Etymologicum magnum graecum, Venice, 1499, old reused vellum over boards

Etymologicum magnum graecum

[edited by Marcus Musurus]. Venice: Zacharias Callierges for Nicolaus Blastos and Anna Notaras, 8 July 1499

Super-Royal folio (378 x 258mm.), 222 leaves (of 224), Α¹⁰ Β-Ω ΑΑ-ΓΓ⁸ ΔΔ⁶, 50 lines, double column, Greek type, printed in red and black, Byzantine-style 5- and 10-line woodcut initials and headpieces printed in red, woodcut printers' device at end printed in red, later reused vellum over boards, stubs of two pairs of ties, lacking first and last leaves (both supplied in facsimile), a few leaves in first and last quires strengthened in gutter, occasional light staining or foxing, small wormhole in gutter at end

The first printed Greek dictionary and the first book from the exclusively Greek press of Zacharias Callierges. He produced four books in 1499 and 1500, and then reappeared in 1509 producing Greek Orthodox liturgical works, before moving to Rome in 1514 to print classical texts. For this first press, Callierges had the backing of Blastos, a fellow Cretan and a stationer, and Anna Notaras, the daugher of a Byzantine nobleman who had settled in Venice and provided the funds for the press.

LITERATURE:

ISTC ie00112000; Sander 7710