‎LIBANIUS. ‎
‎Libaniou Sophistou Epistolai. Libanii Sophistae epistolae. Quas nunc primum maximam partem e variis codicibus, manu exaratis, edidit, latine convertit & notis illustravit Joannes Christophorus Wolfius. Accedunt in calce ejusdem Libanii epistolae a Francisco Zambicario olim Latine conversae & Cracoviae primum editae, heic autem integra propemodum centuria ex MS auctae. ‎

‎Amsterdam (Amstelaedami), Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios, 1738. ‎

Reference : 16567

‎Folio: (XX),865,(1 blank) p. Vellum 42x27 cm 'The first comprehensive edition of the letters of Libanius, accompanied by a Latin translation' (Ref: STCN ppn 183220943; Brunet 3,1050; Hoffmann 2,522; Graesse 4,195; Ebert 11937) (Details: Back with 7 raised band. Boards blind tooled. Broad margins. Title in red and black. Engraved printer's mark on the title, depicting a mole, flanked by a seating Hermes and Athena; the motto is: 'vulgo caeca vocor, video sed acutius ipso', 'By the crowd I am called blind; but I see better than itself'. Printed in 2 columns, Greek text with parallel Latin translation. Notes at the bottom of the page. A good copy, inside fine) (Condition: Binding soiled and scuffed. Front hinge splitting, but still tight. Small tear in the vellum on the back. Both pastedowns worn. Turn-in of the lower board loosening. Paper yellowing) (Note: The German christian Hebraist and classical scholar Johannes Christoph Wolf, 1683-1739, is best known for his path-breaking 'Bibliotheca Hebraea' (Hamburg, 1715-1733), which remained long the most cited source for bibliographic information on Hebrew books and the background of their authors, and which bore witness to christian interest in Jewish literature and realia. Wolf especially occupied himself with the study of Oriental languages and literature, of which he became professor at the Hamburg gymnasium in 1712. There he compiled the 'Bibliotheca Hebraea'. Among classicists Wolf is known for the edition of his 'Anecdota Graeca, sacra et profana' (Hamburg 1722-1724), and this edition of 1738 of the letters of the Greek rhetorician and philosopher Libanius, ca. 314-392/93 A.D., who was one of the most influential authors of late antiquity. It is the first comprehensive edition of the letters of Libanius, accompanied by a Latin translation. Libanius 'embodied in his work many of the ideals and aspirations of the pagan Greek urban upper classes of late antiquity'. (OCD, 2nd ed. p. 605) In 354 he was appointed to the official chair of rhetoric at Antioch. His pupils include pagans and christians, e.g. Johannes Chrysostomos, Basilius Magnus, Gregorius Nazianzenus. As a literary figure of renown he corresponded with many leading figures in the Greek world, among whom the Emperor and philosopher/scholar Julian (Julianus Apostata), who was much admired by him. In this edition of Wolf 1605 letters have been collected (p. 1/728). At the end of these genuine letters Wolf added a reissue of a collection of 476 letters in Latin translation of Libanius which was first published in the Polish city Cracow in 1504 by one Johann Sommerfeldt, who had got a mutilated manuscript (depravatissimum exemplar) with these translated letters from a local 'bibliopola'. (p. 729) Well into the 19th century these Cracovian Latin letters were considered authentic works of Libanius. Now we know that they are forgeries by the Italian humanist Francesco Zambeccari, ca. 1443 - after 1475, (Hoffmann 2,528). Zambeccari was unmasked in 1878 by R. Foerster in his 'Francesco Zambeccari und die Briefe des Libanios'. (Stuttgart 1878)) (Collation: pi2, 2, *-3*2, A-5L4, 5M-5Y2 (last leaf 5Y2 blank)) (Photographs on request) ‎