1655 ELZEVIR EDITION OF APHTHONIUS' RHETORIC, IN CONTEMPORARY VELLUM

APHTHONIUS. Aphthonii Progymnasmata, Partim a Rodolpho Agricola, partim a Iohanne Maria Catanaeo, Latinitate donata. Cum scholiis R. Lorichii. Amsterdam: Apud Ludovicum & Danielem Elzevirios, 1655. Small 12mo (3 by 5 inches), contemporary full vellum, ink manuscript title to spine, paper spine labels, yapp edges. $850.

Later Elzevir edition of this classic Greek treatise on the elements of rhetoric (in Latin), in regular use from the 5th century to the 17th, with engraved additional title page—a fine copy in contemporary vellum.

Aphthonius was "a Greek rhetorician of Antioch, about A.D. 400, a pupil of Libanius, who wrote a school-book on the elements of rhetoric, the Progymnasmata, much used in schools down to the 17th century. This book is really an adaptation of the chapter so named in Hermogenes' Rhetoric" (Peck, 97). In 1629 Bonaventura and Abraham Elzevir expanded the family printing business (begun at the University of Leiden in 1592) by initiating their famed pocket editions of Latin and Greek classics to promote wide circulation of accurate texts for everyday use. These books were printed with engraved title pages, narrow margins and a distinctive font of type, designed by Christoffel van Dijck, derivations of which have been employed by subsequent printers for centuries. Text in Latin. The first Elzevir edition of this popular manual appeared in 1642, followed by editions in 1649 and 1651. Engraved armorial bookplate of Philip Wilhelm Albrecht von Lyncker von Lützenwick. Ink initials to title page; owner ink signature, dated 1794; later booklabel of Josiah Penniman, Professor of English and author of A Book about the English Bible. Tiny wax seal bearing the imprint of an anchor on rear pastedown.

Text clean, only mild toning to vellum. A fine copy of this Elzevir edition.