Flavii Iosephi Opera
Basel: Hieronymus Froben, 1544. First edition in original Greek. Hardcover. Folio. *6, a-z pp.276, A-Z pp.277-552), Aa-Zz (pp.553-824), AA-MM pp.825-967(1) Nineteenth century mottled calf with gilt tooling and red lettering on red label of spine; six raised bands. Red edges. Decorative endpapers. Illustrated title page printed in red and black with large woodcut printer's device in red. Foreword with historiated initial, text in Latin; decorative headpieces in Greek text. Printer's device in black and white at rear.
Based on texts form the Diego Hurtado de Mendoza collection and edited by Arnoldus Arlenius this is the first edition of the works of Josephus in Greek. "The editio principes of Josephus... was in fact an edition of his works in Latin, still the intellectual language of Europe in 1470; the first edition of the Greek text did not appear in print until nearly 75 years later, after the Renaissance revival of Greek learning. (Bibliothèque et Archives Canada)." The copy at hand matches the version referenced in Adams J351. Due to the importance of this text as a general history of Palestine in the early Christian period it was preserved in various libraries.
Text in Greek and Latin. Binding with some wear along edges, scuffing and half an inch closed tear at head of front joint with few small worm holes at bottom of front foredge and spine. Decorative and free front endpaper with some creasing, also at back endpaper. Inked name, Don Juan de Rosal, at top of title page and some inked notes to left and right of large woodcut; some moderate worming in wide margins of first 285 pages and at end of book starting at page 763, not affecting text with a few minor exceptions on first 30 pages. Binding o overall good+, interior in very good condition. g+ to vg. Item #43839
Price: $4,000.00