Anthologia graeca Planudea, Florence, Alopa, 1494, later vellum

Anthologia graeca Planudea

[Edited by Janus Lascaris]. [Florence: Laurentius (Francisci) de Alopa, 11 August 1494]

4to (217 x 155mm.), 272 leaves (of 280), Α-Ω⁸ ΑΑ-ΚΚ⁸ *⁸, 28 lines, Greek type, 2- to 4-line initial spaces, seventeenth-century vellum, red speckled edges, annotations in Greek (containing notes about grammar and some corrections), lacking final quire (containing colophon and dedication), occasional light foxing, binding slightly worn

FIRST EDITION of this collection of Greek epigrams, compiled by Maximus Planudes in the late thirteenth century, and edited for publication by Lascaris, who at the time was librarian to the Medici in Florence. The Alopa press was active between 1494 and 1496 and used an epigraphic Greek typeface, rather than a cursive one, in contrast to Aldus Manutius.

The final quire is often lacking from copies of this work, as it contains Lascaris' dedication to Piero de' Medici, who fled Florence in November 1494 in fear of a popular uprising. In the political climate of post-Medici Florence, the dedication would no longer have been wise or appropriate.

LITERATURE:

ISTC ia00765000

PROVENANCE:

Tiburtius of Florence [perhaps Tiberio Petracci?], Vallombrosan monk, given by him to Federico Ricci, and subsequently given by Ricci to Honorius (Onorio Malatesta); Florence, library of Santa Trìnita (of the Vallombrosan Order), stamp on flyleaf and first recto; inscription in Greek by the monk Pancratius on flyleaf and A8 recto, stating that the book was a gift from Onorio Malatesta; inscription on flyleaf in German dated 1835