Opuscula Mythologica Physica et Ethica. Graece et Latine. Seriem eorum sistit pagina Praefationem proxime sequens.
Amsterdam: Henricum Wetstenium, 1688. Second edition of Gale's study of classical mythology, revised and extended. It was first printed in 1671 at Cambridge University in ten parts, each with a separate title page and separate pagination, in one volume. The second edition has a single title page and continuous pagination. Title page printed in black and red with woodcut publisher's device. Copper engraved pictorial title page. Woodcut head and tail pieces and initial letters. Text printed in Latin and Greek in parallel columns. Minor soiling, lettering on spine slightly faded, intermittent light foxing. Contemporary ink annotations on recto of Nn4. Former owner's ink signature on title-page, dated 1758, with decorative stamp. Contemporary ink notation on front pastedown and lengthier old ink notation on verso of front flyleaf. Another old inscription on recto of front flyleaf. A fine copy, bright and clean. Full contemporary vellum with yapp edges. Octavo. [24], 752, [+8, index] pp. Item #16330
Thomas Gale (1635/1636-1702) was the dean of York, an antiquary, and professor of Greek at Cambridge University. He was one of the most eminent classical scholars of his day. Gale's many works, both published and unpublished, are testimony to his wide-ranging interests and the breadth of his knowledge. His most important works include Opuscula Mythologica, ethica et physica (1671), Historiae poeticae scriptores antiqui (1675), and Rhetores selecti (1676). (Oxford DNB).
The present work contains a significant collection of lesser known and fragmentary classical verse including writings by Theocritus and Pythagoras.
Price: $750.00