Hesychius Alexandrinus, Esychiou Lexikon, Venice, Aldo & Torresano, 1514, eighteenth-century English half morocco

HESYCHIUS ALEXANDRINUS. Esychiou Lexikon. Hesychii Dictionarium [Greek]. Venice: Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, August 1514

FIRST EDITION, edited by Marcus Musurus from an early fifteenth-century manuscript owned by the Mantuan mathematician Gian Giacomo Bardellone, the dedicatee of this edition. 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 that have also not survived. In particular he recorded unusual vocabulary and dialects, which are not known from any other source.

Folio (319 x 204 mm). Greek and Roman type, 56 lines. Collation: a-z⁸ A⁸ B⁶: 198 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device on title-page and final verso. (Upper corner of h2 renewed, A1 and A8 significantly browned, worming at inner margin, some of which repaired, one small wormhole affecting text throughout, two other marginal wormholes affecting most leaves.)

Binding: Possibly eighteenth-century half red morocco over blue marbled boards, spine with false bands in six compartments, second gilt-lettered, others with repeat gilt decoration, marbled endpapers. (Rubbed, upper hinge a bit weak.)

Provenance: Unidentified owner, inscription, “first edit×n,” on flyleaf — unidentified owner, bookplate removed from front pastedown. Acquisition: Purchased from C.A. Stonehill Inc., New Haven, 1968. References: UCLA 122; Renouard 66/3; Aldo Manuzio tipografo 124; Edit16 23059; USTC 835703