Beschreibung
4to. (XXIV including frontispiece),(98),802,(214 index) p. Vellum 27 cm (Ref: STCN ppn 14155522X; Schweiger 2,941; Dibdin 2,399: 'a very elaborate and celebrated edition'; Fabricius/Ernesti 2,136/37; Brunet 5,286; Moss 579/80: 'its merits are highly and justly appreciated'; Graesse 6/1,359; Ebert 20942; Ter Meulen/Diermanse 540) (Details: Back with 6 raised bands. Boards with blind double fillet borders, and a blind stamped oval ornament in the center. Frontispiece designed by L.F. Dudourg and executed by F. Ottens and B. Bernarts, depicting some scenes from the tragedies. Title printed in red & black. Upper part of the page has the Latin text, the lower part the commentary) (Condition: Vellum soiled. Back cracked and damaged, partly discoloured; its head repaired with chemical glue. Both joints are split, but strong. Paper partly foxed, yellowing and browning. Bookplate on the front pastedown) (Note: There is 'widespread agreement that Seneca's tragedies are important dramas and that the question whether they were composed for recitation or for performance is largely irrelevant. (.) Modern opinion is divided over the extent of Stoic doctrine in them; the majority incline toward judging them solely as dramas. Knowledge of the tragedies was spotty in late antiquity; (.). The earliest complete manuscript is the Codex Etruscus from Italy in the 11th century. It was read by Poliziano and was the basis of the edition of J.F. Gronovius (Amsterdam 1661), the first reliable printed text. The 'editio princeps' was printed at Ferrara in 1484; the first edition with a critical text and commentary of any value was that of Jodocus Badius (Paris 1514), which included the conjectures of Erasmus. (.) Seneca was by far the most important classical model for Renaissance tragedy, at a time when Greek tragedy was hardly known. (.) There is philosophical reflection, especially in the choruses, but that is not their main purpose, and there is psychological subtlety, despite the rhetoric. (.) Julius Caesar Scaliger in his 'Poetices' maintained that Seneca surpassed the Greek tragedians in dignity ('maiestas') and had greater polish and brilliance ('cultus ac nitor') than Euripides. (The Classical Tradition, Cambridge Mass., 2010, p. 876) § This 1728 edition of the tragedies of Seneca is based on the Amsterdam edition of Gronovius of 1682. It offers the entire notes of the Dutch scholar of German origin Johannes Friedrich Gronovius, 1611-1671, who was professor of Greek at the University of Leiden, and the selected notes of Lipsius and of many other scholars, among whom Hugo Grotius. Seneca owes more to Gronovius than to all the preceding editors. His edition marked the beginning of a new age in Senecan scholarship. His commentary is superb, and he greatly amended the text. § This so-called 'Variorum' edition of 1728 was produced by the Dutch schoolmaster Johannes Caspar(us) Schröder(us), who was Rector of the 'Schola Latina' at Delft. He added also notes of his own, which are according to Dibdin 'frequent and judicious', but according to Schweiger 'weder zahlreich, noch besonders werthvol'. A 'Variorum' edition offers a 'textus receptus' which is widely accepted, accompanied with the commentary and the annotations of various specialists, taken, or excerpted from earlier useful, normative or renewing editions. Editions like these, 'cum notis Variorum', were useful, but never broke new ground. The production was the specialty of Dutch scholars of the 17th and 18th century.) (Provenance: Engraved bookplate on the front pastdown of 'R.N. Cresswell', above the name a squirrel cracking a nut. This might well be the member of the landed gentry and member of the English bar R.N. Cresswell, Esq. Barrister-at-Law, once, in 1844, working at the Insolvent Court, London. The squirrel figures in the coat of arms of that family. § On the front flyleaf in pencil 'L.H. Cooley, from Rev. C. Dea.') (Collation: pi1, *-3*4; a-m4, n1; A-6M) (Photographs on request) (Heav.
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