PLAUTUS, Titus Maccius.

M. Accius Plautus ex fide, atque auctoritate complurium librorum manuscriptorum opera Dionys. Lambini Monstroliensis emendatus: ab eodemque commentariis explicatus. Nunc denuo plurimis, quae in praecedentibus editionibus irrepserant, mendis, repurgatus: multisque in locis in gratiam antiquariorum illustratus. Additit quoque sunt duo Indices copiosissimi: Prior, verborum, locutionum & sententiarum: Posterior, eorum quae commentariis D. Lambini continentur. [Geneva], heirs E. Vignon, 1595. 4to. Woodcut printer's device on title-page, woodcut head- and tailpieces, embellished initials. Contemporary vellum, yapp edges, spine reinforced with strips of manuscript leaves.

      (8), 920, (52) pp. Adams P-1512 (3 copies, 1 incomplete); not in Brunet, Graesse; De Bruin, De Statenbijbel en Zijn Voorgangers, pp. 30-32, (Schutken). Plautus's twenty extant comedies with the important commentary by Denis Lambin. The present volume is especially interesting because of the four manuscript fragments that have been used as reinforcements of the spine of the book block, in addition to the cords. They come from a Dutch translation of the New Testament of c. 1390 by Jan Schutken (d. 1423) of the Windesheim monastery, and contain passages from the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of Luke (a transcript is available on request). Schutken's translation was the most widely read Dutch Bible in the Middle Ages, but extant copies are rare. Plautus was one of the great comic dramatists of ancient Rome, and lived in the latter half of the third century. He based his comedies on Greek originals to which he added cantica in lyric verse. His vivid portrayal of some of his characters renders them representatives of certain types of humanity. His plays were popular in the days of the Republic and Cicero was counted among his admirers. On the confusion surrounding his name, see M. Hertz, T. Maccius Plautus oder M. Accius Plautus, eine Abhandlung (Berlin 1854).Twelve of Plautus's plays were rediscovered in 1429. The first edition of Plautus's work (Venice 1472) did not yet contain all twenty comedies. The first scholarly text was the edition of Camerarius in 1552. It was followed by Lambinus's posthumously published edition of 1576, and his commentary is still useful. Denis Lambin of Montreuil-sur-Mer (1516-1572), along with Scaliger and Casaubon, was among the great philologists of his day, and he published important editions of Cicero, Horace, and Lucrece. Binding partially cut loose from book block to allow study of manuscript fragments; ink library entry on title-page; faint marginal waterstaining; minor wormhole in first part of the book, very slightly affecting text; p. 230, 429 minor stain in text. Good copy of this important edition with rare and noteworthy manuscript fragments.