A VERY FINE VENETIAN EDITION OF THE ATTIC NIGHTS: AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ROMAN PERIOD

Gellius, Aulus. Auli Gellii luculentissimi scriptoris Noctes Atticae. Venetiis (Venice): [eredi di Pietro Ravani & C.], 1544 [at colophon: Venetijs, apud haeredes Petri Rauani et socios, mense Maio, 1544].

8vo (150x100 mm), 18th century full French mottled calf, with gilted title and floral decorations at compartments of a four raised band spine; colored fly-leaves; red colored edges; silk ribbon marking pages; pp. [64], 591, [1]. Text in Latin and Greek. Printer's device on title page and last leaf verso. Decorated initials; printed marginal notes.

Scarce Venetian edition, printed in a neat Italic type, of Gellius' Noctes Atticae («Attic Nights»), an encyclopaedic work on grammar, geometry, philosophy, history and almost every other branch of knowledge, compiled out of a commonplace book, in which the author had jotted down everything of unusual interest that he heard in conversation or read in books.

Among the topics contained in the chapters: falling stars and comets, the ancient condition of vestal virgins, pygmies, the Sybillin Books, Zodiacs, wines (of Rhodi, Lesbos and other exotic wines) and food, the Plautus comedies (including news about the most renowned actors of his time), strange or unknown facts of the life of famous men (Pythagoras, Demosthenes, Hannibal, Socrates wife) and a lot of other major and minor topics.

Aulus Gellius (c. 130-180), was a Latin writer and grammarian, probably born at Rome, where he studied grammar and rhetoric. Then, he was scholar of philosophy at Athens, after which he returned to Rome, where he held a judicial office. His only survived work, the Noctes Atticae, takes its name from having been begun during the long nights of a winter which he spent in Attica (Greece). Gellius work is specially valuable for the insight it affords into the nature of the society and pursuits of those times, and for the numerous excerpts it contains from the works of lost ancient authors.

References: CNCE 20608. OCLC, 27797580.

Last leaf verso a bit soiled. Otherwise a very fine copy.