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Lot 38•
TERENTIUS AFER (PUBLIUS) Comoediae [Commentaries by Aelius Donatus and Guido Juvenalis. Edited by Jodocus Badius Ascensius], [Colophon] Lyons, Johannes Trechsel, 29 Aug. 1493
Ending from 19 June 2025, 12:00 BST
Online, London, Knightsbridge£10,000 - £15,000
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TERENTIUS AFER (PUBLIUS)
Comoediae [Commentaries by Aelius Donatus and Guido Juvenalis. Edited by Jodocus Badius Ascensius], 319 leaves (of 320, lacking the last blank, collates a-z A-Q7[-8]), 46 lines commentary surrounding text, roman letter, 159 large woodcut scenes (151 blocks, 8 repeats), printer's device printed in red, title and colophon leaves age soiled (with early ink annotations in margins of title), one leaf (d7) with small hole resulting in loss of couple of words and touching one image, neat small ink corrections to 4 pages of same gathering, blank lower corner of one page (r4) repaired, smattering of light ink to Q2-3, occasional toning or light marginal stains, vellum "bound for William Brown, Edinburgh", spine tooled in gilt with morocco lettering label [ISTC it00091000; BMC VIII 295; Goff T91; GW M45397], 4to (240 x 165mm.), [Colophon] Lyons, Johannes Trechsel, 29 Aug. 1493
Footnotes
FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF THE PLAYS OF TERENTIUS AFER, considered "the high-watermark of book-illustration at Lyon in the XVth century" (Hind), and "the most conscientiously illustrated of fifteenth century books" (Pierpont Morgan catalogue, 1907). The woodcuts include Juvenal reading his library (on title), a full-page cut of a theatre, and many representations of the play, important for their representation of Renaissance costumes and scenography as used for productions of the plays at the time.
Provenance: "Anno domini 1562...", ink annotation on title, and on leaf g8; Earl of Dalhousie, armorial bookplate.