VERGILIUS. Vergilius Maro ex editione Nic. Heinsii & P. Burmanni. Amsterdam (Amstelaedami), Apud Jac. Wetstenium, 1744. 12mo. (XXXII),328 p., engraved title. Vellum 12.5 cm (Ref: Schweiger 2,1174; Graesse 6/2,342) (Details: Nice copy. Back ruled gilt, and with a green shield in the second compartment. The engraved title shows scenes from the work of Vergil. On the verso of leaf *2 an engraved portrait of Vergil, after a gem from the collection of Fulivius Ursinus. Clear typography, Latin text only) (Condition: Vellum age-tanned. Ownership inscriptions on the front pastedown and the front flyleaf) (Note: The Bucolics, Georgics and the Aeneid of the Roman poet Vergil, 70-19 BC, were already classic in antiquity. In the Middle Ages Vergil was also widely read. Of no other Latin author survive so many manuscripts as of Vergil. He never fell out of favour, and he did not need to be revived. He 'became a European classic, not only in the sense that he was a central author for many European readers for many centuries, but also in the further sense that his works crucially helped such readers to define themselves as Europeans'. (The Classical Tradition, Cambr. Mass. 2010, p. 965.) Vergil's work was used for opera's (Orfeo), for epics (Paradise Lost), by painters, et alii. Vergil was served well by numerous editions and translations. It is a well known bon mot to say the Vergil's legacy to Western literature is Western literature. § This edition of 1744 is based on the earlier edition of Nicolaas Heinsius, 1620-1681. He was a Dutch diplomat and classical scholar who never held any academic appointment. Few scholars have examined so many Latin manuscripts, and in 'making his selection from the vast mass of variants he was guided by a fine taste and a sound judgment acquired by long experience'. He edited several Latin poets, among whom Vergil (1664). His editions laid the foundations of the textual criticism of those authors. Heinsius' notes on Vergil came after his death in the hands of Burmannus Senior. (Sandys 2, 323/6; 443/5, 455) Thereupon Burmannus Senior decided to produce a new Vergil edition. However, while he was preparing this edition, his sudden death interrupted the project. It was his uncle's will (ut ipse jusserat), Burmannus Junior tells us in the preface to this edition of 1744, to put the finishing touch to the project (ut suprema operi imponeretur manus). While Burmannus Junior was working on his uncle's edition of Vergil, the publisher, Jacobus Wetstenius, in the mean time decided, Burmannus tells, to bring a small version (minoris formae editionem hanc) of this ambitious Vergil project on the market. This slim edition of 1744 was to offer in a handy format, and at a low price, a kind of appetizer or first course to a tasty meal, 'ut quasi praegustata hac promulside lectores mox ad lautiores invitaret epulas'. (Preface, Lectori Benevolo, p. *2 recto) This tasty and opulent meal came two year later. In 1746 Petrus Burmannus Junior finally published in four volumes Vergil's Opera, cum integris & emendatioribus commentariis Servii, Philargyrii, Pierii. Accedunt Fulvii Ursini, Georgii Fabricii, Francisci Nansii, Joh. Musonii, Tanaquilli Fabri et aliorum, ac praecipue Nicolai Heinsii notae nunc primum editae; quibus & suas in omne opus animadversiones, & variantes in Servium lectiones addidit Petrus Burmannus. Post cujus obitum interruptam editionis curam suscepit & adornavit Petrus Burmannus junior. § Petrus Burmannus Senior, 1668-1741, was professor of Latin at the University of Utrecht since 1696, and at Leiden since 1715. Fabricius/Ernesti hold the Vergil edition which Burmannus Senior was preparing in high esteem: 'Haec igitur editio est omnium princeps et canon Vergilii posthac luculenter edendi'. He adds that the text is 'optime constitutum'. Burmannus Senior, who was famous as manufacturer of Variorum editions, confined himself to the editing of Latin classics. He was regarded by Ruhnken as the equal of Nicolaas Heinsius in learning, but inferior in acumen and in emendatory skill. His nephew Petrus Burmannus Junior, 1714-1778, was in 1742 appointed professor of Latin at the Athenaeum Illustre of Amsterdam. Sandys considers him to be superior in his intellectual attainments to his uncle. He appointed himself 'exécuteur littéraire' of the still unpublished works of his uncle, who had spent his last years on Claudian and Vergil) (Provenance: On the front pastdown: 'Daniel H. Newell, Rome .... 1884'. On the front flyleaf: 'A.G. Larman, 1947') (Collation: *-**8, A-T8, U4, X8) (Photographs on request)
Book number: 120184 Euro 120.00

Keywords: (Oude Druk), (Rare Books), Burmannus, Heinsius, Latin literature, Vergil, Vergilius, Virgil, antike altertum antiquity, römische Literatur