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GRIFFE Georges
Latin 4°
Bordas. 1965. In-8. Cartonné. Bon état, Couv. convenable, Dos satisfaisant, Intérieur frais. 320 pp. Illustrations n&b. Quelques annotations personnelles au crayon à l'intérieur.. . . . Classification Dewey : 470-Langues italiques. Latin
Reference : ROD0012300
Classification Dewey : 470-Langues italiques. Latin
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5 book(s) with the same title
Anacreontis teii antiquitissimi poëtae Lyrici Odae, ab Helia Andre Latinae factae. - [ANDRÉ'S SEMINAL LATIN TRANSLATION OF THE ANACREONTEA]
Lutetiae (i.e. Paris), Robert Stephanum (i.e. Robert Estienne) & Guillaume Morel, 1556. Small 8vo. Lovely newer full marbled paper binding with gilt leather title-label to spine (Jens E. Hansen, Aarhus). Light brownspotting to a few leaves and somne leaves towards the end with inkspotting at outer blank margin. Early neat handwritten marginal annotations throughout. A lovely copy. 54 pp.
Scarce second edition of Elie André’s seminal Latin translation of the Anacreontea – the first complete - which itself is a classic in the history of classical literature. It came to directly influence all later readings of Anacreon. In 1554, Henri Estienne II published the seminal editio princeps of Anacreon, which is no less than an outright Renaissance sensation, causing the “Anacreaonta” to become the most influential “ancient” Greek poetic text during the Renaissance, initiating a poetic revolution in Europe. Simultaneously with this editio princeps, Henri Estienne published his own Latin translation of it, which constitutes the first translation into Latin. Merely a year later, in 1555, Elie André extremely important translation of the Anacreaontea appeared, in 1555, printed by Thomas Richard. This translation included additional Odes not in the Estienne edition and was thus the first complete Latin translation of the “Anacreontia”. The following year, 1556, Robert Estienne II published his first work, namely a second edition of the original Greek Anacreontea that Henri Estienne had published in 1554. Silmultaneously, Robert Estienne republished Elie André’s Latin translation, which was published separately, but which is often found together with the 1556 second edition of the Greek Anacreontea. “The first full translation of CA was again in Latin. It was published by the humanist Elie André (1509-1587) from Bordeaux, who was friendly with the Parisian circle around the Pléiade. André’s translation appeared less than a year after Estienne’s edition and comprised the Latin translation only, without the Greek text. In a way, this can be taken as a signal that the Latin tradition was coming into its own. Accordingly, André makes some bolder choices in his translation, which already shows in his first lines (see Aiijr): Cantare nunc Atridas, Nunc expetesso Cadmum: Testudo vero nervis Solum refert Amorem (…). In classical Latin, the verb expetessere is used only by Plautus (and it is extremely rare in postclassical Latin). This brings a somewhat odd ring of comedy to the poem. Here, and in a number of other places, the translator wishes to strike his readers with an unusual turn of phrase or by some sort of amplification. He does not just imitate ‘Anacreon’, but also competes with him (as arguably with Estienne’s translation). André’s willingness to adapt the original text shows also in a certain moralistic tendency not otherwise seen in Latin translations. On the one hand, he openly and avowedly changes the text when it comes to unequivocal references to homosexuality: in CA 12 (10).8-10 (τ? µευ καλ?ν ?νε?ρων […] ?φ?ρπασας Β?θυλλον “Why from my sweet dreams […] have you snatched away Bathyllus?”), for instance, he replaces Bathyllus with a puella (Cur mane somnianti / Ista loquacitate / Mihi eripis puellam?),… in CA 29 (17).1-2 (Γρ?φε µοι Β?θυλλον ο?τω / τ?ν ?τα?ρον ?ς διδ?