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Two first Plantin editions of two classical epigrammatists bound together in contemporary tooled pigskin

AUSONIUS, Decimus Magnus.
D. Magni Ausonii Burdigalensis opera a Theod. Pulmanno Craneburgio in meliorem ordinem restituta, correcta, & scholiis illustrata: adiectis Graecis quibusdam epigrammatibus, ut conferri cum Latinis possint. Cum Latina Graecorum interpretatione, & duplice indice.

Sm. woodcut printer's device on title.

Sm. woodcut printer's device on title.

Sm. woodcut printer's device on title.



Antwerp, C. Plantijn, 1568 (colophon: printed November 1567). 2 works in one. 16mo. Contemporary panelled pigskin over wooden bevelled boards, ribbed spine, both covers with blind stamped roll with the personifications of 'Fides', 'Fortit(udo)', and 'Carita(s)' around a central panel with decorated roll, original brass clasps and catches. Sm. woodcut printer's device on title. (16), 359, (25, 3 last blank) pp.

With:
MARTIALIS, Marcus Valerius.  Epigrammaton Libri XII. Xeniorum Liber I. Apophoretorum  Liber I. Omnia ad vetustiorum codicum fidem diligenter emendata, scholiis in margine illustrata, apposita etiam varietate lectionum: ac demium decem epigrammatis ex eodem vetusto codice suis locis adiectis, aucti opera Hadriani Junii . Antwerp, Christ. Plantin, 1568 (colophon: printed Decemner 1567). 16mo. Sm. woodcut printer's device on title. 373, (11, 4 last blank) pp.

Ad 1: First (and only) Plantin edition of the collected works of the classical Roman rhetorical author Decimus Magnus Ausonius, edited by Theodor Pulmannus (Poelmann; c. 1510-1607). Ausonius (d. 395 AD) had worked as a  teacher in Latin grammar and rhetorics at Bordeaux in the 4th century, and  had been tutor to the son of the Emperor Valentianus. His works treat a variety of subjects, and were written in a wide variety of forms, in which Ausonius was a master, a.o. epigrams, epitaphs, ecloques, idyls, epistolaries, proverbs,  etc. The book is printed in several different letter types, including Greek, and is dedicated by Pulmannus to Rehdiger in which Pulmannus geves some interesting auto-biographical details . He affirms furthermore that having noticed that the works of Ausonius were only available in corrupt versions, he was urged by Plantin to edit an amended text. According to the colophon the printing was finished in November 1567. However, 16 quires out of the 25 were, in fact, already printed in July-August 1567.

Ad 2: First Plantin edition of the works of Martial (c. 40-102 AD), edited by the famous Dutch philologist Hadrianus Junius (1511-1575), who came to study Martial, as he explains in de dedicatory to Janus Dousa and in the note to the reader, after having acquired in England an old manuscript of the works of this most important Roman epigrammatist. In these short, witty poems Martial cheerfully satirises city life and the scandalous activities of his acquaintances, and romanticises his provincial upbringing. He wrote a total of 1,561, of which 1,235 are in elegiac couplets. The epigrams depict in short and lively verse daily life during imperial Rome in the first century. Martial is considered to be the creator of the modern epigram, restricting himself to this form only, and he virtually became the genius of the epigram: "its body brevity and wit its soul", as Coleridge characterized his epigrams.
According to the colophon the printing was finished only a month after the Ausonius edition, in December 1567. A second edition appeared in 1579.

Fine copies, including the last blanks, with ownership's entry in ink on first blank 'Josephi Augustini 1786', probably Josephus Augustinus Brentano (Amsterdam 1753-1821), a Dutch merchant, maecenas and art collector living in Amsterdam.- (Top of title shaved of, other ownership's entries erased from the title and front cover; back cover with small red stain).
Ad 1:  Voet 608 (Variant A); ad 2: Voet 1637; Adams 709.

Related Subjects: 16th Century  Philology  Philosophy  Plantin  Rhetorics 

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