Aristophanes. c. 445-385 B.C.E.

Comoediae vndecim, e[x] graeco in latinum, ad verbu[m] translatae.

Venice, [G.B. and] G. Pocatela [= J. de Burgofranco] 1542 [colophon: 1538].

8vo (158 x 103 mm.). 260 leaves. Woodcut Burgofranco device on the final verso, title in a woodcut border incorporating Burgofranco’s monogram.

Contemporary limp vellum, author and title in a neat humanist hand on the upper cover, manuscript spine title, remnants of several paper labels (spine soiled), evidence of four ties.

            First Edition, second issue. Andrea Divo’s Latin rendering of all eleven of Aristophanes’ surviving Comedies introduced a broad audience to the comedian’s “keen eye and ear for the absurd and pompous” (OCD). For his efforts, Divo (1490-1548) “deserves not just the title of translator, but that of philologist” (Beta, tr.). He closely followed the original and did not shy away from obscenities, and he also made improvements to Lysistrata and Thesmophoriazusae, two plays absent from the Aldine editio princeps. The text was regularly reprinted on both sides of the Alps. A good copy (faded dampstain to some upper gutters); ?17th-century ownership inscription of the Theatine convent of San Maurizio in Mantua.
¶Beta, “La prima traduzione Latina della ‘Lisistrata’” in Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica 100 (2012) 95-114; Wilson, Aristophanea 10-3; Tinazzo, “Il tipografo-editore Iacopo Pocatela (Pavia 1490-Venezia 1538)” in Atti e memorie dell’Academia Patavina di scienze, lettere, ed arti 70(3) (1957-8) 115; Hoffmann, Bibliographisches Lexicon der gesammten Litteratur der Griechen I: 263; EDIT16 CNCE 2861.

Item #12278

Price: $2,500.00