ARISTOTLE (384-322 B.C.). ECK, Johann (1486-1543), (ed.)

Acroases physicae libri VIII. Ioan. Argyropilo interprete!

      Sigmund Grimm, 1518. Augsburg: : Sigmund Grimm, 1518. . Folio in sixes (315 x 215 mm) [1], 111 ff. Large woodcut arms of the Duke of Bavaria on title-page, numerous woodcut text illus., contemporary marginalia; lacks a2, a5, with duplicates of a3, a4, small remargining of first six leaves top. Contemporary oak boards (beveled edges) over blind-tooled pigskin, raised bands, manuscript spine title, two clasps, contemporaneously title labeled on the fore-edge; modern clasp leather restoration, minor worming to covers. Bookplate of Andras Gedeon. Fine. . FIRST EDITION OF A BEAUTIFUL EARLY SIXTEENTH-CENTURY EDITION OF ARISTOTLE!S WORKS. [bound with:] ARISTOTLE. ECK, Johann (trans. & ed.). Libri de coelo IIII. De generatione. II. Meteororum. IIII. Augsburg: Sigmund Grimm, 1519. Folio in sixes. 125 ff. Large woodcut arms of the Bishop of Bamberg on title-page, woodcut text illus. [bound with:] ARISTOTLE. ECK, Johann (trans. & ed.). De anima libri III. De sensu et sensatu liber . I! De longitudine & breuitate vitae liber I. Augsburg: Sigmund Grimm, [1520]. Folio in sixes. 79 ff. Large woodcut arms of the Bishop of Bamberg on title-page, a few woodcut text illus. Together with Plato, and Socrates (Plato!s teacher), Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. He was the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy, encompassing morality and aesthetics, logic and science, politics and metaphysics. Aristotle!s views on the physical sciences profoundly shaped medieval scholarship, and their influence extended well into the Renaissance, although they were ultimately replaced by modern physics. In the biological sciences, some of his observations were only confirmed to be accurate in the nineteenth century. His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, which were incorporated in the late nineteenth century into modern formal logic. These standard text works of Aristotle were prepared by the Greek humanist John Argyropulus (?1416-1486) and Johann Eck (1486-1543), who was Martin Luther!s greatest opponent. A ducal commission, appointed to find a way of ending the interminable strife between rival academic parties, asked Eck to prepare fresh commentaries on Aristotle and Petrus Hispanus. Between 1516 and 1520, in addition to all his other duties, he published commentaries on the Summulae of Petrus Hispanus, and on the Dialectics, Physics and lesser scientific works of Aristotle, which became the textbooks of the university. During these early years, Eck was considered a !modernist!, and his commentaries are inspired with much of the scientific spirit of the New Learning. His aim, however, had been to find a via media between old and new; his essential conservatism resulted in a lack of sympathy for the revolutionary attitude of the Reformers. References: BM Readex Vol. 1, p. 910 (2nd and 3rd works).