Home / Browse / Literature & History / Florilegium diversorum epigrammatum in septem libros, in Greek.
(GREEK ANTHOLOGY)
Florilegium diversorum epigrammatum in septem libros, in Greek.
Edited by Aldus Manutius.
First Aldine edition, a handsome copy. Based on the 1494 editio princeps edited by Janus Lascaris, this was the second edition of the anthology assembled by the early 14th century Constantinopolitan monk Planudes, with additions including the editio princeps of the 6th-century Byzantine poem "In Thermas Pythias et aquarum miracula" by Paulos Silentiarius. Planudes' recension of the Anthology was the only collection of ancient Greek epigrams known to the west until the discovery of the Palatine codex in 1606. The Anthology is based on the lost compilation of Meleager of Gadara (1st century BCE), whose title, The Garland, reflected the common comparison of small beautiful poems to flowers; hence the Greek anthologia ("flower-gathering"; Latin florilegium), which metaphoric use led to the modern sense of the English "anthology".
Aldine octavo (149 × 93 mm). 19th-century French red straight-grained morocco by Thouvenin, covers panelled with gilt fillets and blind foliate tooling, gilt spine, gilt edges, green silk marker. Collation as Ahmanson-Murphy. Woodcut device on title, repeated on final verso. Greek type 4:79 (text), roman 10:82 (title, register and colophon only). Extremities lightly rubbed, occasional very light browning at head, an excellent copy.
