Hesychius. Lexikon. Venice, Aldus, 1514. modern crushed morocco in period style

HESYCHIUS

Λεξικον... Dictionarium. (Venice: in the house of Aldus and Andrea Torresani, August 1514)

Super-Chancery folio (318 x 204mm.), text in Greek, woodcut Aldine device on title-page and final verso (otherwise blank), modern crushed terracotta morocco gilt tooled in period style, slipcase, occasional light foxing, corners repaired at beginning and end

EDITIO PRINCEPS, edited by Marcus Musurus from an early fifteenth-century manuscript owned by the Mantuan mathematician Gian Giacomo Bardellone, the dedicatee of this edition; the manuscript (now in the Marciana) contains Musurus's emendations which demonstrate a good critical understanding of the manuscript text, as well as his notes to the printers.

The lexicon of Hesychius is considered of particular importance; like many other lexicographers, he records passages from numerous works which are now lost, and he based his work on earlier dictionaries which have also not survived. In particular he recorded unusual vocabulary and dialects which are not known from any other source.

LITERATURE:

Aldo Manuzio tipografo 124; Edit16 23059; Renouard 1514/3; UCLA 122

PROVENANCE:

Jesuit college of Viterbo, inscription on title-page