Beschreibung:

ALDINE PRESS]. SOPHOCLES (ca 496-406 B.C.) Tragoediae septem cum commentariis , in Greek. Edited by John Gregoropoulos of Crete. Venice: at the Academy of Aldus of Rome, August 1502 [or the following winter]. Aldine 8 o (152 x 94 mm). 196 leaves, including 3 blanks. Types 1:80 italic, 4:79 Greek, cut by Francesco Griffo. General title, Latin dedication to Janus Lascaris, epigrams of Simonides, Erucius and Dioscorides the Alexandrian from the Anthology, 6 divisional titles, woodcut dolphin and anchor device (Fletcher no. 2) on verso of last leaf. (Small rust-holes catching a few letters on λ3 and τ4, some pale dampstaining, including to title.) ?18th-century Italian vellum, manuscript title on spine; quarter morocco folding case. Provenenance : some marginalia in an early hand -- Joseph Smith (1682-1770), British Consul at Venice (armorial bookplate) -- James Garbeatt (1802-1879), English divine and professor of poetry at Oxford (signature on front pastedown) -- Spenser Farquharson (letter in Latin pasted to rear pastedown presenting the volume to) -- J.V. Scott (bookplate) -- purchased from William Salloch, Ossining, NY, 28 October 1986 (with his sticker on rear pastedown). EDITIO PRINCEPS. One of the most important of Aldus' Greek editions both textually and typographically, this remained the best available edition of Sophocles' text until the 19th century, when superior manuscripts became the object of scholarly study. The Sophocles was the first Greek book issued in Aldus' portable format, the first to mention Aldus's Greek Neakadamia, and the first classical text printed in Francesco Griffo's fourth type, the smallest and most delicate of the Aldine Greek types, modelled on Aldus's own Greek hand. The present volume was previously in the collection of Joseph Smith, British Consul at Venice, who sold his important collection of incunabula to King George III in 1765 for £10,000. After Smith had sold his collection to the king, he formed a second collection which was sold in London, 25 January 1773. Adams S-1438; Ahmanson-Murphy 48; BM/STC Italian , p.634; Renouard 34.6.