σκω, “Paint for me thus Bathyllus, my lover, just as I instruct you”) he simply suppresses the word ?τα?ρον, “lover” (Mihi pinge sic Bathyllum / ... Estienne’s translation is: Meos Bathyllum amores, / Ut te docebo pinge). Here, André proceeds in a way similar to the original Neo-Latin Anacreontics, in which homosexual love simply does not occur. On the other hand, André makes generous use of a metatextual element which is less conspicuous than his changes, but is even more extensive and significant. He includes a considerable number of passages in quotation marks and thus identifies them as sort of sententiae. In CA 4 (32), for instance, lines 1-6 describe how the poet wishes to lie down on myrtles, drink, and have Eros as his wine steward. This description of a specific setting is followed by some more general lines about the brevity of life, which André includes in quotation marks (lines 7- 10): “Cita nanque currit aetas, / Rota ceu voluta currus. / Sed et ossibus solutis / Iaceam cinis necesse est” (“For hurried life runs along just like a rolling wheel, but I shall soon lie, a bit of dust from crumbling bones”). The focus of this quotation technique is on lines concerned with the transitory nature of life, the uncertainness of tomorrow, and the futility of riches. By marking out such lines as sententiae, André distinguishes Anacreon the philosopher from Anacreon the drinker and lover and contributes to a larger discourse about the morality of the poet and his poems. While opinions in antiquity were often critical of Anacreon’s morals, ‘Anacreon’s’ large flock of modern imitators was united to defend their hero’s virtue. From Estienne’s preface onwards they usually referred to Plato’s Phaedrus 235c, where Socrates calls Anacreon “wise” (σοφ?ς) in matters concerned with Eros. In the 18th century, Anacreon, the philosopher, could even turn into a key-image of enligthened discourses. André’s identification of sententiae in ‘Anacreon’ prepared for this development and could have had a direct influence on it since his translation was widely read until well into the 18th century. The Latin translations of Estienne and André soon became classics in themselves and were the most successful ones in the early modern period.” (Tilg: Neo-Latin Anacreontic Poetry. Its Shape(s) and Its Significance, 214. Pp. 177-78). Brunet: I:250 Renouard: I:(161).
Operum moralium et civilium.... - [LARGE-PAPER COPY - FIRST ED. IN LATIN OF ""NOVA ATLANTIS"" AND THE ""ESSAYS""]
London, Edward Griffin [John Haviland, Bernard Norton, and John Bill], Richard Whitaker [& John Norton], 1638. Folio. (Binding: 32x22 cm, leaves: 31,1x20,8 cm.). Contemporary full speckled calf binding with six raised bands and gilt red leather title-label to spine. Boards with blindstamped ornamental border. Scuff marks to boards and hinges worn, so bands showing. Large woodcut head- and tail-pieces, initials, printer's devices, and typographical ornaments (that have been of great significance to the Baconians in their attempts to establish Bacon as the author of the works attributed to Shakespeare). Roman and Italic lettering, and some Greek. Several neat inscriptions to front free end-papers and verso of frontispiece, in Latin, Greek, English, and German, dated 1704, 1740, and 1926, the last being a presentation-inscription for the renowned German Bacon-scholar and noted Baconian George J. Pfeiffer. Neat early 18th century inscription to top of title-page. Old description of the copy (1946) neatly pasted on to inside of front board. Vague minor damp-staining to lower margin throughout, far from affecting text, and mostly barely visible. A vague minor dampstain to margins of a few leaves at the beginning, also far from affecting text. All in all a lovely, clean and crisp copy on large paper. Full page engraved frontispiece-portrait + (14), 386 (pp. 177-78 omitted in pagination)"" (16), 475, (1) pp. Fully complete, with separate half-titles for the different works.
