EPICTETUS. EPIKTÊTOY Egcheiridion, KEBÊTOS thêbaiou Pinaks; kai THEOPHRASTOY Êthikoi Charaktêres. Epicteti Enchiridion, Cebetis Thebani Tabula; et Theophrasti Characteres Ethici. Cum versione latina. Denuo recognita & notis illustrata. Oxford (Oxonii), E Theatro Sheldoniano, 1670. 8vo. (XV)(1),143(1);95(1),8 p. Calf 15.5 cm (Ref: Oldfather 175, see also 114; Ebert 6771; not in Hoffmann; only 2 copies in the British Libraries; cf. Brunet 2,1012, who mentions an edition of 1707) (Details: Back ruled gilt, and with 4 raised bands. Black morocco shield in second compartment. Boards ruled with double fillet borders. Greek text with facing Latin translation) (Condition: Cover scuffed and worn at the extremes. Head of the spine gone for 1 cm. Front joint beginning to split. Corners bumped) (Note: This book is the first publication for the market, i.e. 'real book', printed in the famous Sheldonian Theatre, which was named after the Chancellor of the University, and archbishop of Canterbury, Gilbert Sheldon. The building, a work of Christopher Wren, was completed in 1668. The Vice-Chancellor of the University John Fell 'the most powerful man on the University' in those days 'persuaded Sheldon that, when not in use, the building might be used for printing. Composing frames and presses, (no less than five, a large number then) all built locally, were moved in before the builders were out, late in 1668 or early 1669'. (N. Barker, 'The Oxford University Press and the spread of Learning, 1478-1978, Oxf., 1978, p. 15) In F. Madan's 'Oxford books, a bibliography of printed works relating to the University and City of Oxford, or printed or published there' (Oxford, 1895-1931) we found for 1670 only a few small occasional publications, e.g. some epicedia (funeral songs), or more or less internal University documents, such as the 'Parecbolae sive excerpta e corpore statutorum Universitatis Oxon. in usum juventutis academicae'. The only real book 'e Theatro Sheldoniano' in 1670 is this Epictetus/Cebes/Theophrastus edition. (Madan, vol. 3 (1931), no. 2853) For the previous year of 1669 Madan mentions only the imprint 'e theatro Sheldoniano' for the occasional poem of Corbet Owen, 'Carmen Pindaricum', a bad poem by the way, which was recited at the opening of the Theatre on the 9th of July 1669. In order to understand the following search for the identity of the editor of this anonymous 1670 edition, one should know that an expanded edition 'e Theatro Sheldoniano' was printed in 1680 (also anonymously), and another one in 1707. The 1707 edition mentions on its title an editor, 'C. Aldrich' (Carolus, Charles Aldrich), student of 'Christ Church'. Later bibliographers assumed that this same Aldrich must also have been responsible for the anonymous 1670 & 1680 editions. Now Aldrich's dates are 1681-1737. (See for Charles Aldrich 'A directory of the parochial libraries of the Church of England and the Church of Wales' by N.R. Ker & M. Perkins, London 2004, p. 235, s.v. Henley-On-Thames, where the story of his library is told) So, Charles Aldrich cannot have produced the edition of 1670, nor that one of 1680. He however gives us a clue to the identity of the editor of the 1680 edition. The real editor of the 1680 edition, we must conclude, is most probably the classical scholar, Dean of Christ Church, bishop of Oxford, John Fell, because Aldrich tells us on page a4-recto of his 'Ad Lectorem' that he 'minime deflexisse' from 'illa Felli editione' of 1680. This could mean of course 'from the edition of the University Press, led by John Fell', but this seems far fetched. More probable is that Aldrich refers to an Epictetus edition of 1680, which was produced by Fell himself. The name on the title of the 1707 edition caused later bibliographers (Fabricius/Harles, Bibliotheca Graeca, Hamburg, 1796, volume V, p. 80, but also Oldfather in his 'Bibliography of Epictetus', no's 114 and 117) to ascribe the 1670 and 1680 edition erroneously to Aldrich. As shown above, the almost certain editor of the 1680 edition is John Fell. On the title of the 1680 edition even the phrase on the title of 1670 'denuo recognita & notis illustrata' was copied. That it is a reprint (with the addition of passages from Prodicus and Cicero, not yet found in the first edition) of 1670 is proved by the reproduction in 1680 of the 1670 misprint of 'viderà' for 'videre' on page A4-verso of the preface. In the preface of 1670 it is admitted that the edition is based on earlier ones, especially those of Meric Casaubon and Salmasius, but the editor claims to have filled some 'lacunae' and to have corrected the Greek text and Latin translation (by Meric Casaubon, first published in 1659), not only with the help of the printed sources, but also by collating manuscripts from the Bodleian Library and the Library of the New College. (A3-verso) From the abundant notes of others he offers only an anthology (sylva), to elucidate some matters. These notes can be found at the end of the book, and they number only 8 pages. The notes are brief, for the editor says that he does not approve of voluminous books, stuffed with unnecessary knowledge. To underline his loathing he tells the reader that he left the job of compiling this 'sylva' of notes to a 'juvenis studiosus' who had plenty of time for that (cui otium magis suppetebat). (A3-verso & A4-recto) The tone of the writer of the preface is mature and very confident, he surely is a proud and advanced scholar. This leaves us in Oxford ca. 1670 with only one person, John Fell, 1625-1686, a great classical scholar, Dean of Christ Church, bishop of Oxford, and Architypographus of the University Press from 1672. He had a high reputation as a Grecian and a philologist, and published editions of Cyprian, Aratus, Theocritus, Athenagoras and other classical authors. (N. Barker, 'The Oxford University Press and the Spread of Learning', Oxf., 1978, p. 14-26; see also the 11th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, s.v. John Fell) It is more than appropriate to assume that Fell produced the first 'real' book, be it for students, for the press of his University. For the founding of the revived Press of the University of Oxford was his work alone. Epictetus and the 2 other works in this volume have been repeatedly republished by the University Press, in 1680 and 1707 (already mentioned), but also in 1702, 1715, 1723, 1739 and 1804 (Madan, no. 2853) Madan tells about the misprint 'viderà' for 'videre' in the preface that it 'is perhaps in all copies corrected by hand'. Our copy apparantly escaped the attention of the corrector, for the misprint has not been corrected. This book seems to be extremely rare. We found only 5 copies in British Libraries, one in the British Library, 2 in the Bodleian, one in Cambridge University Library, and one in Sheffield. All British university libraries hold an electronic or microfilm copy of the book. They all ascribe this edition to Aldrich, except the British Library and the Bodleian. They mention John Fell. We searched in KVK for other copies, and we found only 2 other copies, one in the University Library Gent, and one in the Royal Library of Denmark. The copy of the 'Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin' is lost owing to 'Kriegsverlust'. We found not one copy auctioned in 'Americana Exchange') (Provenance: The front pastedown has once been renewed. Through the paper is vaguely visible a big bookplate) (Collation: A-Q8, R4) (Photographs on request)
Book number: 120243 Euro 950.00

Keywords: (Oude Druk), (Rare Books), Altertum, Altertumswissenschaft, Antike, Antiquity, Carolus, Cebes, Cebetis Tabula, Characteres, Charles Aldrich, Epictetus, Epiktet, Greek literature, Griechische Literatur, John Fell, Kebes, Philosophie, Sheldon, Sheldonian Theatre, Theophrastus, classical philology, e Theatro Sheldoniano, philosophy