Homerus, Iliad et Odysseia, Venice, Aldo, 1504?, Odyssey in contemporary alla greca binding, Iliad in modern Rivere replica, printed on vellum

Homer. Homerus. Omerou Ilias. Homeri Ilias [volume 2:] Odysseia, Batrachomyomachia, Ymnoi 32. Vlyssea, Batrachomyomachia, Hymni 32 [Greek and Latin]. [Venice: Aldo Manuzio, after 31 October 1504]

First Aldine edition of the Iliad and Odyssey, and the second edition overall, preceded only by the Florentine editio princeps printed for Bernardus and Nerius Nerlius and Demetrius Damilas (not before 13 January 1488/89).

Printed on vellum, one of about ten sets known: "The owner of the first Aldine Homer on vellum can put himself on a level as a collector with Lord Spencer and the Duke of Devonshire" (Bernard Quaritch, General Catalogue, vol. 3, 1887, no. 18263).

This is, of course, also the first octavo edition, printed in the smallest size of Aldo's Greek font, and, so occupies an important position in the reading of Homer. Homer's works formed part of the group of Aldine octavo texts, that, beginning in 1501, revolutionized books and reading with their series of pocket editions of both classical and later Italian authors — Virgil, Sophocles, Euripides, Petrarch, and Dante, among others. One of the early customers of the Press wrote in 1501, "For since my various activities leave me no spare time … your books—which are so handy that I can use them walking, and even, so to speak, while playing the courtier … have become a special delight to me" (quoted in Grafton, "The Humanist as Reader," in Cavallo and Chartier, eds., A History of Reading in the West, University of Massachusetts Press, 1999, p. 186).

2 volumes, 8vo (144 x 93 mm [vol. 1]; 160 x 98 mm [vol. 2]). Printed on vellum. Greek types, 30 lines plus headline. collation: (vol. 1): A-Z⁸ AA-LL⁸ MM⁶: 278 leaves (MM6 blank). Woodcut Aldine device on title-page, 2- and 6-line initial spaces with guide letters. (vol. 2): 1-7⁸ (-1-7) a-z⁸ A-G⁸ H¹⁰: 250 (of 306) leaves (without, as often, the seven preliminary quires on Homer’s life by Herodotus and Plutarch; blank a1). As in all other recorded copies on vellum, a1-a2r are blank rather than printed with title and preface. (Occasional natural and typical discoloration of the vellum, title-page lightly dust-soiled, upper fore-edge corners of quire a stained.)

binding: Odyssey: contemporary Roman or Venetian brown goatskin over grooved wooden boards (160 x 102 mm) in alla greca style, covers tooled in blind, border formed by broad and narrow fillets, leaf tool at inner corners, central floral tool within an ellipsoid formed by two blind fillets containing a leaf tool at top and bottom, two braided double-thong leather clasps catching on upper cover, vellum endleaves, plain edges. (Rebacked preserving most of original spine, corners restored.) Iliad: modern brown goatskin binding (159 x 97 mm) by Riviere in imitation of the preceding, vellum endleaves, plain edges. Housed in uniform brown morocco Solander boxes gilt, by Riviere.

provenance: Iliad: Roderick T. Terry (1849–1933); AAA-Anderson Galleries, New York, 7-8 November 1934, lot 122; purchased by unidentified owner ($600). Odyssey: Giovanni Matteo Giberti (1495-1543), Bishop of Verona, sponsor of the Greek press run by Stefano dei Nicolini da Sabbio, inscription — Francesco Berni (1498?-1535), name in Greek inscribed on title — Simon Berchius, presentation inscription to — Angelo (Agnolo) Monosini (1568–1626) — unidentified owner, seventeenth-/eighteenth-century inscription, “Felice Vinona,” on flyleaf — Bibliothèque de Carpentras, Aix-en-Provence (?) — Antoine-Augustin Renouard (1765-1853 — George John Warren, 5th Baron Vernon (1803-1866) — Robert Stayner Holford (1808-1892), note of Holford on lower pastedown “From Renouard's Collection”; by descent to — Lt. Col. Sir George Lindsay Holford (1860-1926); Sotheby’s London, 5-9 December 1927, lot 369; purchased by — Bernard Quaritch, London (£150) — Bernard Quaritch, Catalogue … of the Aldine Press (London, 1929), p. 23. Iliad and Odyssey united: The Papal Countess Estelle Doheny (1875-1958); by bequest to — St. John's Seminary, Camarillo (Roman Catholic seminary) — Christie Manson & Woods International Inc., The Estelle Doheny collection from the Edward Laurence Doheny Memorial Library, St. John's Seminary, Camarillo, California, sold on behalf of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Christie’s New York, 17-18 October 1988, lot 1020 ($52,800). acquisition: Purchased at the Doheny-St. John’s Seminary sale via Martin Breslauer Inc. references: UCLA 86.5 (issue without letter from Aldo to Girolamo Aleandro on A1v–A2r); Adams H741; Aldus Manuzio  tipografo 88*, 88**; Edit16 22945; Grolier/Aldus 41 (this copy); Renouard 46.6; USTC 835811; Van Praet, Catalogue de livres imprimés sur vélin de la Bibliothéque du Roi IV: 66