Scarce first edition, first issue, on large paper - THE GREAT BOOK COLLECTOR VOLLBEHR'S COPY, GIVEN TO THE IMPORTANT BACONIAN G.J. PFEIFFER - of the monumental first collected edition of the works of Francis Bacon, containing the seminal first printing in Latin of not only his greatly influential ""Nova Atlantis"" (""The New Atlantis"" - often referred to as ""the blueprint for the founding of America""), but also his groundbreaking Essays (""Sermones Fideli"") as well as his history of Henry VII (""Historiam Regni Henrici Septimi"") and his Dialogue on the Holy War (""Dialogum de Bello Sacro""), published by Bacon's literary executor, his close friend William Ramsey, to whom Bacon bequeathed most of his manuscripts. This first edition of his works in Latin is of the utmost importance to Bacon-scholarship and has played a seminal role in the spreading of his works as well as the understanding of two of his greatest achievements, The Essays and The Nova Atlantis, which is usually referred to with its Latin title instead of the English.This magnificent copy with its wide margins contains several interesting inscriptions in different languages. One of them, 19th century, in German states that ""This book is to remind you of the ""15th Century Plot"". When, in 1926, you showed to scholars his collection of 2000 incunables. He is also known as ""Otto H.F. Vollbehr., [...]"" - "" Dated ""N. York City 29/11 26"" And in the same hand, the presentation inscription is continued: ""This ""little book"" is being handed over in friendship to Mr. George J. Pfeiffer the famous ""Bacon-scholar"" in order for him to continue his fruitful studies [...]."" -THE PRESENT COPY THUS EVIDENTLY BEING THE GREAT BOOK COLLECTOR VOLLBEHR'S COPY, GIVEN TO THE IMPORTANT BACONIAN PFEIFFER. ""Vollbehr was a German industrial chemist turned book collector who at the close of World War I found himself with more assets than most. Either in his own collection or through consignment Vollbehr had control of thousands of incunabula. In 1926 Vollbehr came to the United States, bringing with him a collection of 3,000 incunabula to be exhibited at the Eucharistic Congress in Chicago. After the exhibition in Chicago, Vollbehr traveled with the collection by train to several other cities. His last stop was in Washington, and over 100 of the books were exhibited in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress. Vollbehr proposed that if a benefactor would step forward to buy the collection for an American institution for half the asking price of $1.5 million, he would donate the other half. In addition, he would include a complete copy of the Gutenberg Bible printed on vellum as one of the 3,000 incunabula.The Gutenberg Bible which crowned Vollbehr's collection had had only three owners. The first owner was said to have been Johann Fust, who took it to Paris and sold it as a manuscript to a representative of the monks of Saint Blasius. It resided with the monks in the Black Forest until they had to move to St. Paul in Carinthia in the face of the Napoleonic army. Finally, in 1926, Otto Vollbehr purchased the three volumes from the monks for $250,000.In December 1929, a bill was presented to Congress proposing that public funds be used to acquire the Vollbehr collection for the Library of Congress. In June 1930 Congress passed the bill and President Hoover signed it into law. Between July 15 and September 3 the Vollbehr books arrived at the Library of Congress. The Bible, one of three known perfect copies printed on vellum, is one of only a few items that are permanently on display in the Library."" (from the Library of Congress web-site). George J. Pfeiffer, Ph. D., of New York, graduate of Harvard University, and Vice-president of the Bacon Society of America, is considered one of the most important Bacon-scholars of his time. His thorough scientific studies convinced himself and many others that Bacon was in fact the author of the works attributed to Shakespeare. With THE FIRST PRINTING IN LATIN OF ""NOVA ATLANTIS"", Bacon's famous theories of his masterly utopian work became widespread and hugely influential. It had originally been printed, posthumously, in English and appeared at the very end of his ""Sylva Sylvarum"" of 1626, where it was more or less hidden away and quite humbly presented by Rawley, who was responsible for his leftover papers. Rawley's introduction to the Latin edition of the work is quite different from that of the English edition and has had quite an impact upon the reception of the work, a work which came to inspire a totally new philosophical and political genre and which fundamentally changed the way that we view the world. The ""Nova Atlantis"" occupies a unique place within the works of Bacon"" among many other things, it is the only overtly fictional product of his career (if one does not, like Pheiffer, believe that he is actually the true author of the Shakespearean works). The printing of this major work in the history of man's thought is quite interesting and fairly complicated. As mentioned, it appeared at the back of the larger, and much more conform, work ""Sylva Sylvarum"", which was published by his secretary and friend William Rawley shortly after Bacon's death. It does not, however, seem to have much in common with the ""Sylva Sylvarum"", and the ""New Atlantis"" was not even mentioned when that work entered the Stationers' Register