Extremely rare Aldine edition containing the complete works of Lucian of Samosata, printed in magnificent Greek type. Copy not purged by censors of his two anti-Christian works.
The two anti-Christian works are: on pages36-440, the dialogue "The Patriot or The Man Who Educates Himself" (F???pat??? ? ??das??µe???); on pages 386-392, the pamphlet ‘The Death of Peregrinos’ (?e?? t?? ?e?e?????? te?e?t??), directed against the Cynic philosopher Peregrinos Proteus who, having converted to Christianity for a time, committed suicide.
The edition includes two licentious texts: the novel "Lucius or the donkey"(??????? ? ????, pp. 242-255) and the dialogues "Loves" (???te?, pp. 209-220). The short story, which shares the same main elements as Apuleius' Latin novel The Metamorphoses (also known as The Golden Ass), "Lucius or the donkey", has long been attributed to Lucian, but is probably a pastiche of a Greek novel in Lucian's literary style.
Lucian of Samosata, inventor of satirical dialogue, witty and imaginative pamphleteer, and narrator of fantastic stories, later exerted a great influence on authors such as Erasmus, Rabelais, Swift, Voltaire, and Paul-Louis Courier.
Lucian's work is followed by the writings of Philostratus Flavius, Philostratus Maior, Callistratus Sophista, and Philostratus Lemnius, all in Editio princeps.
- PHILOSTRATUS Maior – PHILOSTRATUS Iuniur. ?????e?. [Images]
These ‘Paintings’ were written in the 3rd century AD by Philostratus and completed by his nephew and namesake. Rediscovered in the West during the Renaissance, this work offers a description of paintings with mythological subjects that presumably adorned the walls of a gallery in ancient Naples, and develops a narrative that brings the scenes to life.
- PHILOSTRATUS, Flavius. ????k?s. [Heroic]
The Heroic is a philosophical and religious dialogue, in the style of Plato.
- CALLISTRATUS. E?f??se??. [Descriptions.]
Revisiting the question of the divine in the visual arts, these Descriptions are mainly devoted to statues, presented as living beings frozen in their movements.
- PHILOSTRATUS, Flavius. ???? s?f?st??. [Lives of the Sophists]
A work of mystical and Eastern inspiration. Flavius Philostratus elevates the Sophists to the rank of intermediaries between the divine and the human, inspired orators and almost oracles, prophets.
Adams L-1602; Ahmanson-Murphy 73; Hoffmann II, 536; Renouard Alde, 39:3.
See Jean Balsamo. De l’édition aux exemplaires : Les Images, ou Tableaux de Platte Peinture de Philostrate (Paris, 1614). Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance, 2017, LXXIX (2), pp.365-384. ?hal-02896841?.
Folio. 295x192 mm. Binding by Robert Riviere in red Morocco leather, spine with raised bands decorated with blind and gilt rules, Duseuil gilt framing on the covers, gold rules on the edges, double gilt rules frame on the inside covers, polychrome marbled paper endpapers, gilt edges. Pages [2], 571 [i.e. 572, [449 pages numbered 1-449, one blank page, 122 pages numbered 450-571], [2].
On the pages. ee1-2r first index, colophon and register “mense Feb. 1503”. On pages ??5v-6r second colophon “mense Iunio, 1503”, register and index. Aldo's device on the title page and on page ??6v. Spaces for initials with guide letters. Text in Greek only. From page 450 the additional works of the two Philostratus and Callistratus begin. A beautiful copy with margins, in a magnificent binding signed by Robert Riviere, whose name is stamped in gold on the front inside cover.