Comicorum graecorum sententiae … — Geneva 1569

[sold]

Comicorum graecorum sententiae, id est γνῶμαι latinis versibus ab Henrico Stephano redditae, & annotationibus illustratae. Ejusdem Henrici Stephani Tetrastichon de his comicorum sententiis … — (Geneva), Henricus Stephanus, 1569.

32mo (110 x 50 mm). (16) leaves, 633 (i.e. 635), (1) pp.

19th century green morocco, gilt edges, silk paste-downs and free endpapers, inside dentelle.

Renouard I 132 no. 3.; Hoffmann III 244f.

„Collection of aphorisms and proverbs from the Greek comic writers (Menander and other writers of New Comedy), selected, translated and annotated by Henri Estienne, who has also added a dissertation on the method of selection of literary proverbs … A second part contains proverbial expressions derived from Roman comic writers, as well as selected Sententiae from Pyblius Syrus, with annotations by Erasmus.

These sort of compilations were very popular in their day, and Henri Estienne may have issued them as ‚bread-and-butter‘ publications, in order to raise the capital … necessary to meet the printing and publicatin costs of his magnum opus, now nearing completion: the Thesaurus Graecae Linguae. This would explain why he began issuing such collections in 1568, the year he lost Fugger’s financial backing.“ (Schreiber 175)