on July 4th, 1626.The ""Sylva Sylvarum"" was being compiled during the last couple of years of Bacon's life, and there is evidence to conclude that ""Nova Atlantis"" was being translated into Latin at the same time, whereas it seems that the English version of it was written about a year or two earlier. Although the Latin translation was thus left lying around for quite some years before it was finally printed, perhaps due to the fact that it was an unfinished text, Bacon himself seems to have concerned himself a great deal with the Latin translation of the work (as well as the other works). The appearance of them in the ""universal language"" were, in the words of Bacon himself to be carried out 'for the benefit of other nations', a phrase which is paralleled in the text of ""Nova Atlantis"", as the father of Salomon's House remarks of his relation of the institution's working that 'I giue thee leave to Publish it"" for the Good of other Nations'. And finally does this great work appear to the benefit of all men and all nations, in the universal Latin language, when in 1638 Rawley publishes the ""Operum moralium"", in which his ""Essays"" also appear in Latin for the first time, as does the History of Henry VII, and the Dialogue on the Holy War, two other greatly important works. The printed title of the ""Operum Moralium"" not only informs the reader which texts are included within the volume" Rawley also provides information on the texts themselves, dividing them into two distinct sections (with two separate title-pages). The first section consists of five translations which (apart from De sapientia) had never appeared in Latin translation before" the second section consists in the first part of the ""Instauratio"" (originally published in 1620). The second issue of the ""Operum Moralium"" furthermore has the reissued sheets of the last part of the ""Novum organum"".Rawley's prefatory letter tells us quite a bit about the way that he (and Bacon himself) would like the ""Nova Atlantis"" to be viewed, and for the first time the work is addressed in a direct and assertive manner, bringing it forth as an important philosophical work, now for the first time properly introduced. Rawley informs the reader that Bacon began the process of translating the Essays and the Nova Atlantis, because he wished his moral and political works not to perish. He goes on to explain the importance of the moral and political works being published in the ""universal"" Latin and groups the texts in a new way. He now makes a new category of text for the final two works, ""De bello sacro"" and ""Nova Atlantis"", calling them 'fragmentary', as opposed to the ""Worke Unfinished"" that he used for the English ""Now Atlantis"" of 1626/7, stating that this is at the request of Bacon himself: ""And finally he ordered that two fragments be added, the Dialogue of the Holy War, and the New Atlantis: but he said that these were the three kinds of fragments."", giving to them a certain status of their own and a deliberate character that they had not possessed before. For the first time, the ""Nova Atlantis"", the hitherto hidden-away work that was never properly introduced, is now included in the general preface, which it was not in 1626/27, and the ""Nova Atlantis"" is given the central position within Bacon's works that it deserved - and that it has possessed ever since. This also explains the great impact of the first Latin version of the ""Nova Atlantis"" as opposed to the English version, which was far less influential. Not only is ""Nova Atlantis"" no longer just an unfinished work worthy of no more than being hidden away at the back of a larger work, it is now the central part of a seminal collection of works appearing for the first time in Latin ""for the Good of other Nations"".""Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was one of the leading figures in natural philosophy and in the field of scientific methodology in the period of transition from the Renaissance to the early modern era. As a lawyer, member of Parliament, and Queen's Counsel, Bacon wrote on questions of law, state and religion, as well as on contemporary politics"" but he also published texts in which he speculated on possible conceptions of society, and he pondered questions of ethics (Essays) even in his works on natural philosophy (The Advancement of Learning).After his studies at Trinity College, Cambridge and Gray's Inn, London, Bacon did not take up a post at a university, but instead tried to start a political career. Although his efforts were not crowned with success during the era of Queen Elizabeth, under James I he rose to the highest political office, Lord Chancellor. Bacon's international fame and influence spread during his last years, when he was able to focus his energies exclusively on his philosophical work, and even more so after his death, when English scientists of the Boyle circle (Invisible College) took up his idea of a cooperative research institution in their plans and preparations for establishing the Royal Society.To the present day Bacon is well known for his treatises on empiricist natural philosophy (The Advancement of Learning, Novum Organum Scientiarum) and for his doctrine of the idols, which he put forward in his early writings, as well as for the idea of a modern research institute, which he described in Nova Atlantis."" (SEP). Gibson: 196" Lowndes I:96.
