Quem spira nobilis parens dedalei Produxit ingeni faceti lepidiq;. Carmen est Raphaelis Zouenzonii Istri Poetae. A full page contains 41 lines. De Bure, vol. v. n°. 4857, gives nearly the same description. Consult the note in my Introd. to the Classics, vol. i. p. 164. The present is a clean and beautiful copy, presenting a fine specimen of the Spira press. The paper, type, and press-work cannot be too much commended. In red morocco. 117. APPIANUS. Latine. Printed by Pictor, Ratdolt, and Loslein. Venice. 1477. Folio. Few ancient volumes of the Classics display greater beauty of typographical execution, than does the present one. Clement and Seemiller may be indulged in the full scope of their warm eulogies upon it. Bibl. Curieuse, vol. i. p. 434: Incunab. Typog. pt. ii. p. 5. The first page, on the recto of sign. a 2, presents us with the address of Candidus, as before: surrounded, however, by a broad frame, or border, of extremely rich arabesque decoration-printed upon a black ground; with a large blooming capital initial A, executed in the same manner. This may be considered unusual with books printed before the year 1480. On signature a 3 the proheme of the history begins; and on the recto of a 7 begins the history itself. As far as k, the signatures run in tens: from k to o, in eights: o has ten; on the recto of the tenth of which there is the following colophon. Impressum est hoc Venetijs per Bernardū picto, rem & Erhardum ratdolt de Augusta una cum Petro loslein de Langencen correctore ac socio. Laus Deo. .M.CCCC.LXXVII. The reverse is blank. In the first book, on the reverse of c i, at bottom, is a blank or deficiency of one leaf-thus noticed in the margin : 'Defectus unius folij: in quo tumultus populi contineri uidebatur. Deinde romanorum consultatio de rebus carthaginensium ut patet ex fragmento orationis insequentis.' The capital initials are uniformly ornamented; similar to what the reader may see in the recent edition of our Typographical Antiquities; vol. i. p. xl: except that the back ground is, in the place here referred to, dotted, or a little open. See Panzer, vol. iii. p. 130; who refers to more authorities than it is necessary to consult for a volume of mere beauty without much rarity. It has been marked at 61. 6s. in Mr. Egerton's catalogue ten years ago. The present is a clean and large copy, but wormed at the end. It is bound in red morocco. 118. APULEIUS. Printed by Sweynheym and Pannartz. Rome. 1469. Folio. The curious are sufficiently aware of the great value and rarity of this FIRST IMPRESSION. It is the only ancient edition which presents us with the legitimate text of the author, uncastrated by inquisitorial authority. The reader will be pleased to examine the account of it in my Introd. to the Classics,* vol. i. p. 166-7; and particularly Audiffredi Edit. Rom. p. 17, 18. The impression commences with a prefatory epistle by the indefatigable Bishop of Aleria, in praise of the author and of Cardinal Bessarion, for the latter's attachment to the Platonic philosophy. This epistle has been erroneously imagined to have been composed by Bessarion himself. It occupies five leaves, ending in the middle of the reverse of the 5th. A table of 33 lines is on the recto of the ensuing leaf, having the reverse blank. The text begins on the recto of the following leaf: Tego tibi sermōe isto milesio uarias fabulas cōserā: auresq; tuas beniuolas: lepido susurro permulcea: modo si papyrum egyptiam: ar, gutia nilotici calami inscripta: non spreueris inspicere: &c. &c. &c. This page, here illuminated, has 36 lines. A full page contains 38 lines. The work ends, without any particular designation of conclusion, at the bottom of the reverse of the leaf, thus: animalibus cenam. The ensuing leaf is wholly blank. Then follows, on the recto of the * La Serna Santander, Dict. Bibliogr. Choisi,vol. ii. no. 106, has erroneously described the volume as a quarto. succeeding leaf, Alcinous's epitome of the Platonic discipline, preceded by an episcopal epistle to Cardinal Cusano. This comprehends 17 leaves. On the reverse of the 17th is the colophon; occupying 5 lines. Lucii Apuleii platonici madaurēsis philosophi metamorphoseos liber: ac nōnulla alia opuscula eiusdem : necnon epitoma Alcinoi in disciplinaru Platonis desinunt. Anno salutis. M.CCCC.lxix. Paulo ueneto regnante secundo. anno eius qnto. die uero ultima mensis Februarii. Rome in domo Petri de Maximo. The present is a very fair copy, bound in red morocco. In the collections of the late Bishop of Ely, of Sir M. M. Sykes, and in the Blenheim, Bodleian, Museum, and Royal Libraries. 119. APULEIUS. Printed by Philip Pinzius. Ve-. nice. 1493. Folio. This edition needs but a brief description. On the recto of fol 1. it has the title printed in capital letters. The epistle of the Bishop of Aleria immediately follows, occupying 7 pages. The text commences with two lines of capital letters printed in red; and ends on the recto of t v, in sixes. The imprint informs us that it was executed by Philip Pinzius of Mantua .M.cccc.lxxxxiii. This is a very indifferent copy, in calf, of a book executed without any pretensions to typographical beauty. 