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PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR
PLATO (c.427-347 BCE). Omnia Platonis opera, in Greek. Edited by Marcus Musurus. Venice: Aldus Manutius and Andreas Torresanus, September 1513.
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PLATO (c.427-347 BCE). Omnia Platonis opera, in Greek. Edited by Marcus Musurus. Venice: Aldus Manutius and Andreas Torresanus, September 1513.
The editio princeps of Plato in the original Greek. The entire western philosophical tradition has been described as a footnote to Plato, but his importance was particularly felt in the Renaissance, where his newly-rediscovered ideas percolated across intellectual communities and laid the groundwork for both the empiricism of the Enlightenment as well as a robust esoteric tradition. Only the Phaedo, Meno, and a paraphrase of the Timaeus were available to the Latin West for much of the Middle Ages until the groundbreaking Latin translation of the complete works by Marsilio Ficino. For this first Greek edition, the great Cretan scholar Marcus Musurus edited the text, working from high quality manuscripts belonging to Cardinal Bessarion. In the dedication, Aldus sets out a vision for classical studies and the foundation of a Greek academy on Plato’s model; his letter is “one of the most comprehensive statements of the humanist position to be found outside Erasmus” (Lowry). This edition also includes the Hellenistic paraphrase of the Timaeus and Diogenes Laertius’s life of Plato. Ahmanson-Murphy 114; Clemons and Fletcher 17; Renouard Alde, 62:4; see Lowry, The World of Aldus Manutius, p.205; Wilson, From Byzantium to Italy, pp.151-2.
Two parts in one volume, folio (298 x 190mm). Greek and Roman types. Aldine device on first and last pages (without blank, small paper repairs to title and last two leaves, some marginal dampstaining at ends, occasional light toning). 19th-century blind-tooled calf by John Ellis, edges gilt (rebacked preserving original spine). Provenance: early marginalia to the Euthyphro – G. P. Le Gendre Starkie (1909-1985, Huntroyde, Lancashire; sold Sotheby’s, 29 October 1962, lot 300).
The editio princeps of Plato in the original Greek. The entire western philosophical tradition has been described as a footnote to Plato, but his importance was particularly felt in the Renaissance, where his newly-rediscovered ideas percolated across intellectual communities and laid the groundwork for both the empiricism of the Enlightenment as well as a robust esoteric tradition. Only the Phaedo, Meno, and a paraphrase of the Timaeus were available to the Latin West for much of the Middle Ages until the groundbreaking Latin translation of the complete works by Marsilio Ficino. For this first Greek edition, the great Cretan scholar Marcus Musurus edited the text, working from high quality manuscripts belonging to Cardinal Bessarion. In the dedication, Aldus sets out a vision for classical studies and the foundation of a Greek academy on Plato’s model; his letter is “one of the most comprehensive statements of the humanist position to be found outside Erasmus” (Lowry). This edition also includes the Hellenistic paraphrase of the Timaeus and Diogenes Laertius’s life of Plato. Ahmanson-Murphy 114; Clemons and Fletcher 17; Renouard Alde, 62:4; see Lowry, The World of Aldus Manutius, p.205; Wilson, From Byzantium to Italy, pp.151-2.
Two parts in one volume, folio (298 x 190mm). Greek and Roman types. Aldine device on first and last pages (without blank, small paper repairs to title and last two leaves, some marginal dampstaining at ends, occasional light toning). 19th-century blind-tooled calf by John Ellis, edges gilt (rebacked preserving original spine). Provenance: early marginalia to the Euthyphro – G. P. Le Gendre Starkie (1909-1985, Huntroyde, Lancashire; sold Sotheby’s, 29 October 1962, lot 300).