Callimachus, Hymni, Basel, Froben, 1532, later red morocco, Wentworth-Spranger copy

Callimachus

Υμνοι μετα των σχολιων... Hymni, cum scholiis nunc primum aeditis. Sententiae ex diversis poetis oratoribusque ac philosophis collectae, non ante excusae. Basel: Froben, 1532

4to (206 x 148mm.), woodcut printer's device on title-page and final verso (otherwise blank), text in Greek, woodcut initials and headpieces, eighteenth-century red morocco, single gilt fillet border, green morocco lettering-piece, yellow edges

LITERATURE:

VD16 C 270

PROVENANCE:

"Colleg. [--] catal. inscript.", washed inscription at head of title-page; William Wentworth, 2nd Lord Fitzwilliam (1748-1833), of Milton Park, printed label "Milton, Peterborough"; John Alfred Spranger (1889-1968), Trinity College Cambridge, armorial bookplate, sale, Sotheby's, 21 November 1989, lot 15

The 1989 catalogue suggests that this copy also belonged to the Rev. Thomas Crofts (1722-1781), as it is in his style of binding but without his initials (see De Ricci, English Collectors of Books and Manuscripts, p.56). His library, particularly rich in Italian books, was sold in April 1783 and a copy of this 1532 Callimachus was lot 1699, "nitidiss. in cor. turc.".