Folio: 2 parts (of 3), [65 (of 66)], 73-[1] pp. Woodcut mark (dolphin and anchor) on title and at the end. Capital spaces with guide-letters. (missing blank h10, as well as the later [May 1504] added quire 'Apoll. 1-8' with Aldus' preface, another Greek text, table of contents and Errata; washed, inner margin of title repaired). Late-18th-c. gilt red morocco, covers with gilt triple ruled border, gilt spine with 5 raised bands and morocco labels, gilt sides, a.e.g., gilt inside ornamental border, marbled endpapers, green silk marker (a few tiny scratches on front cover). Nice clean copy
Beautiful editio princeps of the Greek text of the biography of the Pythagorean philosopher Apollonius of Tyana (40-120) by the Greek sophist Philostratus (170-240), with a Latin translation by a Florentine humanist. Apollonius of Tyana (b. ca. 170 A.D.) was a Neopythagorean sage at the beginning of the Christian era, of whose wanderings to India, ascetic teachings and miraculous powers we only have Philostratus's account, which has been successively admired and dismissed as a fraud from the time of its writing. Hierocles of Nicomedia had drawn parallels between Apollonius and Christ, which provoked this reply from Eusebius. Aldus was not satisfied with this publication and only released it in 1504 with an apologetic preface (not present here). Ref. Edit16 36113. - Renouard 26-27:2. - Ahmanson-Murphy 82. - Adams P-1067. Prov. A single marginal annotation
