PLINIUS MINOR. Caii Plinii Caecilii Secundi Epistolarum libros decem, cum notis selectis Jo. Mariae Catanaei, Jac. Schegkii, Jac. Sirmondi, Is. Casauboni, Henrici Stephani, Conradi Rittershusii, Cl. Minois, Casparis Barthii, Aug. Buchneri, Jo. Schefferi, Jo. Frid. Gronovii, Christophori Cellarii aliorumque, recensuerunt suisque animadversionibus illustrarunt Gottlieb Cortius et Paullus Daniel Longolius, qui etiam universum opus indicibus locupletissimis instruxit. Amsterdam (Amstelaedami), Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios, 1734. 4to. Frontispiece, (LII),92,(4);846,(119),(1 blank) p. Contemporary mottled calf 26 cm (Ref: STCN ppn 186700156; Schweiger 2,809/10; Brunet 4,722: 'bonne édition'; Dibdin 2,332; Graesse 5,343; Ebert 17356; Fabricius/Ernesti 2,416) (Details: Back with 5 raised bands, and panelled in gilt with floral motives. Frontispiece, it depicts Pliny writing a letter. Title in red & black. Engraved printer's mark on title; a mole, with the motto: 'Vulgo caeca vocor. Video sed acutius ipso') (Condition: Binding rather worn and scratched. Head & tail of the spine damaged. Back rubbed, shield in the second compartment gone. Corners bumped. Endpapers chipping and loosening. Right margin of the frontispiece chipped. Title soiled and with a small hole and a small tear in the outer margin. Small tear in the outer margin of the first 5 leaves. Outer margin of last 6 leaves chipping. Some foxing) (Note: The Roman civilian administrator Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, 61-112 A.D, published 9 books of literary letters, consisting of short essays, character sketches and sensible observations. The letters paint the high society of the young Roman empire. The tenth book contains Pliny's correspondence with the emperor Trajan. Pliny is famous for his description of the eruption of the Vesuvius in 79 A.D. § The German classical scholar Gotlieb Cortius, or Kortte, 1698-1731, made his name producing editions of Latin authors, whose works were provided with very extensive commentaries, in the manner of the Dutch scholar Petrus Burmannus, to whom this edition is actually dedicated. Dibdin admires the work of Cortius: 'this', he says, 'is a very critical and elaborate edition, calculated for those who wish to enter minutely into all the niceties of grammatical construction and historical illustration'. Ernesti says that this is a work 'quae est sane luculenta, et ut nunc est, optima editio'. Cortius died before he could finish the job. Most remaining work was done by a pupil of Cortius, the young German philologist Paul Daniel Longolius, 1704-1779, from 1735 Rector of the Gymnasium in Hof (Saale). He published 3 ancient authors in an exemplary manner, the Letters of Pliny the Younger, and the works of Diogenes Laertius (1739) and Gellius (1741). (ADB 19,156/7) The edition of the letters and the commentary is preceded by a 70 pages long biography of Pliny by J. Masson, which was first published in Amsterdam in 1709) (Collation: pi1, *4 (minus *4), 2*-7*4 (minus 7*4); (a)-(m)4; A-5O4, a-p4 (leaf p4 verso blank)) (Photographs on request) (Heavy book, may require extra shipping costs)
Book number: 140108 Euro 350.00

Keywords: (Oude Druk), (Rare Books), Altertumswissenschaft, Altphilologie, Antike, Antiquity, Briefe, Dutch imprints, Epistulae, Latin literature, Letters, Plinius Junior, Pliny the Younger, classical philology, römische Literatur