OPUSCULA MYTHOLOGICA, PHYSICA ET ETHICA. Graece et latine. (Edita per Thomas Gale). Amsterdam (Amstelaedami), Apud Henricum Wetstenium, 1688. 8vo. (XXIV including frontispiece),752,(8 index) p. Calf 21 cm. 'Prize copy' (Ref: STCN 842221603; Willems p. XCIII, Rahir 2861; Hoffmann 3,367 & 3,2 & 3,36 & 3,95 & 3,331 & 3,345 et alibi; Brunet 4,198: 'bonne édition'; Graesse 5,31; Ebert 8053; this kind of prize not in Spoelder, Haarlem) (Details: Prize copy, including the printed prize. Texts printed in 2 columns, Greek text with opposing Latin translation. Back ruled gilt, red shield in 'second compartment'. Boards with gilt floral borders. The frontispiece by G. de Lairesse depicts a seated woman, who is writing in a book; she might be Erato, the Muse of epic poetry, but also of philosophy. Behind her stands a half naked woman holding a palm leaf; a small radiant new moon rises just above her head; she is probably Iuno; she stands before a statue of Artemis of Ephese; in her left hand Iuno holds an oval shield with a kind of Botticelli scene of the birth of Venus; in the background at the right Helios is performing a sunrise with his chariot four in hand, and at the left his sister Selene/Luna, who rides in her chariot through the sky, passing the crescent moon. Title printed in red and black. The publisher Wetstenius adorned the title with the Elzevier woodcut device of Minerva, motto: 'Ne extra oleas'. He acquired this device after the death of Daniel Elzevier, and used it in only 3 editions.) (Condition: Back rubbed. Red label slightly damaged. One of the four green silk fastening ties is still complete, the other 3 are almost gone) (Note: This book contains: Palaephatus 'De incredibilibus historiis'; Heraclitus 'De incredibilibus'; 'Anonymi longe Heraclito recentioris De incredibilibus'; Eratosthenes 'Catasterismi'; Phurnutus 'De natura Deorum commentarius'; Sallustius Philosophus 'De Diis et Mundo'; 'Homeri poetae vita'; Heraclides Ponticus 'Allegoriae Homeri'; Ocellus Lucanus Philosophus 'De Universi Natura'; Timaeus Locrus 'De anima mundi, en natura'; Theophrastus 'Notationes morum' (Characters); Demophilus 'Similitudines, seu Vitae curatio, ex Pythagoreis'; Democrates Philosophus 'Aurea Sententiae'; Secundus Atheniensis 'Sophistae Sententiae'; Sextus Pythagoreus 'Sententiae'; 'Ex quorundam Pythagoreorum libris fragmenta, in quibus de Philosophia Morali agitur'. § The dedication and preface are by the English classical scholar, antiquarian and cleric Thomas Gale, (ca. 1635-1702), Regius professor of Greek in Cambrige from 1666 till 1672. This anthology of mythographical texts of 1688 is the revised en augmented edition of the edition that was first published in Cambridge in 1671. The collection reveals according to Gale the truth of religion by means of stories, fables and parables, and consists of reprints of earlier editions, with an occasional preface and improvement by Gale. Gale was not a great scholar, or a textual critic with fresh ideas. 'In his Opuscula Mythologica, Ethica et Physica' (1671) he puts on record a revealing description of what might be called 'vulgate editing' at the end of his preface which, for its naïveté is worth citing. ''In printing all these texts we have closely followed editions published earlier; textual errors, with some minor exceptions, we have allowed to remain, and we have not concealed the absurdities found in the manuscripts, which you (kind) reader, may be better able to remove" '. (C.O. Brink, 'English Classical Scholarship', Cambridge, New York 1985, p. 18) Gale produced also editions of Herodotus and Cicero, and the 'editio princeps' of 'De Mysteriis' of Iamblichus) (Provenance: The printed prize was awarded to 'A. de Pecker', for his industry by the 'Schola Harlemo-Batava' on the occasion of his promotion to the second class. The date of the prize is 21 Dec. 1847, and it is signed by the 4 members of the prize committee, among whom the 'Gymn. Rector' J(acobus) Venhuizen Peerlkamp. At the head of the prize the coat of arms of Haarlem. The name of this diligent boy, Abraham de Pecker, occurs on the list of 'Predikanten van de Hervormde Gemeente Gorinchem opgericht in 1566'. He was a minister of this protestant church from 1860 till his death on 20-02-1916. He was born in 1831 in Bloemendaal (near Haarlem), and studied theology in Leiden. He was a protestant 'modernist', which was not easy in that time. An article on Pecker's difficult time in Gorichem can be found on the website of the 'Historische Vereninging Oud-Gorcum'. A picture of him can be found on the website 'Geheugen van Nederland', 'Memory of the Netherlands') (Collation: *8, 2*4; A-3A8, 3B4) (Photographs on request)
Book number: 130304 Euro 425.00

Keywords: (Oude Druk), (Rare Books), Greek literature, Latin translation, Mythologie, Prize copy, Prize copy Haarlem, mythology