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Auction archive: Lot number 10

PSALTER, with canticles, in Greek and Latin. Edited by Joannes Crastonus (fl. 15th century). Milan: [Bonus Accursius], 20 September 1481.

Auction 06.06.2001
6 Jun 2001
Estimate
£10,000 - £15,000
ca. US$14,012 - US$21,018
Price realised:
£25,850
ca. US$36,222
Auction archive: Lot number 10

PSALTER, with canticles, in Greek and Latin. Edited by Joannes Crastonus (fl. 15th century). Milan: [Bonus Accursius], 20 September 1481.

Auction 06.06.2001
6 Jun 2001
Estimate
£10,000 - £15,000
ca. US$14,012 - US$21,018
Price realised:
£25,850
ca. US$36,222
Beschreibung:

PSALTER, with canticles, in Greek and Latin. Edited by Joannes Crastonus (fl. 15th century). Milan: [Bonus Accursius], 20 September 1481. Royal half-sheet 4° (243 x 188mm). Collation: π 2 a-x 8 y-z 6 (π1-2 editor's dedicatory letter to Ludovicus Donatus, Bishop of Bergamo, a1r text, z6r colophon). 180 leaves (of 182, lacking 2-leaf preliminary quire). 28-30 lines, Greek and Latin text in parallel columns. Types: 3:125 Greek, 1:119(125)R. 2-, 4- and 5-line initial spaces with guide-letters. Initials to Latin text supplied in red, the first in blue with red penwork decoration, later gold initial on blue ground mounted into first Greek initial space. 19th-century red-stained deerskin gilt, preserving 18th-century red morocco sides with narrow gilt border roll, gilt edges (spine and edges rubbed). Provenance : minor corrections to text made in an early hand -- Shute Barrington, Lord Bishop of Durham (1791 -1826, bookplate). EDITIO PRINCEPS of the Greek liturgical Psalter, THE FIRST BOOK OF THE BIBLE TO BE PRINTED IN GREEK, and the EDITIO PRINCEPS of the Magnificat and the Benedictus - THE EARLIEST PORTIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT TO BE PRINTED IN GREEK. In addition to its obvious liturgical use, the parallel Greek-Latin text may have served some as a method of learning Greek. Earlier in the century, Ambrogio Traversari claimed to have taught himself Greek by studying a copy of the Greek Psalter, and he recommonded this method to others (N.G. Wilson, From Byzantium to Italy , pp.10 and 33). It is printed with Accursius's second Greek type ('in many respects an advance on its predecessor' -- Proctor), which was used to print only 5 books; a recast of it was later used by Scinzenzeler. The fount may have been modelled on the hand of one of the scribes working for the Gregoropoulos family and Thomas Bitzimanos. (Cf. R. Proctor, The Printing of Greek in the Fifteenth Century , 1900, p.62 and N. Barker, Aldus Manutius and the Development of Greek Script and Type , 1985, p.35.) RARE, only the Botfield copy has been offered at auction in over 50 years. HC *13454; BMC VI, 756 (IB. 26564-a); CIBN P-645; IGI 8123; Darlow & Moule 5490; Goff P-1035.

Auction archive: Lot number 10
Auction:
Datum:
6 Jun 2001
Auction house:
Christie's
London, King Street
Beschreibung:

PSALTER, with canticles, in Greek and Latin. Edited by Joannes Crastonus (fl. 15th century). Milan: [Bonus Accursius], 20 September 1481. Royal half-sheet 4° (243 x 188mm). Collation: π 2 a-x 8 y-z 6 (π1-2 editor's dedicatory letter to Ludovicus Donatus, Bishop of Bergamo, a1r text, z6r colophon). 180 leaves (of 182, lacking 2-leaf preliminary quire). 28-30 lines, Greek and Latin text in parallel columns. Types: 3:125 Greek, 1:119(125)R. 2-, 4- and 5-line initial spaces with guide-letters. Initials to Latin text supplied in red, the first in blue with red penwork decoration, later gold initial on blue ground mounted into first Greek initial space. 19th-century red-stained deerskin gilt, preserving 18th-century red morocco sides with narrow gilt border roll, gilt edges (spine and edges rubbed). Provenance : minor corrections to text made in an early hand -- Shute Barrington, Lord Bishop of Durham (1791 -1826, bookplate). EDITIO PRINCEPS of the Greek liturgical Psalter, THE FIRST BOOK OF THE BIBLE TO BE PRINTED IN GREEK, and the EDITIO PRINCEPS of the Magnificat and the Benedictus - THE EARLIEST PORTIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT TO BE PRINTED IN GREEK. In addition to its obvious liturgical use, the parallel Greek-Latin text may have served some as a method of learning Greek. Earlier in the century, Ambrogio Traversari claimed to have taught himself Greek by studying a copy of the Greek Psalter, and he recommonded this method to others (N.G. Wilson, From Byzantium to Italy , pp.10 and 33). It is printed with Accursius's second Greek type ('in many respects an advance on its predecessor' -- Proctor), which was used to print only 5 books; a recast of it was later used by Scinzenzeler. The fount may have been modelled on the hand of one of the scribes working for the Gregoropoulos family and Thomas Bitzimanos. (Cf. R. Proctor, The Printing of Greek in the Fifteenth Century , 1900, p.62 and N. Barker, Aldus Manutius and the Development of Greek Script and Type , 1985, p.35.) RARE, only the Botfield copy has been offered at auction in over 50 years. HC *13454; BMC VI, 756 (IB. 26564-a); CIBN P-645; IGI 8123; Darlow & Moule 5490; Goff P-1035.

Auction archive: Lot number 10
Auction:
Datum:
6 Jun 2001
Auction house:
Christie's
London, King Street
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