HERODIAN.

Historiarum Libri VIII.

      Venice, In Aedibus Aldi et Andreae Asulani Soceri September 1524. 8vo. ff. [iv] 92 97 [i]. Greek and Italic letter. Aldine device on t-p and last. 4x1cm excision under device (no loss) restored on verso, couple of tiny wormholes (affecting only letter) on t-p, two short wormtrails to lower blank margin of last couple of ll., a few contemp. marginal highlights. A very good, crisp copy in contemp. vellum over bds., covers panelled in blind, title inked on spine, a.e.blue. Autograph of the great German scholar Joseph von Laszberg on fly. First published by Aldus in 1503 among the 'Res Gestae' of Xenophon, this is the first separately printed Aldine Herodian (preceded only by an extremely rare Giunta edition of 1517). The original Greek text is followed by 'the truly elegant Latin version of Politian, which was first published in a folio volume in 1493, and which had been adopted by so many subsequent editors.' [Dibdin, cit. infr.]. According to Renouard, both the 1503 and the present editions of Herodian's history of the Roman emperors, from the death of Marcus Aurelius in AD 180 to the accession of Gordian III in 238, in eight books, are 'très imparfaites', the first corrected one being the Estienne of 1581. Herodian of Syria fl. c.AD 230. BM STC It. p. 326. Renouard 98:2. Dibdin II p. 14. Adams H 377. UCLA 198.SNL164.