Manuscript Notes Relating to the Collation of Six Manuscripts of Xenophon’s Hellenica.
[Paris], J.-B. Gail c. 1801-14.
8vo (195 x 123 mm.). MANUSCRIPT. 96p. of text (on 111 leaves) bound into the work below in three sections. In a single cursive hand, six half-sheets tipped or laid in.
Early 19th-century green cloth-backed boards (rubbed, corners worn), gilt spine and title (shelf labels removed), edges sprinkled red.
With: Xenophon. c. 430-355/4 B.C.E.
Historia Graeca Recensvit Animadversiones Et Indicem Adiecit Sam. Frid. Nathan. Morvs…Accedit Levclaviana Versio. Leipzig, E.B. Schwickert 1778. 8vo (195 x 123 mm.). LVIII, 412, [50], 166p. (pp. XXIII-XXIV a folding letterpress plate).
Ad I-II: Gail used this copy of Xenophon’s History of Greece to prepare Vols. V and VII of his edition of the Greek author’s fourteen surviving Works (7 vols., 1797-1821), for which he examined all available manuscripts. Gail also translated Xenophon into French. In his edition, Gail’s translations face the original Greek and a standard Latin translation occupies the foot of the page. Gail’s work marks “a transition between the scholarship inherited from the Renaissance and the new science of antiquity” (Irigoin, tr.).
Ad I: GAIL’S MANUSCRIPT CONTAINS 17,000 WORDS — predominantly collations and working notes for his “Variants and Observations” and “Notice on the Manuscripts” in Vol. VII. He comments on translation, vocabulary, grammar, etymology, paleography, scribal errors, glosses embedded in the text, etc. He also criticizes other editors — from Estienne to Schneider — for corrupting the text, while Morus (1736-92), the editor of our 1778 printing, merits a kind word. In good condition (lightly foxed).
Ad II: Gail also annotated the printed text with over 1500 words, noting textual variants, alternate readings and commentary. HE RECORDED IN THE MARGINS THE ARRIVAL OF PROOF SHEETS FOR PART ONE OF VOL. V OF HIS EDITION, indicating the proof quire’s first page number and the date of his receipt. The initial delivery was on 16 January 1801 and the last 18 March 1802 (the edition appeared around June 1802).
¶Irigoin, “Les Éditions de Xénophon” in La Tradition des textes grecs 659-61; VD18 1140700X.
Price: $7,500.00