Opera Philosophica, Quae Latinè scripsit, Omnia. Antè quidem per partes, nunc autem, post cognitas omnium Objectiones, conjunctim & accuratiùs Edita. [8 parts]. [Including ""leviathan"" for the first time in Latin]. - [CONTAINING THE EDITIO PRINCEPS OF THE LATIN TRANSLATION OF ""LEVIATHAN""]
Amsterdam, Apud Ioannem Blaeu, 1668. 4to. All eight parts bound in two excellent, contemporary full vellum bindings with yapp edges and neat handwritten titles to spines. Some sections of leaves quite browned, due to the paper quality, but the greater part of the leaves (and all the plates) is crisp and bright. An excellent copy. Woodcut printer's device to title-page, woodcut initials an vignettes, woodcut and engraved text-illustrations (diagrams). (4) pp., folded engraved portrait of Hobbes (W. Faithorne sculp)folded, 40 pp. + pp. 40,b-m, pp. 41-44 + 2 plates" 146 pp. + 1 blank + 1 plate (8), 261, (1) pp. + 1 blank + 13 plates 86 pp. + 1 blank + 8 plates (16), 174 pp. + 1 blank 42 pp. + 1 blank + 1 plate 64 pp + 5 plates" (4), 365, (15 - Indices, incl. errata and ""Scripturae Sacrae"") pp. + 1 blank. - I.e. fully complete, with all 30 folded, engraved plates (depicting diagrams), all half-titles, and all blanks. Conforming exactly to the Macdonald&Hargreaves collation (our copy without the ""Quadratura Circuli"", which, according to Macdonald&Hargreaves, is ""probably a later insertion"", but which ""is included in some copies and has a title-page of it's own"". Copies without this part, which does not actually belong to the edition, are early and more desireable. Most copies have this later inserted part and thus 31 plates).
The extremely scarce first edition of the first collected edition of Hobbes' works, being the most desirable, the most sought-after and by far the most important. It is to this collected edition that one still refers when quoting Hobbes' works academically. It is furthermore here that Hobbes' seminal main work, Leviathan, appears for the first time in Latin.It is a great rarity to find all eight parts of this seminal edition, all of which were probably also sold separately from the printer, together and complete. Another edition of the work appeared later the same year, also with Amsterdam, Blaeu imprint, but actually printed in London. That edition, which is the one found in most library-holdings, is much more common and far less desireable, albeit still rare. ""Il faut voir si les huit parties indiquées sur un f. après le frontispiece sont réunies dans l'exempl. Il y a une édit. moins complète faite à Londres, sous la même dat"" on y lit sur le frontispice, après le nom de Blaeu: ""prostant etiam Londini apud Corn. Bee"". Le portrait de Hobbes, par Faithorne, a été ajouté à quelques exemplaires."" (Brunet III:239-40).""According to Macdonald&Hargreaves, ""[t]here seems to be no uniformity in the order of arrangement of the eight sections of this work. We have seen three (2 vol.) copies bound in the order given on *2r (q.v. in contents) and have arranged the collaction the same way."" Our copy is bound in exactly this way. The hugely important ""Opera Philosophica... Omnia"", or ""Opera Omnia"" as it is often referred to, constitutes Hobbes' only successful attempt to have his philosophy published during the period. In 1662 the Licensing Act, a statute requiring that all books had to be approved in advance of publication by the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of London, was enforced, after which Hobbes found himself completely barred from having his political, theological, and historical works published. After his hugely successful 1668 Latin ""Opera Omnia"", printed in Amsterdam, he did not dare publish his works abroad either, however, and the ""Opera Omnia"" remained the only important philosophical or political work of his to be published during the period. It was a great sales success. The most important part of the 8 part comprising ""Opera Omnia"" is the 378 page long final part, which constitutes the editio princeps of the Latin translation of Hobbes' groundbreaking main work, the work from which the ""social contract"" theory originates, his seminal ""Leviathan. ""The Latin ""Leviathan"" was published towards the end of 1668 within the framework of an edition of