Sophocles.

Tragoediae septem. Tragoediae nomina. Aiax flagellifer. Electra. Oedipus tyrannus. Antigone. Oedipus coloneus. Trachiniae. Philoctetes.

      [Paris: Simon de Colines.] , 1528 - the issue without the final quire of errata (cf. Schreiber), lightly toned, line numbers and some underlining in pencil, a small marginal wormhole in second half, briefly stretching but only twice touching a character, ownership stamp depicting a rampant lion to title margin, ff. [200], 8vo., old sprinkled calf boards, rebacked in the twentieth century with brown morocco, backstrip with five raised bands, second compartment gilt-lettered direct, the rest plain, new endpapers (preserving old front papers), old leather a little worn at extremities, ownership inscriptions to endpapers, The third edition of Sophocles, and the first to be printed outside Italy. The text is based on that of the 1502 Aldine editio princeps. ?A very rare and neatly printed edition; it is much sought after by the Curious and is considered pretty correct? (Moss). ?In any state, it is a rare book? (Dibdin). The typeface, which de Colines takes full advantage of (printing only fifteen words on the title in Roman letters), is sometimes called his ?Sophocles type? after its use in this volume. It was his first Greek type, probably cut by Colines himself, and this is the first significant publication using it. This volume bears a number of gift inscriptions. The older front pastedown has an inscription to W. Cripps from the Rev?d Thos. Short accompanied by a note ?from the library of Peter Elmsley?. Above that is a what appears to be a purchase note (Elmsley?s?), ?28 Jan 1807, King & Lockie?. The recipient, W. Cripps, cannot be firmly identified, but Rev. Thomas Short is probably the tutor of Trinity College, Oxford (1789-1879), rather than his contemporary T.V. Short of Christ Church, and a barrister and MP named William Cripps (1805-1848) matriculated at Trinity while Short was in residence there. Peter Elmsley is the classical scholar (1774-1825), in his day the best British Hellenist since Porson and an important editor of Sophocles (see, e.g., Finglass, ?A Newly-Discovered Edition of Sophocles by Peter Elmsley? in GRBS 47, 2007). The older front flyleaf has an inscription of Charles Thomas Pettingal, dated 1801, another reading ?e dono J.H.G.,? and a substantial bibliographical note probably in the same hand as the purchase note on the pastedown. The new flyleaf bears a gift inscription: ?H. Lloyd-Jones / d.d. J.T.C. / praeceptor olim / iamdudum discipulus / MCMLXII?. Sir Hugh Lloyd-Jones (1922-2009), who among his other distinctions edited Sophocles for the Oxford Classical Text series and the Loeb Classical Library, was inspired to study classics by his headmaster at Westminster School, John Traill Christie (a Trinity man, who was noted for his teaching of Sophocles). This inscription, meaning ?a gift given by J.T.C. / the teacher once, / now the student?, dates from 1962, not long after Lloyd-Jones was appointed Regius Professor of Greek at Oxford, and his former headmaster would certainly have been very proud. (Schreiber 32; Adams S1440; Dibdin II 410; Moss II 596; BM STC French 404) [Attributes: Hard Cover]