120. ARISTOPHANES. Gr. Venice. 1498. Folio. Printed by Aldus. FIRST EDITION OF NINE PLAYS: the Lysistrata and Thesmophoriazousai, forming the 10th and 11th comedies, not being published till the year 1515, at Florence, by the Junta, in 8vo. The reader is presented with the following copious and particular account of the arrangement of the contents of this Aldine impression. On the recto of the first leaf, we read ΑΡΙΣΤΟΦΑΝΟΥΣ ΚΩΜΩΔΙΑΙ ΕΝΝΕΑ ARISTOPHANIS COMOEDIAE NOVEM. The Nine Comedies, as immediately designated, are as follow: Plutus, Nebula, Rana, Equites, Acharnes, Vespa, Aves, Pax, Contionantes. Then a Greek epigram in commendation of the Dramatist. On the reverse, at top, is the prefatory address of Aldus to Daniel Clarius of Parma; dated' Venetiis tertio Idus Iulias. M.IID.' which is very interesting, and may be seen in the Bibl. Smith, App. p. ccxcv. The Greek address of Marcus Musurus is beneath: this latter is on the recto of the second leaf, marked, by way of signature, 2.' The address concludes on the reverse of this second leaf. The three ensuing folios (of which the second is marked' 4') contain excerpta from Hephaestion, Demetrius Triclinius, and Plato, concerning dramatic metres, &c. Then follows, on the recto of the 6th leaf from the beginning of the volume, the life of Aristophanes, in Greek, succeeded by two leaves ‘ΠΕΡΙ ΚΩΜΩΔΙΑΣ. On the recto of the 9th leaf, sign. a, begins the text' of Plutus:' with the Scholia, which conclude on the recto of .x. The entire Play contains 34 leaves: On the recto of the ensuing leaf, sign. ɛ, we have APIΣTOΦΑΝΟΥΣ ΝΕΦΕΛΩΝ, ΠΡΟΘΕΩΡΙΑ'. flling each side of the leaf. Then on sign. e ii, begins the Nebula' comprehending 46 leaves, and terminating on the recto of x vij. A blank leaf with a curious watermark, of a cross upon a pole above a crown, ensues. Signatures λ i and λ ii are filled by prolegomena concerning the Rana;' This third Play fills 40 leaves; ending on the reverse of sign.. x. Signature i. is occupied by introductory matter relating to the Equites.' On the recto of sign. ii. this latter play begins, comprehending 45 leaves, and ending on the reverse of sign. ø vj. We have next the ΑΧΑΡΝΕΏΝ ΥΠΟΘΕΣΙΣ on sign. χ. On the recto of signature Xii, the play begins, and comprehends 31 leaves. The remaining Plays may be thus summarily described. П P ་ Vespa : 1 leaf of preface: 37 leaves of text: beginning on signature Bii; and ending on the recto of Z vj. Aves: 1 leaf of preface sign. H: On signature H ii, and ending on rev. of M iv: 43 leaves. At the conclusion is this notice: Αριςοφάνους κωμωδιων έπλας των εἰς αὐτὰς σχολίων ἀρχαίοισ συντεθέν των γραμματικοΐσ. ἃ δη σποράδην ή άντιγράφοις κείμενα διαφό å é καὶ πεφυρμένω, συνείλεκταί τε και ὡς οἷον τὴν νῦν μελέςατα διώρ θωται παρὰ Μάρκου Μουσούρου του κρητός. ροις Pax: VOL. I. ΤΕΛΟΣ Sign. N. prolegom. The text, from sign. N ii to П rev. 33 Contionantes: Sign. P proleg. rect: Play begins on the reverse, extending to T iv. rect: 20 leaves. On the reverse of T. iv. begins the table of catchwords under the different signatures, having TEAO at the end, on sign. T v. recto. On the reverse of T v, the register is in Greek and Latin: the latter as follows: Omnes sunt quaterni exceptis. §. o. T. quinternis, & Z. T. ternis, et M. duerno. Venetiis apud Aldum. M.IID. Idibus Quintilis. In hoc idem quod in aliis nostris impetrauimus However defective, in critical accuracy, may be the text of this edition, the Scholia render it of great consequence to the classical reader. See the authorities quoted in the Introd. to the Classics; vol. i. p. 173. Fine copies of this impression are rare, and sought after; but such copies as the present one, and that in the library of my friend Mr. Heber, it will rarely fall to the lot of collectors to possess. Sir M. M. Sykes has the beautiful copy originally in the present collection, which is, in a small degree only, inferior. Although Renouard, L'Imprim. des Alde, vol. i. p. 21, does not notice any copy of this impression UPON VELLUM, I make no doubt that there were more than one copy of this kind struck off; as companions to the Aristotleof which we are immediately to treat. 121. ARISTOTELES ET THEOPHRASTUS. OPERA. Gr. Printed by Aldus. Venice. Bound in 6 Volumes. 1495-8. Folio. FIRST IMPRESSION of the Works of Theophrastus and of Aristotle, with the exception of the Poetics and Rhetoric of the latter. The following description of the volumes is more minute than any to which it is in my power to refer the collector. VOL. I. On the recto of the first leaf we have three sets of Greek verses; namely, four verses under the following title: 'E'IΣ ΟΡΓΑΝΟΝ ΑΡΙΣΤΟΤΕΛΟΥ. ANONYMON.': four, under • ΣΚΙΠΙΩΝΟΣ ΚΑΡΤΕΡΟΜΑ'ΚΟΥ; and six under the ensuing curious one: • ΑΛΔΟΥ ΜΑΝΟΥΚΙΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΑ ΝΕΟΣ ΕἼΣ ΦΙΛΟΥΣ': at bottom we read * ΕῬῬὬΣΘΕ. On the reverse of |