Homer, Opera, Florence, 1488, later English red morocco gilt

Homer

Opera [Greek, edited by Demetrius Chalcondylas]. Florence: [Printer of Vergilius (C 6061), possibly Bartolommeo di Libri] for Bernardus and Nerius Nerlius and Demetrius Damilas, [not before 13 January 1488/89]

Median folio (322 x 222mm.), 438 leaves (of 440, without two blank leaves E10 and 2ET6), A-D⁸ E¹⁰; A-Z ET [con] [rum]⁸; AA-ZZ⁸ 2ET⁶, 39 lines, Greek type, 2- to 10-line initial spaces, late eighteenth-century English straight-grained red morocco gilt, spine gilt in compartments, gilt edges, vellum flyleaves, washed to remove annotations (more frequent in the Odyssey), some neat marginal paper repairs (including G6-H1), first and last leaves somewhat browned with small repairs, binding somewhat rubbed, spine a little faded

EDITIO PRINCEPS of the works of Homer, comprising the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Homeric Hymns and the Batrachomyomachia, along with the lives of Homer by Plutarch and Herodotus, and a lecture on Homer by Dio Chrysostomus. This is likely to be THE FIRST BOOK IN GREEK TO BE PRINTED IN FLORENCE.

The text was prepared by Demetrius Chalcondylas (1423-1511), a scholar from Athens who was appointed the first professor of Greek at the University of Padua in 1463, before moving to Florence in 1475. The type was provided by the calligrapher Demetrius Damilas, and the printing was by Bartolommeo dei Libri at the expense of the brothers Nerli, who dedicated the work to Piero de' Medici.

Loosely inserted is a typed note about the volume, attributed to Nicolas Barker on 4 January 1979.

REFERENCES: ISTC ih00300000

PROVENANCE: Edward Spencer Cowper, inscription on flyleaf dated 19 February 1801, and armorial bookplate; Panshanger House (Hertfordshire), bookplate

Edward Spencer Cowper (1779-1823) was born in Florence, returning to England after the death of his father in order to be educated. His library at Digswell, Hertfordshire, was sold by Mr Christie on 9 May 1827, though this book does not feature in the catalogue.