Gaza, introductiuae gram[m]atices, Venice, Aldo, 1495, eighteenth-century English calf, the Earls of Sunderland copy

Gaza, Theodorus. Grammatica introductiva [Greek]. Add: Gaza: De mensibus [Greek]; Apollonius Dyscolus: De constructione [Greek]; Herodianus: De numeris [Greek]. (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, 25 December 1495)

Editio princeps of Apollonius Dyscolus and portions of Herodian. One of the very earliest books to be printed by Aldo—and the maiden use of his first Greek type—the Grammaticus was preceded only by an undated edition of Musaeus, the undated Galeomyomachia, and the 1495 edition of Constantine Lascaris's Grammar. The type used for this book was also employed to print Aldo’s edition of Aristotle.

Theodorus Gaza (1400-1478), Professor of Greek at Ferrara before being called to Rome by Pope Nicholas V in 1450 to translate Greek works into Latin, enjoyed the patronage of Cardinal Bessarion. He was highly esteemed as a scholar and linguist and his Greek grammar was reprinted many times. Erasmus translated the first two books into Latin. The other works in this volume are Greek editions of Gaza's De mensibus, Apollonius Dyscolos's De constructione and Herodianus's De numeris.

See also lot 897 from the Sunderland library.

Folio (310 x 217 mm). Greek types, with some roman, 31 lines. collation: a⁸ bβ-kχ⁸ 1A^{8 2}a⁸ b¹⁰ AA-LL⁸ MM⁴: 198 leaves. Woodcut foliate initials and headpieces, verso of title with "πάθη" supplied in pen and ink and "φιλομεναθής" corrected in a contemporary hand, some neat marginalia at front. (First and last pages lightly soiled.)

binding: Eighteenth-century English calf, border of twin gilt fillets, central gilt rectangle formed by two fillets and wavy roll, fleuron cornerpieces, marbled endpapers, red speckled edges. (Neatly rebacked, red and green morocco labels.)

provenance: Unidentified owner(s), sixteenth-century marginalia mainly variant readings from Codex Valdeiano and Clenardus, perhaps his Institutiones, foliated in ink — Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland (1675-1722); by descent to — Charles Spencer, 5th Earl of Sunderland (1706-1758); Puttick & Simpson, Bibliotheca Sunderlandiana, London, 1 December 1881-31 March 1883, lot 5397; purchased by — Bernard Quaritch, London (£7 5s), commemorative ex libris placed in book by Quaritch; Bernard Quaritch, A General Catalogue of Books (London: 1887), VI, item 36769 (£9 9s") Herman Charles Hoskier (1864-1938); his sale, Sotheby’s London, 29 June-2 July 1908, lot 316; purchased by — Libreria antiquaria T. De Marinis & C., Florence (£4 15s); their catalogue Manuscrits, incunables et livres rares (Florence 1913), item 165 (Lire 350). acquisition: Purchased from C. A. Stonehill Inc., New Haven, 1962. references: UCLA 5; Aldo Manuzio tipografo 5; BMC V 553 (IB 24398); Goff G110; GW 10562; ISTC ig00110000; Renouard 4/2