Externae historiae in compendium ab Justino Redactae. Externorum imperatorum uitae authore Aemylio Probo.
Venetiis: In aedibus Aldi & Andreae Asulani, 1522. Item #962 First Aldine edition, edited by Francesco Asolani and printed by the heirs to Aldus Manutius’s Venetian printing press. Numerous Italian printers published editions of the works of Pompeius Trogus from the surviving pages from his manuscript book of 44 chapters. The most prominent printers were Nicolas Jenson in 1470, Sweynheym and Pannartz in 1472, Christoph Valdarfer in 1476, Leonardus Pachel of Milano in 1494, and Filippo Giunta in 1510. The Aldine edition appears to be the second edition printed in an octavo format, the first being the Giunta edition printed in Florence over a decade earlier. Frederic Ebert in his General Bibliographical Dictionary, calls the edition ‘tolerable scarce’ and goes on to write, ‘Very carefully corrected by Fr. Asulanus from MSS. and old editions, sometimes from conjecture.” Gustave Brunet cites Ebert’s note and adds, “Édition rare, et regardée comme plus correcte que les précédents: elle a été revue par Fr. D’Asola.” Gnaeus Trogus Pompeius was a Roman historian, nearly a contemporary of Livy, who flourished during the age of Augustus. His grandfather served in the war against Sertorius with Pompey, through whose influence he obtained the Roman citizenship; hence the mane Pompeius, adopted as a toke of gratitude to his benefactor. His father served under Julius Caesar in the capacity of secretary and interpreter. Trogus Pompeius’s principal work was Historiae Philippicae in forty-four books, co called because the Macedonian empire found by Philip is the central theme of the narrative. This was a generally history of the world, or rather those portions of it which came under the sway of Alexander and his successors. His ideas of history were more severe and less rhetorical than that of Sallust and Livy, whom he blamed for putting elaborate speeches into the mouths of the characters of whom they wrote. Of his great work, we possess only the epitome by Justin, the prologi or summary of the 44 books, and fragments quoted in Vopiscus, Jerome, Augustine and other writers. But even in its present mutilated state it is often an important authority for the ancient history of the East. Ethnographical and geographical excursuses are a special feature of the book. Ebert, General Bibliographical Dictionary, II, no.11130. Brunet, Manuel du Libraire, III, p. 620. British Museum, Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in Italy, p.683.
8vo. 165 x 100 mm., [6 ¼ x 4 inches]. 204 ff., first 4 leaves unnumbered, leaf 136 numbered 236. Bound in contemporary Venetian brown calf, both boards decorated in blind with triple fillet borders, enclosing a larger border of embossed floral pattern with designs of urns in the four corners. The center of the board is decorated with a four leaf pattern forming a stylized diamond shape. The spine has three bands, and the panels are tooled with crossing pattern of three lines forming a X with a line across the center. The ties are missing, and the upper board has been slashed in four places, probably by a blade. The binding shows some wear at the joints and edges, the head and tail of the spine has been very sympathetically repaired. There is a small paper flaw to the title-leaf affecting three lines of text on the verso. With faults, quite a good copy in sound condition. On the rear endpaper there is a “Tabula” in contemporary hand listing subjects of interest to 16th century owner and the corresponding page numbers. On the rear endpaper is a 3 line motto in contemporary hand referring to the book.
Price: $9,500.00