WESSELING,P. Petri Wesselingii Dissertatio Herodotea ad Ti. Hemsterhusium V. C. (Bound with:) Petri Wesseling Probabilium liber singularis, in quo praeter alia insunt vindiciae verborum Joannis 'Et Deus erat verbum'. Ad 1: Utrecht (Trajecti ad Rhenum), Apud Gisb. Tim. & Abrahamum a Paddenburg, 1758. Ad 2: Franeker (Franequerae), Ex Officina Wibii Bleck Bibliopolae, 1731. 8vo. 2 volumes in 1: (IV),215,(5 index); (VIII),398,(5 index),(1 blank) p. Vellum 20 cm (Ref: Ad 1: Hoffmann 2,247; Ebert 9549 ; ad 2 Ebert 23969) (Details: Two thongs laced through the joints. Short title in ink on the back. ad 2: woodcut printer's mark on title, depicting Athena and her owl under an olive tree, the motto is: 'Ne extra oleas', to be understood as 'Stay within the bounds of wisdom') (Condition: Vellum somewhat soiled. Front hinge cracked, but still hanging on one chord. Front pastedown detached. Upper margin of 1/3 slightly waterstained. Ad 2: 8 gatherings, i.e 64 pages, of the 'Probabilium liber' have browned paper) (Note: Ad 1: The Dutch philologist of Westphalian descent Peter Wesseling, or Petrus Wesselingius, 1692-1764, published in 1758 the first monograph of importance on the Greek historian Herodotus. He studied in Leiden under Gronovius, but after his switch to the university of Franeker in 1714 he came under the influence of Lambertus Bos (1670-1717), and more important Tiberius Hemsterhuis (1685-1766), and developed himself into a many-sided allround and critical philologist. He is said to be one of the 'Masterpieces' of Hemsterhuis, the leading Greek scholar in the Low Countries. Wesseling was not a genius. Bernays writes about him: 'Seine Art ist ganz dauerhaft in einzeln Partien, doch ohne grosse Geistesblitze. Ihn zeichnet Sorgfalt, Klarheit und grosser Fleiss aus'. Wesseling was professor of Greek and History at the University of Utrecht since 1735. There he produced 3 masterpieces that made his name. First he published in 1746 a still indispensable edition of Diodorus. Thereafter in 1758 the 'Dissertatio Herodotea' was published. He had his Herodotus-edition ready in 1756, before the 'dissertatio', but owing to difficulties with the publisher Luchtmans, Wesseling had to wait until 1763 before his third masterpiece was published. Ad 2: Wesseling's original interest, before studying classical philology, was theology. His 'Probabilium liber' is a product of this interest. The work is partly an attack on the socian exegesis of Johannes 1, verse 1. (See wikipedia, s.v. Socianism). It is further filled with philological corrections and discussions on profane and ecclesiastical authors. An elaborate discussion of the contents of this book can be found in the 'Bibliothèque raisonnée des ouvrages des savans de l'Europe, 1732 première partie', Amsterdam, 1732, p. 11/110. (For Wesseling see best: Gerretzen, 'Schola Hemsterhusiana', p. 162/81, also Sandys, 2,453; Bernays, 'Geschichte der klassischen Philologie', p. 143/4; Van der Aa 20,123/26) (Collation: Ad 1: *2, A-N8, O6; ad 2: *4 (leaf *4 blank), A-3D4, 3E2 (leaf 3E2 verso blank)) (Photographs on request)
Book number: 130019 Euro 180.00

Keywords: (Oude Druk), (Rare Books), Altertumswissenschaft, Altphilologie, Antike, Antiquity, Gospel of John, Greek history, Greek literature, Griechische Literatur, Herodot, Herodotus, Johannes, Neues Testament, New Testament, Novum Testamentum, Socianism, Socians, Wesseling, Wesselingius, ancient, classical philology, griechische Geschichte