Omero - ὍΜΗΡΟΣ ὈΔΎΣΣΕΙΑ [Odissea] - 1551

FIRST EDITION IN GREEK OF HOMER'S ODYSSEY
Homer's Odyssey. Printed in 1551, by Heruagium in Basel. First edition in Greek. The Odyssey narrates the long journey (the nostos) undertaken by Odysseus (Ulysses for the Latins) to return to his homeland, to Ithaca, after the storming of the city of Troy. The work also presents the events following the death of Hector, with which the Iliad ended, such as the conquest of the city of Troy, which occurred through the deception of the horse devised by our protagonist. The poem consists of 24 books in hexameters, collected into three large thematic nuclei.
"Ref. Adams H 748 ; VD16 H 4591. Contrary to what the presence of the Latin text on the first title page suggests, this edition is only in Greek".
RARE: ONLY ONE LATER COPY, SOLD AT AUCTION FOR 2,080 EUROS

CONTENTS
The Odyssey opens with a preface consisting of the invocation of the muse and the protasis, which summarizes the content of the entire story. In particular, Ulysses is described, highlighting the differences with Achilles, protagonist of the Iliad: he is a person who suffers from being away from home, is intelligent, astute, ready to exploit every situation and insatiably curious. It is no coincidence that the first adjective that characterizes it is polytropon, that is, "multiform, polymorphic" and "dragged by fate, by destiny". At the end, a fact narrated in the XII book of the Odyssey is also mentioned, the so-called Episode of Hyperion, in which Ulysses' companions kill and feed on the sacred cows of the Sun God, who, feeling outraged, punishes them with death.

The Odyssey revolves completely around a single character: Odysseus or Ulysses (this is the Latin name) . The narrative structure is also affected, because it is less episodic and is organized according to a precise narrative scheme. «Overall, the Odyssey is configured as a set of stories: as a story of stories» (Privitera, quoting Todorov) ; it will be a much used structure and in fact we find it in Boccaccio's Decameron.

He is also the symbol of the man who returns to the nest, and is guided by nostalgia, by the desire for home, and renounces immortality and eternal youth (offered by Calypso and Circe) and the love idyll near the court of the Phaeacians with Nausicaa. Odysseus is the hero of many deceptions. Deception, in Greek dolos, is not a negative term like today: it is two-faced, multipurpose. Just like Odysseus. But Penelope, his counterpart, also weaves her famous web like dolos. And the literary narrative is also a dolos: a refined deception, and Odysseus himself gives us proof of this several times, especially in the episode of the Cyclops Polyphemus, whose large blinded eye is the sign of man who escapes the sun, the great all-seeing eye.

CONDITION REPORT
Parchment binding. The parchment shows signs of wear and two repairs to the caps, with the application of a parchment insert illuminated in red and blue. Repairs to the internal margins, light foxing. Overall, the work is in a good state of repair. Nice copy, complete, clean and tidy. pp. (2) ; 314; (2) .

FULL TITLES & AUTHORS
ὍΜΗΡΟΣ ὈΔΎΣΣΕΙΑ (Hómēros Odýsseia) , meta Didymoy Homeri Ulyssea, una cum Didymi autores antiquissimi interpretatione.
Basileae, Apud Hervagium. 1551
Homer