Poetae Christiani veteres, Venice, Aldus, 1501-1504, 3 volumes, calf and vellum bindings

POETAE CHRISTIANI VETERES

(Venice: Aldus Manutius, January 1501, June 1502, June 1504)

3 volumes, 4to (approx. 210 x 147mm.), text in Latin and Greek (sometimes interleaved), 2 woodcut printer's devices, without final blank leaf in volume 2, volume 1 bound in contemporary tooled calf over wooden boards, two clasps, rebacked retaining most of original spine; volumes 2 and 3 bound in later vellum, volume 3 with new endpapers, a few small wormholes at the end of volume 1, light foxing at the end of volume 3, upper joint of volume 2 split

A RARE COMPLETE SET WITH WIDE MARGINS of this compilation of Christian poets, including Prudentius, Arator, Cyprianus, Iuvencus, Lactantius and Sulpicius Severus, with the works of Gregorius Nazianzenus occupying all of the third volume. It also contains an early printing of part of the Gospel of John.

Volume II (π8v) contains THE FIRST APPEARANCE IN PRINT OF THE ALDINE DEVICE, that "most celebrated of all printers' marks" (Fletcher p. 43).

LITERATURE:

Aldo Manuzio tipografo 42, 61, 86; Edit16 36115; Renouard 1501/1, 1502/17, 1505/4; UCLA 31, 46, 67

PROVENANCE:

Livio Ambrogio, bookplates; Stelio Valentini, Aldine collection bookplate in volume 3

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