Thomas Magister, Per alphabetum... elegantiae, Rome, Kallierges, [1517], 8vo, later red morocco, Chatsworth copy

Thomas Magister

Per alphabetum hoc est elementorum ordinem attici eloquii, elegantiae. (Rome: Zacharias Kallierges, 4 March 1517)

8vo (151 x 102mm.), woodcut printer's device on title-page, woodcut headpiece and initial, later red morocco in the style of Roger Payne, gilt fillet border, gilt edges, probably washed

RARE. This is a collection of Attic words and sayings from ancient writers, compiled by the Byzantine official Thomas Magister (?1275-1350/51).

LITERATURE

Edit16 23582; Legrand I, 151; Botley, Learning Greek in Western Europe, Appendix 2:18

PROVENANCE

faded early inscription on title-page; Thomas Dampier (1748-1812), bishop of Ely, inscription dated 1778; Chatsworth bookplate (listed in volume IV, p.34 of the 1879 Chatsworth library catalogue), sale, Property of the 10th Duke of Devonshire's Charitable Trust, Christie's, 1 October 1981, part of lot 406