L12406

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Lot 110
  • 110

Pindar

Estimate
8,000 - 10,000 GBP
bidding is closed

Description

  • Pindar
  • Olympia, Pythia, Nemea, Isthmia. Rome: Zacharias Kallierges [for Cornelio Benigno], (16 August 1515)
  • Paper
4to (213 x 148mm.), woodcut printer's devices of Kallierges and Benigno on title-page, printer's device of Kallierges repeated on final verso, first page of text printed in red and black, with blank leaves at end of Olympia and at end of Pythia, nineteenth-century calf-backed marbled boards, title-page soiled, upper margin cut close, first and last few leaves slightly soiled, small section excised from foredge of [eta]5, binding rubbed, spine torn at head

Provenance

Ex libris Jacobi Praedic[atoris], early inscription on title-page; Jesuit College in Belluno, inscription on title-page dated 1691; Jesuit College in Lyon, stamp on title-page; Ex libris Domus Sancti Stanislai, bookplate

Literature

Censimento 16 CNCE 23572; Legrand I, 47

Condition

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

The first Greek book to be printed at Rome. Aldus had previously published just the Greek text of Pindar's Odes in 1513, but this edition also includes the scholia and is usually considered to be superior. This edition is, however, known to have some reset sheets; some copies, for example, do not have the red printing on [beta]1 found in this copy.

Kallierges, a professional scribe from Crete, had printed Greek books in Venice prior to setting up his press in Rome in 1514, with the financial backing of Cornelio Benigno, a noted humanist and a secretary to the Sienese banker Agostino Chigi, in the grounds of whose villa this work was printed. This is one of eight books Kallierges produced in Rome between 1515 and 1523, mostly works of Greek literature or grammar and two liturgical works in modern Greek; only two of those books have the device of Benigno (the other is the Theocritus of January 1516), as he withdrew his financial support from Kallierges in September 1516.