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Commentaries and scholia on Demostheness orations, & Harpocrations dictionary:
second edition, in the original Greek, by Aldus's successors, based on his own first edition

ULPIANUS of Emesa and Valerius HARPOCRATION.
Commentarioli in olynthiacas, philippicasque Demosthenis orationes. Enarrationes saneque necessariae in tredecim orationes Demosthenis. ...Dictionarium decem Rhetorum. [preceded by the titles in Greek].
(Colophon: Venice, heirs of Aldus Manutius, and his father-in-law Andrea Torresano dAsola [& sons], June) 1527. Folio (31 x 21 cm). With Aldus's famous woodcut dolphin device on the title-page and an older but very similar version on the verso of the otherwise blank last leaf. Set in Greek type (the Upianus in 1 column; the Harpokation in 2 columns) with incidental roman. Recased in 18th-century vellum over flexible boards. 119, [1] ll.
€ 12,000
Second edition of the Greek commentaries and scholia on Demosthenes written by Ulpian of Emesa who taught rhetoric at Antioch in the reign of Constantine (324-337 AD) and wrote a number of declamations and rhetorical works. He is best known as the reputed author of the present scholia on the speeches of the greatest of all ancient Greek orators, Demosthenes (384-322 BC). Demosthenes's orations provide a very interesting insight into the life and culture of Athens during a period when he was attempting to rally the Athenian people against Philippus and Alexander the Great, the rulers of Macedonia, using all his gifts as an orator.
The present second edition, printed and published by Aldus Manutius his father-in-law Andrea Torresano d'Asola and his sons, who ran the press until Aldus's son came of age, follows the text of Aldus's first edition. Torresano's presswork is excellent.
On leaves 89-119 follows the Dictionarium decem Rhetorum (Lexicon of the ten orators) by Valerius Harpocration of Alexandria. Harpocration's dates are uncertain, but he was probably active in the second century AD. The Dictionarium contains words, including proper names, and phrases, mainly from the orators, in alphabetical order, generally assigned to their sources, with explanations of points of interest or difficulty. Besides stylistic details Harpocration gives valuable notes on architectural, religious, legal, constitutional, social and other antiquities.
The title-page and last leaf are slightly browned, the former has a small marginal stain and has been reattached, shifting it about a half centimetre toward the gutter, and a few leaves have small marginal worm holes or minor marginal foxing, but still in very good condition (most leaves fine) and with large margins. An excellent example of Greek printing by the Aldine printing office. Adams U50 & H69; Ahmanson-Murphy 213; EDIT16, 37751; Renouard, p. 104, no. 4.
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