Plautus; Aldus

Comoediae

      1522. ALDUS, ERASMUS, AND THE REVIVAL OF SECULAR DRAMA IN RENAISSANCE EUROPE PLAUTUS, Titus Maccius. Comoediae [ed. Franciscus Asulanus]. Collation: *6 **8 a-z8 A-M8 N4, complete. [14], 284 ff. With an Aldine anchor on title-page and verso of final leaf. Printed in italic letter. Bound in nineteenth-century Italian vellum, red edges. Venice: In aedibus Aldi, et Andreae Asulani Soceri, July 1522. |~||~||~||~||~| First and Only Aldine edition. In his preface Franciscus Asolanus explains that for this edition he used the text of Plautus upon which Erasmus worked in collaboration with Aldus Manutius in 1508; Erasmus was paid twenty gold florins for his efforts. The discovery of a ninth-century MS of the plays of Plautus by the bookhunter Poggio Bracciolini, c. 1430, gave rise to many other manuscripts which were then studied, imitated, and performed in Rome and elsewhere. The Bracciolini MS (now Vat. lat 3870) was annotated by Niccolo Niccoli; its arrival in Rome marks the beginning of one of the Renaissance's most long-lasting cultural achievements, the revival of secular drama. Provenance: early inscription on title: "Gio. Ant. Lorenzani" (16th-century?), with neat three -quarters of a page manuscript notations presumably by Lorenzani on the verso of the title-page. -- F. Harrison -- Presented to St. Stephen's College Library, with bookplate. Binding worn at top edge of lower cover; pin-sized wormhole through latter half of text; some discolouration or traces of damp. Vellum split for four inches on the front joint. Overall a very good copy. Renouard 94:2. Adams P-1487.