Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller - Old and Rare Books

De vitis philosophorum et sophistarum [WITH] [Eunapiou tou Sardianou Bioi philosophon kai sophiston] E bibliotheca Ioan. Sambuci Pannonii Tirnaviensis (On the Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists)

Eunapius of Sardis; Adrian de Jonge (Junius; ed.)

Antwerp: C. Plantin, 1568. First Edition. Hardcover. Two parts, jointly issued, octavo. Collation: A-M8, N4 (= 100 leaves); Α-Ν8, [xi]4 (= 108 leaves). 194, [6, index]pp. (errors: 21 for 31, 117 for 119); 213, [1, privilege], [1, colophon], [1, blank]pp. (errors: 44 for 43). Separate title for each part, with woodcut printer’s device. First part with printed marginalia. Colophon at second part dated 12 Kalends March, 1568. Eighteenth century tree calf (expertly rebacked, retaining spine); gilt-tooled spine with morocco lettering piece; marbled endleaves. Light wear at cover extremities; text clean and fresh throughout. About very good.

Editio princeps. First printing of the Greek text, with Latin translation by Adrian de Jonge (1511-1575). An admirer of emperor Julian and a staunch opponent of Christianity, Eunapius of Sardis (c. 345-c. 420) here writes of many obscure neoplatonists in the East. He “gives an idealized picture in order to compete with the biographies of Christian saints” (Oxford Classical Dictionary, ed. 2012). Helping to fill a lacuna in late antique history, De Vitis Philosophorum et Sophistarum “is valuable as the only source for the history of the neo-Platonism of that period” (EB 13th - 9: 890). A wonderfully tangential detail is found in Junius’ acrostic encomium to Queen Elizabeth I. The English edition of 1579 (apparently translated at Junius’ request) is also dedicated to Elizabeth. Very Good-. Item #49157

References: Adams, E-1028; Hoffmann II, 65; Schweiger I, 114. Voet 1142; 1143-A. For Eunapius and his milieu see R. J. Penella, Greek Philosophers and Sophists in the Fourth Century AD, Studies in Eunapius of Sardis (1990).

Price: $1,250.00