Lot Details
Lot 106
[EARLY PRINTING] SOPHOCLES. [Title in Greek]. Tragoediae Septem cum commentariis.
Venice: Aldus Manutius, 1502. The Editio Princeps of Sophocles's surviving tragedies, the first issue without the contents on the title page. 19th century vellum, all edges speckled blue. 5 3/4 x 3 3/8 inches (14.5 x 8.5 cm); 191 (of 196) ff., lacking three text leaves [chi5,6 and 2beta3, the penultimate leaf--N.B. the leaf with pressmark, 2 beta4 is present] and two (of three) blanks (theta4, chi10). Binding soiled and a bit worn, vellum on front joint lifting; the text defective as noted above, trimmed with some loss of old ink annotations, some worming in the gutter margin of the last quarter of the book.
The first printed editions of Sophocles's surviving tragedies: Ajax, Electra, Oedipus tyrannus, Antigone, Oedipus coloneus, Trachiniae, Philocetes.. This is the first issue, without Aldus's preface to Lascarus on the verso of the title and the Epigrammata eis Sophoklea on page 3. Lacking two blanks, it retains that at delta4. The title mentions a commentary, but that did not appear until 1518. It is the first Greek text printed in octavo format. (part of Aldus's Libellus portatiles; it contains Griffo's new type, a small Greek cursive based on Aldus's own hand. Renouard 34.6; Hoffman III, 411; Isaac 12780; Adams S-1438.
C
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