Institvtiones Graecae Grammatices

Venice: Aldus Manutius, 1497. CONTEMPORARY FRANKFURT BLINDSTAMPED ALUM-TAWED PIGSKIN over beveled wooden boards (EBDB w002218), front board double roll outer frame of foliage, acorns, birds and rabbits, central panel with arabesques and acanthus stamps, rear board with the same outer frame rolls and a cross in the central panel (worn, joints neatly restored, endleaves removed), brass catchplates, evidence of two leather straps, brass strap braces, each of the four spine compartments with a cross, edges sprinkled brown, manuscript fore-edge title.

First Edition. Aldus commissioned this grammar of ancient Greek from the Franciscan friar Bolzanio, who directed a successful private Greek school in Venice with an impressive roster of students, including the future Pope Leo X. ALDUS BASED THE INSTITUTIONS ON BOLZANIO'S TEACHING NOTES. The text quickly became "one of the most favoured grammars of the following century" (Lowry), and, as the present example bears witness, helped spread the study of Greek north of the Alps.
The edition contains numerous typographical errors. An early owner tried to emend this copy, making deletions, additions and substitutions following the first state (of three) of the printed errata (here from another copy and inserted at the back of the volume; the two leaves cut round and margins extended). Errors in the errata compounded by the annotator's own apparent unfamiliarity with Greek led to confusion over the nature and location of some of the corrections. The annotator occasionally misinterpreted instructions, "corrected" the wrong passage or, unable to find the supposed error, simply copied the instruction in the margin.
A beautiful copy with many untrimmed lower edges (minor worming to the first four leaves, pale narrow dampstain touching six dozen top or outer edges, short marginal tear neatly repaired), contemporary manuscript quote from Quintilian on the front pastedown, armorial stamp of the Württembergische Landesbibliothek (duplicates regularly sold and traded throughout the 19th and 20th centuries).
¶Botley, Learning Greek in Western Europe 20; Lowry, The World of Aldus Manutius 114-5 & 265-9; Della Rocca de Candal, "Manus Manutii: A Preliminary Checklist of Typographical and Manuscript Interventions in Aldine Incunabula" in Printing and Misprinting: A Companion to Mistakes and In-House Corrections in Renaissance Europe (1450-1650) edd. Della Rocca de Candal et al. 142-3 (var. A); Clemons & Fletcher, Aldus Manutius: A Legacy More Lasting than Bronze 5; Renouard, Annales de l'imprimerie des Alde 11,4; ISTC iu00066000; Goff U-66.