PRUDENTIUS; PROSPER; IOHANNES DAMASCENUS; COSMUS HIEROSOLYMITANUS; THEOPHANES

£3,950 · Offered by Sokol Books

A rare counterfeit of the first volume of the collection Poetae christiani veteres , published by Aldo between 1501 and 1504. It demonstrated Aldo s interest in explaining different Latin and Greek texts, many of which were neglected and inaccessible. This Lyonese edition was listed in the Monitum in Lugdunenses (March 1503), where Aldo denounced the counterfeits as incorrect for the sake of buyers and to defend himself. This counterfeit differs textually from the real in the abbreviated title, the absence of Aldo s address to the reader, errata, register and colophon. The counterfeit opens with a prefatory letter to the scholar Daniele Clario, where Aldo explains that he had to use a manuscript of British provenance ( ab usque Britannis accitus ). It comprises works by the Latin poet Prudentius, Prosper of Aquitaine (Epigrammata) and the Greeks John Damascus, Cosmas of Jerusalem and Theophanes (hymns). Aurelius Prudentius Clemens (c348 405AD) was born in the Roman Province of Terraconensis (Northern Spain) of a distinguished Christian family. He studied law and was twice provincial governor. Around 392 he retired from public life to became an ascetic. Prudentius was one of the best known representatives of the Christian humanism and an apologist of Christianity. His works, which he collected in 405 with a brief preface, were inspired by Tertullian and St. Ambrose, by the Bible and the Acts of the Martyrs. His earliest poems are the 12 hymns of the Cathemerinon, devoted to th

• Binding: Hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.