Euripides’ tragedies translated into Latin by Melanchton
Euripides’ tragedies translated into Latin by Melanchton.
A beautiful copy preserved in its contemporary blind-stamped pigskin.
EURIPIDES. Tragoediae, quae hodie extant, omnes, Latine soluta oratione redditae, ita ut versus versui respondeat. E praelectionibus Philippi Melanthonis. Cum praefatione Guilielmi Xylandri Augustani …
Francofurti, apud Ludovicum Lucium, 1562.
8vo [160 x 120 mm], (1) bl.l., (4) ff., pp. 17-1049, (1) bl.l. [a4 b-z8, A-Z8, Aa-Tt8, Vu4]. Old owner’s mark on the title-page. Ornamental initials decorated with flowers and animals.
Bound in contemporary blind-stamped pigskin over wooden boards. The front cover is illustrated with the Last Judgement and a frieze of figures in the border. This cover bears a monogram and a date: “AZC 1570” and the inscription: “Venit hora in qua omnes qui in monuments sunt audient vocem filii dei Jorg Bernutz”. The back cover is decorated with an allegory entitled: “Os Homini sublime dedit coelum que videre: Jussit Et Erectos At Coleum Tollere Vultus J. Bernutz”. Spine ribbed and decorated, 2 clasps.
An important edition of Euripides’ 18 tragedies translated by Melanchton, the first to be published after his death.
VD 16 E 4222, Adams E 1040.
The text is preceded with a preface by Wilhelm Xylander, a German humanist and Greek master at the University of Heidelberg. 
The tragedies contained in this volume are: Hecuba, Orestes, the Phoenician Womens, Medea, Hippolytus, Alcestis, Andromache, the Suppliant Women, Iphigenia in Aulis, Iphigenia in Tauris, the Trojan Women, the Bacchae, the Cyclops, the Heracleidae, Helen, Ion, Heracles and Electra.
Philippe Melanchton (1497-1560) was one of the earliest thinkers of the Lutheran reform.
A fine wide-margined copy preserved in its original condition, in contemporary blind-stamped pigskin.
Price: € 7 500