Hobbes's collected Latin works, the so-called ""Opera Omnia"" [i.e. Opera Philosophica... Omnia], published with Johan Blaeu in Amsterdam. ""Leviathan, sive De Metria, Forma, & Potestate Civitatis Ecclesisticae et Civilis. Authore Thoma Hobbes, Malmesburiensi"" is the eighth and last piece of this collection and the only one published there (in Latin) for the first time"" it is therefore the only text to receive (on its last page) a list of errata. The three chapters making up an ""Appendix ad Leviatham"" (and replacing the ""Review and Conclusion"" of the English edition) need not detain us here, as they are proper to the Latin version. We only want to note in passing that the few translations from the English ""Leviathan"" contained in the last chapter of his ""Appendix"" was worked out independently of the translation and in fact prior to it."" (Rogers, Karl Schuhmann, ""Thomas Hobbes Leviathan, Vol. 1"", p. 241).Not only is this the first Latin edition of Hobbes' main work, it is furthermore of great importance to the study of the Leviathan and to the understanding of the development of Hobbes' thought. All later editions of the Latin version of ""Leviathan"" are greatly corrected and none of them appear in the same version as the present one, which provides us with the text in the form that comes closest to what Hobbes himself desired his masterpiece to be. ""[...] Given these results, we may conclude that LL [i.e. the 1668 Latin Leviathan] should be counted an important source for the text of the English ""Leviathan"". LL is definitely more than a translation that teaches us little or nothing about the text translated. On the contrary, it is based on an independent manuscript copy of ""Leviathan"", and more specifically on a copy Hobbes had kept with him all the time and had apparently continued to annotate and correct. The variants of LL must therefore be treated with the greatest care wherever there are textual problems in ""Leviathan"", and not only in those cases in which the text of all English versions is defective. Even where it is a matter of deciding between given variants, LL should have an important, if not decisive voice. Given the fact that LL was worked out integrally by Hobbes at a rather late date, it must also be considered to contain his last decisions regarding the text as a whole. (Rogers, Karl Schuhmann, ""Thomas Hobbes Leviathan, Vol. 1"", p. 249).Soon after this first Latin edition, many others appeared:""So far, when speaking of LL [i.e. Leviathan in the Latin version] and quoting this work, we have always and only been referring to its 1668 edition as published within Hobbes' ""Opera Omnia"". But there were also other editions after that date. The first of these appeared in 1670 as a separate edition. It has, unsurprisingly the same imprint as the 1668 edition, for it was published as before with Johan Blaeu, who only added to the title page the bibliographical information ""Amstelodami, Apud Joannem Blaeu. M.DC.LXX."" Another separate edition was published ""Londini. Apud Johannem Tomsoni. M.DC.LXXVI."" and a third one, also with John Thom(p)son, ""Londini Typis Joannis Thomsonii, M.DC.LXXVIII.""."" (Rogers, Karl Schuhmann, ""Thomas Hobbes Leviathan, Vol. 1"", p. 250).Macdonad&Hargreaves: 104" Brunet III:239-40.
[Arab text followed by Latin translation:] Evangelium Sanctum Domini nostri Iesu Christi conscriptum a quatuor Evangelistis sanctis, id est Matthaeo, Marco, Luca et Iohanne. - [EDITIO PRINCEPS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT IN ARABIC]
Rome, Typographia Medicea, 1590 (-1591). Folio. Completely uncut in the original blank interim wrappers (with slight offsetting to verso of front wrapper). Newer paper backstrip matching the paper of the wrappers. Some leaves browned. Occasional brownspotting. An overall excellent copy. Housed in a old vellum chemise with ties and handwritten title (EVANGELIUM) to spine. Old, amorial, vague red stamp to title-page, colophon, and p. 97, from the Bibliotheque Impériale (now Bibliotheque Nationale), with a small deaccession-stamp to title-page. Magnificently illustrated with 149 large woodcut engravings in the text. 368 pp. Arabic text within double-frame border througout. Beautifully printed on very heavy paper.
