Sophocles (469-399 B.C.)

[Title in Greek] TRAGEDIAE SEPTEM CUM COMMNETARIIS

      Venice: Aldus the Elder, August 1502. The very rare editio princeps, the first Aldus edition, the first Greek text, the first complete edition of Sophocles, the first appearance of AldusOs finest Greek type and the first in AldusO series of the classics in pocket format. Woodcut aldine dolphin and anchor device [Fletcher no.2] on verso of last leaf, capital spaces with guide letters. 8vo, very fine 19th century French grained red goatskin, covers lined in blind with triple fillet rules and corner tools, the spine lettered in gilt between raised bands ruled in blind. 196 ff. with all blanks present A very handsome copy in a very well preserved antique binding.. THE VERY RARE first printing or editio princeps in its native Greek of a classic of enormous significance--the birth of all theatre. First printing from the Aldine press with the imprint: Venetiis, in Aldi Romani Academia, and the first printing by Aldus in the series by the classic authors. Dibdin in his great book on the Greek and Roman classics said of this printing that it Ois a very excellent and accurate edition; highly approved by Brunck, and taken from valuable MSS. It is greatly preferable to many that followed it. The Aldine edition was the basis of every subsequent one, till that of Turnebus. A very copious and flattering account is given by the bibliographer Harles of the excellence of this editio princeps.O Sophocles has been called the father of modern theatre and the Homer of tragedy. OAccording to Aristotle in the Poetics, Sophocles was an innovator in tragedy: he added a third to the previously accepted two actors, introduced Oscene paintingO, and increased the chorus from twelve to fifteen; he also abandoned the Aeschylean practice of writing trilogies on related events instead giving each play a self-contained plot....His characters were admired by Aristotle for being Olike ourselves only noblerO; his heroes and heroines are placed in circumstances in which they must act, and by their actions, which often have tragic consequences, they show their heroic stature. For Aristotle, Oedipus Rex represented Greek tragedy at its greatest.O - Howatson.