Photius, Myriobiblon, Augsburg, 1601, contemporary vellum

Photius

Βιβλιοθηκη... Librorum quos legit Photius Patriarca excerpta et censurae. Augsburg: (Johannes Praetorius), 1601

folio (325 x 211mm.), woodcut device on title-page and above colophon, woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, near-contemporary vellum with foredge flaps, blue edges, occasional light staining, paper flaw on Zzz6 (without loss of text), binding slightly soiled and warped

EDITIO PRINCEPS of this collection of 279 reviews of books read by Photius, with notes and in some cases long extracts. The books cover a wide range of subjects, including physics, medicine, grammar, rhetoric, philosophy and theology, and in many cases the source texts are otherwise lost. The editor was the humanist David Hoeschel (1556-1617) who was librarian of the Bibliotheca Augustana.

LITERATURE:

VD17 3:314533D

PROVENANCE:

IPI [in partibus infidelium?] SA, initials at foot of title-page dated 1687; "Ex libb. Miss. Cleri Scot.", inscription on title-page [relating to a Catholic mission to Scotland or the Catholic clergy there?]; Sir William D. Geddes (1828-1900, professor of Classical Greek at Aberdeen), armorial bookplate