EURIPIDES (c. 484-406 B.C.E.) - photo 1
EURIPIDES (c. 484-406 B.C.E.) - photo 2
EURIPIDES (c. 484-406 B.C.E.) - photo 3
EURIPIDES (c. 484-406 B.C.E.) - photo 4

EURIPIDES (c. 484-406 B.C.E.)

Lot 96
13.07.2022 10:30UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 15 120
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 794490
Lot 96 | EURIPIDES (c. 484-406 B.C.E.)
Estimate value
£ 10 000 – 15 000
EURIPIDES (c. 484-406 B.C.E.)

Tragoediae. Venice: Aldus, 1503.

Editio princeps of 18 Euripidean plays; all the tragedies with the exception of Electra are present, as well as the satyr play Cyclops. All but four of the plays are here published for the first time; four plays had been previously published at Florence c. 1495; Electra was not published until 1545. Aldus' edition remained the most important printed text of Euripides until the 18th century. ‘It would seem from the preface that only 1000 copies were printed’ (Dibdin). The contemporary marginal notes give alternative readings, references to other authors, and translations of complex phrases. The text of the first volume is preceded by a sheet of manuscript with notes in Latin, Italian and Greek with relevant page numbers, in the same hand as did the numbering. The two 16th-century annotators were accomplished classicists. The first – c.1550s – glossed numerous passages with Latin translations, and had access to alternative versions of the text, as he corrected a few lines using variants. Since he generally mentioned his authorities, when he did not it may mean he had access to unpublished mss. He cross-referenced Horace, Plato, Cicero, Theocritus, Aristophanes and Sophocles. On the title of vol. 1 he noted the Pythian oracle’s statement to Socrates, ‘Sophocles is wise, Euripides is wiser, but of all men Socrates is wisest’, found in Aristophanes. Interesting annotations pertain to the harsh rhetorical ‘agon’ in which Hermione accuses Andromache of being a witch and coming from a barbarian people prone to incest and polygamy. The annotator glossed Hermione with ‘Asian women are poisonous’, ‘barbarians practice the works of Venus indiscriminately’, ‘women’s libido is greater than men’s’ and ‘there is no remedy against evil women’. A slightly later hand annotated passages in ink or pencil with references to Estienne’s commentary on Euripides and Sophocles, published in 1568. BM STC It. 239; Dibdin I 524: ‘frequently found in an imperfect or indifferent condition’. Adams E-1030; Renouard 43⁄10: ‘première et rare édition d’Euripide’. Ahmanson-Murphy 55; CNCE 18373.



2 volumes, 8vo (156 x 100mm), Aldine dolphin device at end. Fine late 18th-Century red morocco gilt, covers bordered with a gilt rule and repeated scrolled acanthus leaves, gilt fleurons to corners, spines with four raised bands richly gilt in compartments, green and blue morocco labels, inner dentelles gilt, marbled endpapers, all edges marbled. Provenance: Latin and Greek marginalia with notes in several contemporary hands, leaves numbered at head (both occasionally cropped). Earls of Macclesfield (armorial bookplates, Shirburn Castle blindstamp.)





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No VAT on hammer price or buyer's premium.
Place of origin:Italy, Europe
Auction house category:Printed books
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
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United Kingdom
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13.07.2022 – 13.07.2022
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