CATULLUS, Gaius Valerius; Albius TIBULLUS; Sextus PROPERTIUS (Hieronymus AVANTIUS, ed.).
[Opera]. Catullus. Tibullus. Propertius.
[colophon:] Venice, Aldo I Manuzio, January 1502. 8vo. With more than 100 spaces (2 8-line, 6 6-line and the rest 2-line) with guide letters left for manuscript initials, none filled in. Set in Alduss italic type (with upright capitals) throughout, the first italic printing type, first used in 1501, with titles, headings, running heads, etc. set in the capitals of the same type, with an occasional word of Greek in the text. Gold-tooled, green long-grained sheepskin (vertical grain) (ca. 1800). [152] ll.
€ 4,500
First Aldine edition of a collection of poems by three of the most important classical poets of the 1st century BCE, writing in the elegiac tradition, this copy with the outer forme of the first quire (A) in the corrected state, with "Propertius" on the title-page instead of the erroneous "Propetius" (a press variant: as far as we know, it is always correct in the running heads and where the three names on the title-page repeat on i8v). The poets Gaius Valerius Catullus (84-55 BCE), Albius Tibullus (55-19 BCE) and Sextus Propertius (50-15 BCE), had a strong preference for writing about intimate and familiar subjects such as love, eroticism, rejection and mourning, which sets their lyrical and elegiac poetry apart from the heroic poetry of many other, earlier classical poets, who often focused on the epic of heroes. In the present work, the poets express their love and desire for various women, among others "Lesbia" (Catullus), "Delia" (Tibellus) and "Cynthia" (Propertius). The present collection of poems became very successful as they ran through many, sometimes bowdlerized, editions throughout the 16th century. It is also often regarded as one of the most successful works of the Aldine press.
With some 17th-century(?) Latin annotations in the margins and occasional underlining, both in brown ink; a 1772 owner's inscription on the otherwise blank i7v: "Jo Antonio Icodori[?] da P[?]o vora[?]; and the armorial bookplate of the Edinburgh advocate William Hugh Murray (1822/23-1867) of Geanies on the front paste-down. Lightly washed, probably the binders attempt to make the annotations, inscription and occasional minor stains or smudges less prominent (some small brown marginal stains in e7 just reach the text on e7v), a small marginal tear repaired. Binding a little worn at the extremities. Overall in good condition and with generous margins. Adams C1138 (with "Propetius" corrected as in ours: cf. C1137); Ahmanson-Murphy 40b (cf. 40 & 40a); Aldo Manuzio tipografo 55; BM STC Italian, p. 160; Dibdin I, p. 374; EDIT16 10356; Renouard, 1502, no. 16 (p. 39); USTC 821181.
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