[Title in Greek] ... EURIPIDIS TRAGŒDIÆ SEPTENDECIM, EX QUIB QUÆDAM HABENT COMMENTARIA ... by Euripides - 1503

Venetiis: Apvd Aldvm, 1503. Two volumes bound in one. [268;190] leaves. Thick octavo (165 x 98 mm). Full red morocco, spine heavily gilt extra, gilt Aldine anchor device on each board, a.e.g. (unsigned). Italic (preface) and Greek letter. Aldine anchor device at end of each volume. Small shallow discoloration at extreme lower edge of 11 leaves in the second volume, occasional traces of foxing, minor rubbing at crown of spine, otherwise about fine. Cloth slipcase and chemise. First collected edition of the Greek texts of the tragedies of Euripides, preceded only by an edition of four of the plays printed in Florence in 1496. Although the title lists seventeen plays, Aldus added an eighteenth, the HERCULES FURENS, and in his prefatory dedication to Demetrius Chalcondylas, a distinguished professor of Greek at Padua, Aldus indicates the edition consisted of one thousand copies. Euripides was the last of the trio of great classic Greek tragedians, and although he is known to have written a significantly larger body of plays than are preserved here, many of the others are known only through incomplete fragments. The other titles included here include some of the masterpieces of classic drama, including MEDEA, HECUBA, ORESTES, IPHIGENIA IN TAURUS, ALECESTE, BACCHAE, etc. With the bookplates of Arthur Atherley and George Warren Vernon. "...recherchée, et les beaux exemplaires se trouvent difficilement" - Brunet. A small number of copies were printed on vellum. BM (ITALIAN), P.239. RENOUARD 43:10. GOLDSMID 63. ADAMS E1030. BRUNET II:1095.