Sophocles. Commentarii in septem tragedias, editio

Sophocles. Commentarii in septem tragedias, edited by Janus Lascaris, collation: α6, β8, Γ8, δ-ο8, π4, ρ-ω8, Α-Β8, Greek and Roman type, title in Latin, initial spaces with guide-letters, Greek colophon to B7v, recto and verso of title ruled in red, foot of title with later ink ms. place and date of publication, lacking final blank, title lightly soiled, α6 upper marginal corner frayed, occasional spotting or light foxing, occasional light staining, early 19th century red straight-grain morocco, covers with single gilt filet border, spine in compartments of single gilt rules, a few ink spots, rubbed, 8vo (187 x 115mm.), [Rome], [Zacharias Kalliergis] at the press of the Greek Gymnasium, 1518.

⁂ The editio princeps of the scholia or commentaries on Sophocles, which were not included in the first edition in Greek of his tragedies, published by Aldus in 1502. It is one of only a handful of publications from this second Greek press in Rome. The text was meticulously edited by Janus Lascaris (c.1445-97), director of the Greek Gymnasium, which was established on the Quirinal Hill in 1513 under the auspices of Pope Leo X. The edition is based on an authoritative manuscript now preserved in the Biblioteca Laurenziana in Florence (Laur. 32,9), which was acquired by Giovanni Aurispa in Constantinople in 1423.

Provenance: 'W Whiter, 1788, E dono viri amicissimi Jacobi Dover'; 'Henry W. Moule, 1930, from A.C.M.' (inscriptions to front endpapers).