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Prize book from Leiden - All about Sparta

KRAG, Niels (Nicolaus CRAGIUS or CRAIG).
De republica Lacedæmoniorum libri IV.

Printer's device of a turtle with the motto "Qui va piano vasano Paulatim" on the titles of all three works, woodcut initials and head- and tailpieces.

Leiden, Abraham Verhoef for Joannes à Gelder, 1670. 8vo. Prize book from Leiden (second quater of the 18th century): Vellum with a gild stamp of Minerva with the coat-of-arms of the city of Leiden on her shield in the centre and gilt corner pieces of a standing lion on both sides (Spoelder, Leiden, Type 5), title written in ink on spine, sprinkled edges. Printer's device of a turtle with the motto "Qui va piano vasano Paulatim" on the titles of all three works, woodcut initials and head- and tailpieces. (16), 573 pp.

With:
Two works included in the pagination, translated and edited by Nicolaus Cragius and published by the same publisher:

(1) p.497-543: PONTIUS, Heraclides. De politiis libellus. Cum interpretatione Latina, edente Nicolao Cragio.

(2) p.545-573: DAMASCENUS, Nicolaus. Ex Nicolai Damasceni Universali Historia seu De moribus gentium libris excerpta Johannis Stobæi collectanea, quae Nicolaus Cragius latina fecit, & seorsum edidit.

Prize book (no dedication present) given to the best pupil of the year of the Latin School at Leiden in the second or third quarter of the 18th century. Spoelder records copies with this stamp from 1738 till the 19th century.
The book consists of three interesting political and sociological texts written (1) and edited and translated (2-3) by the Danish historian and Professor of Greek at the University of Copenhagen, Niels Krag (ca. 1550-1602), all in the second edition after the first edition printed by Petrus Canctandrea at Heidelberg in 1593 (Bibliotheca Danica 2, 451).
The first and most important work is a study of the republican government of ancient Sparta. It is an appropriate book to give as a prize to a student as it decribes the very hard policies governing all aspects of Spartan social life and customs, including the education and training of youth, marriage and property ownership.The comprehensive study is prefaced by a discussion of the region, city of Sparta, demographics and the language.
The second work is by Heraclides Ponticus (also attributed to Heraclides Lembus) and contains extracts from Aristotle's De politiis on the various forms government and theory of constitutions, in the original Greek text, edited with the Latin translation on the opposite pages by Niels Krag.
The last work by Nicolas Damascenus, originally collected by Joannes Stobaeus, deals with customary law, courtesy, and manners, also printed in Greek, and edited together with the Latin translation by Krag.

Good copy with an early written ownership's entry of A(ndrew) Fletcher (of Saltoun) on title.

Ad binding: Spoelder, Prijsboeken, Leiden 5, p. 628 with illustr. and plates XXV-XXVI; Willems, Bibliotheca Fletcheriana p. 66; ad 1-3: NUC lists 4 copies; not in British Library, nor in Adams; Dansk biografisk lexikon 8, p. 235-8; Nouv. Biogr. Gen. 12, p. 331.

Related Subjects: Bindings Classical Antiquity Greece History

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