Apologia peri Christianon & Epistle of S. Gregory of Nyssa to Eustatius, Ambrose, and Basilissa
Geneva / Paris: Henri Estienne / Robert Estienne, 1557 / 1606. First Edition. Small 8vo; 6 1/4 x 4 inches (158 x 112 mm) Two titles bound into one volume, in black crushed morocco with gilt fillet and decorations on boards and spine, 4 raised bands, gilt titling, a.e.g., marbled endpaper, recased. Some dampstains, browning on edges, repairs to title pages of both texts; spine and edges worn, binding is firm.
ex libris Frederic North, armorial bookplate pasted inside cover.
Book 1: Athenagoras [Apologia peri Christianon] " Athenagoru Athenaiu philosophu Christianu apologia peri Christianon (Greek). Athenagorae Athenie[n]sis philosophi Christiani apologia pro Christianis, ad imperatores Antonionum & Commodum. Ejusdem, De resurrectione mortuorum. Ex antiquis exemplaribus libellus ille nu(n)c primum profertur, hic aute castigatior quàm autea editur. Uterque Graecè et Latiné."
208 pp, text in Greek and Latin; Printer's woodcut device on first title, Roman and Greek type. Latin translation by Conrad Gesner, whose name appears at the top of the latin text (p. 79)
[Brunet I:537; Dibdin I: 186; Renouard, Estienne, p.445]
Book 2 : Tou en angiois Gregoriou tou Nysses pros Eustathian, Ambrosian kai Basilissam epistole. B. Gregorii Nysseni ad Eustathiam, Ambrosiam & Basilissam epistola. Isaacus Casaubonus nunc primum publicauit, Latine vertit, & illustrauit notis
pp.: xx + 140 + i, translated to Latin and commented by Isaac Casaubon (1559 – 1614) classical scholar of Huguenot family. Printer's woodcut device on first title, Roman and Greek type, decorative initials and headbands, minute marginalia in brown ink.
[Renouard, Estienne, p. 235].
Both titles bound into this volume are 'EDITIO PRINCEPS' of the works with their text in Greek and Latin, both published by the Estienne family, who were printers and classical scholars established in Paris. In the early 1550s the whole family fled to Geneva to escape religious persecution in France, and continued their publishing activity there. At the time of the Reformation, Geneva was the center of Calvinism, and the Estiennes continued their activities as scholars and printers, with Henri translating Calvin's catechism into Greek in 1552 and his father printing it on his presses in 1554.
The first book bound into this volume is the FIRST PHILOSOPHICAL DEFENSE OF CHRISTIANITY, a carefully written plea for justice to the Christians made by a philosopher, on philosophical grounds, to the Emperors Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus, conquerors, "but above all, philosophers". Athenagoras complains of the illogical and unjust discrimination against the Christians and of the calumnies they suffer, and then meets the charge of atheism. He establishes the principle of monotheism, citing pagan poets and philosophers in support of the very doctrines for which Christians are condemned, and demonstrates the superiority of the Christian belief in God to that of pagans. This first strongly reasoned demonstration of the unity of God in Christian literature is supplemented by an able exposition of the Trinity. Athenagoras was a Christian apologist of the second half of the second century of whom no more is known than that he was an Athenian philosopher and a convert to Christianity. Of his writings there have been preserved but two genuine pieces his "Apology" or "Embassy for the Christians" and a "Treatise on the Resurrection".
The second book bound in here is the first book published under the name of Robert III, the fourth generation Estienne scholar/printer, who took over the eminent publishing activity upon the death of his father Henri (1528 or 1531 – 1598).
From the library of Frederic North, 5th Earl of Guilford (1766–1827) who was a famous Philhellene, the first British governor of Ceylon, and a massive collector of Mediterranean, Greek, and Latin manuscripts and rare books.
Condition: Very Good.
Item number: 374
Price: $3,000.00
Share: