ARISTOTELES (384-322 B.C.). Opera , in Greek. With works by Galen (129-199? A.D.), Theophrastus (ca.370-ca.287 B.C.), Philo Judaeus (ca.30 B.C.-45 A.D.), Alexander Aphrodisiensis (fl. early 3rd century), and other authors. Edited by Aldus, Thomas Linacre, Justin Decadyos, Gabriel Bracius, Niccolò Leoniceno, and others. Venice: Aldus Manutius 1 November 1495-June 1498. 5 volumes. Super-chancery 2° (309 x 213mm). Collation as given for the Doheny copy (Christie's New York, 27 October 1987, lot 105), including the presence of the uncancelled blank conjugate to III:PP10+1; bifolia III:cc 4.7 and 5.6. transposed in binding; IV:+1.2 not disjunct but wrapped around quire aaaααα. 234; 300; 468; 520; 330 leaves. 30 lines and headline (no headline in part 1). Type: 1:146Gk, 7:114Gk, 3:108R, 4:81R, 2:114R. Numerous woodcut floral and interlace headpieces and Greek initials, woodcut diagram in pt.I:I1r, cancel-strip on III:kk10v pasted in. (Small wormholes in all volumes with little loss, repaired in first and final quires.) Uniform contemporary ?Swiss binding of half pigksin over wooden boards, blindstamped with floral roll-tools, remains of paper spine labels, 2 fore-edge clasps with brass catches, each volume stamped with the arms of the city of Zürich, new endpapers. Provenance : Johann Jakob Breitinger (1575-1645, Protestant minister and professor at Zürich, signature on title-pages of each volume); Zürich Stadtbibliothek (stamp in each volume). EDITIO PRINCEPS of the works of Aristotle and of all other texts included. The Aristotle was the most important Greek-printing project of the 15th-century, and it was the greatest achievement in Aldus's Greek publishing programme. He employed agents to search throughout Europe, including England, for manuscripts of the works, and gathered Greek scholars to edit them. The parts were issued and marketed separately, and Aldus's 1498 broadside advertisement of Libri graeci impressi (Einblattdruck 897) priced them individually according to the number of sheets. The present complete set was obviously assembled at an early date by a single owner, as witnessed by the uniform fine, possibly Swiss, bindings of about 1540. All copies of the Aldine Aristotle which have appeared at auction since the Abbey-Esmerian copy bound for Grolier (sold in 1972) have consisted of individual volumes brought together in later centuries. One exception was the Botfield copy (Christie's, 30 March 1994, lot 39), which, although bound for Botfield by Charles Lewis in 1832, had been owned by Joseph Justus Scaliger (1540-1606). The present set, with its near-contemporary Swiss ownership is also witness to the extensive Aldine marketing effort aimed north of the Alps. HC *1657; GW 2334; BMC V, 553, 555-6, 558; Goff A-959; IGI 791; Flodr 19:1 (Aristoteles); PMM 38. (5)
ARISTOTELES (384-322 B.C.). Opera , in Greek. With works by Galen (129-199? A.D.), Theophrastus (ca.370-ca.287 B.C.), Philo Judaeus (ca.30 B.C.-45 A.D.), Alexander Aphrodisiensis (fl. early 3rd century), and other authors. Edited by Aldus, Thomas Linacre, Justin Decadyos, Gabriel Bracius, Niccolò Leoniceno, and others. Venice: Aldus Manutius 1 November 1495-June 1498. 5 volumes. Super-chancery 2° (309 x 213mm). Collation as given for the Doheny copy (Christie's New York, 27 October 1987, lot 105), including the presence of the uncancelled blank conjugate to III:PP10+1; bifolia III:cc 4.7 and 5.6. transposed in binding; IV:+1.2 not disjunct but wrapped around quire aaaααα. 234; 300; 468; 520; 330 leaves. 30 lines and headline (no headline in part 1). Type: 1:146Gk, 7:114Gk, 3:108R, 4:81R, 2:114R. Numerous woodcut floral and interlace headpieces and Greek initials, woodcut diagram in pt.I:I1r, cancel-strip on III:kk10v pasted in. (Small wormholes in all volumes with little loss, repaired in first and final quires.) Uniform contemporary ?Swiss binding of half pigksin over wooden boards, blindstamped with floral roll-tools, remains of paper spine labels, 2 fore-edge clasps with brass catches, each volume stamped with the arms of the city of Zürich, new endpapers. Provenance : Johann Jakob Breitinger (1575-1645, Protestant minister and professor at Zürich, signature on title-pages of each volume); Zürich Stadtbibliothek (stamp in each volume). EDITIO PRINCEPS of the works of Aristotle and of all other texts included. The Aristotle was the most important Greek-printing project of the 15th-century, and it was the greatest achievement in Aldus's Greek publishing programme. He employed agents to search throughout Europe, including England, for manuscripts of the works, and gathered Greek scholars to edit them. The parts were issued and marketed separately, and Aldus's 1498 broadside advertisement of Libri graeci impressi (Einblattdruck 897) priced them individually according to the number of sheets. The present complete set was obviously assembled at an early date by a single owner, as witnessed by the uniform fine, possibly Swiss, bindings of about 1540. All copies of the Aldine Aristotle which have appeared at auction since the Abbey-Esmerian copy bound for Grolier (sold in 1972) have consisted of individual volumes brought together in later centuries. One exception was the Botfield copy (Christie's, 30 March 1994, lot 39), which, although bound for Botfield by Charles Lewis in 1832, had been owned by Joseph Justus Scaliger (1540-1606). The present set, with its near-contemporary Swiss ownership is also witness to the extensive Aldine marketing effort aimed north of the Alps. HC *1657; GW 2334; BMC V, 553, 555-6, 558; Goff A-959; IGI 791; Flodr 19:1 (Aristoteles); PMM 38. (5)
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
