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Work on the constitution of Athens by the famous Humanist Guillaume Postel

POSTEL, Guillaume.
De magistratibus Atheniensium liber, Gulielmo Poyeto totius Galliae Cancellario dicatus, ad intelligendam non solum Graecorum, sed & Romanorum politiam, ac omnem veterum historiam, lectu utilissimus.

Some nice woodcut initials.

Some nice woodcut initials.

Some nice woodcut initials.



Basel, Joannes Oporinus, 1543. 8vo. Contemporary limp vellum; spine lettered in ink. Some nice woodcut initials. 151, (17) pp.

Revised completed edition after the original Paris edition by Vascosan of 1541 of this famous work on the Athenean constitution, which reflects the interests of the academic world of Paris at the time and which was to be the last expression of Postel's youthful Hellenism. Until then Postel (1510-1581)had published three works on linguistics - a work which describes the alphabeths and grammars of twelve languages, mostly of the Near East, for which Postel has been hailed as the father of comparative philology and one on the Jewish origins of language and civilisation - and geography - a handbook for pilgrims to the Holy Land.
His services as an orientalist and philologist to learning and the French crown were soon rewarded. After a diplomatic journey to Greece and Constantinople he was appointed to the lectureship in the Collège de France and from 1538 until 1542 he lectured for the king on mathematics and philology. He did so well that he became friends with great scholars as Guillaume Budé and others and with the Chancellor Guillaume Poyet, through whom he received important favours, also from the king himself. The present work was dedicated by Postel to this Chancellor Poyet. When Poyet was disgraced in 1542, however, Postel made a brave effort to intercede with the king, the only result being his own dismissal.
The title is followed by the dedication on p. 3-8 and the preface on p. 9-14; at the end there is an index on 7 unnumbered leaves, a blank page and the colophon (verso blank).

Good copy with four original fly-leaves at the front and eight at the end. Dated ownership's entry in red ink on the title-page: 'Ex dono Hieronymi Hyrusii me tenet Martinus Brem. 1560' (I am from the library of Martinus Brem; given to him by Hieronymus Hyrusius); also one on the front cover and the first fly-leaf: 'Pierre Gauthier, Dec. 1877'. - (some occasional soiling; a few contemporary annotations in the text).
VD16, P 4478; Claude Postel, Les écrits de Guillaume Postel, II, p. 26; W.J. Bouwsma, The career and thought of G. Postel, p. 8; not in Adams.

Related Subjects: 16th Century  Classical Antiquity  Greece  History  Politics 

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