Burnside Rare Books

Statii: Sylvarum libri V. Achilleidos libri XII. Thebaidos libri II. Orthographia et flexus dictionum graecarum omnium apud Statium cum accentib. et generib. ex uarijs utriusq[ue] linguæ authoribus

Statius, Publius Papinius

Venice: In aedibus Aldi, et Andreae soceri [Aldine Press], 1519.

Second Aldine Press edition of the epic poetry of Publius Papinius Statius, issued 17 years after the first edition of 1502. Small octavo, a-z8 A-O8. Paginated per spread, 294, [2] pp. Printed on laid paper, text in Latin and Greek, publisher's device to title page and verso of final leaf, colophon at rear. Finely bound circa 1900 by Gruel in elaborately blindstamped dark morocco, laced in boards, gilt letttering to spine, gilt rules to turn-ins, all edges gilt and gauffered. Marbled endpapers, green silk ribbon marker. Near Fine with rubbing to extremities, crease to upper corner of several pages, and offsetting from ribbon marker to p. 143 and facing page. Binding firm, interior overall clean and bright. UCLA Aldine Press 175, USTC 857456.

Aldus Manutius founded the most famous press of the Renaissance around 1490, publishing his first dated book in 1495. He was an independent scholar and humanist who saw the need for small, affordable editions of classical literature and met that need, producing well-composed work that was swiftly imitated by printers across Europe. To work on a small scale and keep costs down Aldus needed to fit as many words on a page as possible, so he commissioned the punch-cutter Francesco Griffo to create a slanting font modeled on the handwriting of papal chancery scribes. It was the birth of what we now call italics, a landmark in the history of typography.

Aldus also fathered Paulus Manutius, who took over the press when he came of age. This elegantly bound book of poetry by Statius was published in the intermediate period between Aldus’ death in 1515 and his son’s ascension in 1533. The press was in the hands of the Torresani family, Aldus’ in-laws and financial backers, who continued producing well-designed Greek and Latin texts. Statius, who died toward the end of the first century, was a luminary of the Silver Age of Latin literature. Dante Alighieri held him in such high esteem he made the poet a guide in his Purgatory: “I bore the name that lasts the longest and and honors most....So gentle was the spirit of my verse that that Rome drew me, son of Toulouse, to her, and there my brow deserved a crown of myrtle.”. Item #140949453

Price: $3,500