed on the Index and republished in 1575 in an expurgated form, and the edition we present is therefore not expurgated. The first French translation appears to have been published in 1527 according to a copy at the University of Glasgow, although contradictory information gives 1528 as the date of the first French edition in Latin by Robert Estienne. Brunet gives 1499 for the date of the first edition.

 

Half marbled blonde sheep binding, early 19th century. Smooth spine with three fleurons. Beige title and volume labels. Missing endpaper on upper board of volume 1 and on lower board of volume 2. Very fresh interior.