Heliodorus, Historiae aethiopicae libri decem, Basel, 1534, contemporary vellum

Property from the Loverdos Collection

Heliodorus

Αιθιοπικης ιστοριας βιβλια δεκα. Historiae aethiopicae libri decem, nunquam antea in lucem editi. Basel: Johannes Hervagius, February 1534

4to (204 x 149mm.), text in Greek, woodcut device on title-page and final verso (otherwise blank), woodcut initials, near-contemporary limp vellum, stubs of two pairs of ties, marginal losses to title-page and to fourth leaf of first few quires (indicating damage before the sheets were bound), occasional light staining, cover becoming loose

EDITIO PRINCEPS of this fourth-century Greek novel, Ethiopian Adventures of Charicleia and Theagenes. The editor, Vincent Obsopeus, states in the preface that the manuscript was saved from the destruction of the library of Matthias Corvinus by a soldier in the army of Casimir of Brandenburg. The popularity of the tale resulted in almost a hundred editions in various languages appearing over the next hundred years; see lot 83 for a Spanish translation.

LITERATURE

VD16 H 1673

PROVENANCE

Bibliothèque de M. Delasize, bookplate, sale, Rouen, 1846