Oppian, De piscibus, de venatione, Venice, Aldus, 1517, later calf

Oppian

Αλιευτικων βιβλια πεντε. Του αυτου κυνηγετικων βιβλια τεσσαρα. De piscibus libri V. Eiusdem de venatione libri IIII [with translation of the former into Latin by Lorenzo Lippi]. (Venice: in the house of Aldus and Andrea Torresano, December 1517)

8vo (150 x 93mm.), woodcut Aldine device on title-page, with blank leaves n7-8, later calf, lacking final leaf with device only, covers detached (with first and last leaves still attached to covers)

These two didactic poems on fishing and hunting are attributed to different Oppians. The Greek text was first printed by the Giunta in 1515 (this is the first Aldine edition) and the verse translation of the poem on fishes by Lippi first appeared in 1478, in Lippi's home town of Colle Val d'Elsa. It is the first Greek text to be printed by Gian Francesco Torresano (Cataldi Palau, p.210).

LITERATURE

Cataldi Palau 31; Edit16 37566; Renouard 81/9; UCLA 160; Westwood & Satchell, Bibliotheca piscatoria p.163

PROVENANCE

nineteenth-century notes in English on inside front cover and a quote taken from Brunet, with the price £1-5-0