The scarce editio princeps of the Arabic translation of the New Testament, magnificently printed in Granjon's famous font (considered the first satisfactory Arabic printing type, appearing here for the first time) and beautifully illustrated with 149 woodcut illustrations in the text. This work constitutes the very first printing by the Typographia Medicea-press, a printing-house set up by Pope Gregor XIII and Cardinal Ferdinando de Medici in order to promote and distribute Christian scriptures to the East. This splendid work is considered the first successful printing of Arabic. Apart from the Latin part of the title-page and the colophon, the book is in Arabic throughout. Two issues of the work were printed almost simultaneously, the Arabic-only text, which has the year 1590 on the title-page (and 1591 on the colophon), and the interlenear Arabic-Latin edition, which has 1591 on the title-page. The Arab-only edition, with 1590 on the title-page, is generally considered the first. ""Its first great Arabic publication was this edition of the Gospels, bearing the date 1590 on the title page, and 1591 at the end. Two versions appeared, one solely in Arabic and one with an interlinear Latin translation."" (Library of Congress).The work was edited by Giovanni Battista Raimondi (1536-1614), a renowned Orientalist and professor of mathematics at the College of the Sapienza in Rome. Raimondi had travelled extensively in the Middle East and had thorough knowledge of Arabic, Armenian, Syrian and Hebrew. He is, however, most famous for being the editor at the Typographia Medicea-press"" together with French engraver Robert Granjon (who also created the Arabic typography of the present work) ""bettered all previous attempts [to print in Arabic] in Europe, and would remain unsurpassed long after the press had closed. (Boogert, ""Medici Oriental Press, Rome 1584-1614"").""Antonio Tempesta, the engraver (cutter: Leonardo Parasole), had studied under Santi di Tito and Joannes Stradanus at the Accademia del Disegno in Florence (later working with Stradanus and Vasari on the interior decoration of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence), before travelling to Rome, where he executed various commissions, including frescos for Pope Gregory XIII in the Vatican and decorations for the Villa Farnese. Simultaneously with his frescos and panel paintings, he executed a large number of engravings. The illustrations for the present work are remarkable examples of Tempesta's work, noteworthy for their clear composition and narrative of the episodes depicted. Despite the extremely high quality of the prints, the press never became an economic success and it went bankrupt in 1610. Scholars have noticed that presenting a work with beautiful scriptural illustrations, as the present, to Arabic-speaking Muslims, when Islam forbids religious illustration, showed little understanding of the culture and almost certainly hindered Pope Gregory XIII's missionary efforts.""The press was not only an intellectual enterprise" it was also a commercial one. Raimondi clearly hoped to sell his books in the East, rather than the West, because the selection of the works he produced showed little consideration with the type of material European scholars in this period needed. While the works failed to sell in the Ottoman Empire, however, they did significantly stimulate the study of the Middle East in Europe.Ferdinando de' Medici had ordered Raimondi to print 'all available Arabic books on permissible human sciences which had no religious content in order to introduce the art of printing to the Mohamedan community.' Only more than a century after the Medici Press in Rome had closed, did it finally have the envisaged impact in the Levant" Ibrahim Müteferrika, the first Muslim printer, referring to it in his plea to the sultan to allow him to open his own printing house at Istanbul, which happened in 1729."" (Boogert, ""Medici Oriental Press, Rome 1584-1614"").The copy was previously in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, at the time when it was entitled ""Bibliothèque Imperiale"", which was its name, inbetween, from 1849 to 1871. Thus, the book entered the library in Napoleonic times and was later deaccessioned. Brunet II, 1122-23Schnurrer 318Adams: B:1822
Deliciae quorundam poetarum Danorum collectae. 2 vols. - [DANISH POETRY IN LATIN]
Lugduni Batavorum (Leiden), Jordanum Luchtmans, 1693. 12mo. Uniformly bound in two contemporary half calf binding with gilt lettering to spines. Small paper-label pasted on to top of spines. Wear to spines, head and foot of spines with loss of leather. Frontispiece with small hole and reinforced in outer margin. First and last leaves in vol. 1 with wormtract, but internally generally nice and clean. (80), 577, (3) pp. + frontispiece (4), 618 pp.
Uncommon first edition of this first anthology with contemporary Danish poetry in Latin. Frederik Rostgaard was born at the Krogerup estate in North Zealand. Upon his father's death in 1684, he was orphaned, but the financial situation was good, allowing him to receive a thorough education and higher education. After staying with the rector of the Copenhagen School, Peder Foss, he was privately tutored by him in 1687. He had Willum Worm, later a justice of the Supreme Court, as his guardian. Being wealthy, he pursued various independent studies, enjoyed visiting libraries, and began, as a very young student, to collect the works of Bording and other Danish poets, especially those in Latin. After a few short trips to Scania and Northern Germany, he traveled abroad in 1690, where he stayed for the next nine years. He first stayed in Germany, especially in Giessen, where his main study was jurisprudence, but he also studied Arabic at the same time. In the spring of 1692, he traveled to the Netherlands, making Leiden his main residence, and although he did not abandon law, it was linguistics that occupied him for the remainder of his stay abroad. It was during this trip he saw the opportunity to publish his collections of Latin poems by Danish authors. (See Larsen, ”Knud, Frederik Rostgaard og bøgerne”, Danmarks Biblioteksskoles Skrifter 3, 1970). Biblioteca Danica IV, 184.Thesaurus 634
