Plautus, Comoediae, Treviso, 1482, eighteenth-century calf

Plautus, Titus Maccius

Comoediae [edited by Georgius Merula]. Treviso: Paulus de Ferraria and Dionysius Bertochus, 21 June 1482

Chancery folio (277 x 190mm.), 242 leaves (of 243, without final blank), a⁴ b¹⁰ c-z⁸ &⁸ [us]⁶⁺¹ [rum] A-C⁸ D⁶ E⁸, roman type, initials supplied neatly in red at a later date, later manuscript title supplied on initial blank leaf, o3-p4 misbound after q6, eighteenth-century Italian mottled calf, flat spine gilt, blue edges, s7 with small repaired tear affecting a few letters, register leaf slightly damaged and repaired, a few small wormholes and light staining towards end, spine slightly wormed and chipped at ends

An early edition of the plays of Plautus, first printed in Venice in 1472, and also in an undated edition in Ferrara [c. 1480]. Merula had edited the text for Vindelinus de Spira, using copies of the eleventh-century manuscript found in Cologne by Nicolaus de Cusa in 1429 which contained twelve previously unknown plays.

LITERATURE:

ISTC ip00780000

PROVENANCE:

Ercole Silva (1756-1840), conte di Biandrate, armorial bookplate