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Historia Destructionis Troiae
by COLUMNA, Guido de
- Used
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Beverly Hills, California, United States
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About This Item
Strassburg: Georg Husner, 1486. Full Description:
COLUMNA, Guido de. Historia Destructionis Troiae. [Strassburg: George Husner, October 9, 1486].
Sixth edition overall and second edition printed in Strassburg. Folio in sixes (11 1/16 x 8 inches; 280 x 204 mm.). Unpaginated. Eighty-eight leaves, complete. Printed in double column, 43 lines, gothic letter, rubricated throughout in red.
Early calf, rebacked to style. Spine lettered in gilt. Edges dyed red. Newer endpapers. Leaves with some minor soiling throughout. Occasional small professional repairs to tiny closed tears at bottom margin. A small wormhole to blank fore-edge margin, not affecting text. Overall a very good copy with generous margins.
This prose version of the story of the Trojan War, the most popular medieval version, was based on Benoit de St. Maur's Roman de Troie. In it, Achilles and Hector became complete chivalric heroes, and Thersite a dwarf; the walls of Ilium were of marble and the palace of Priam was as splendid as any enchanted castle in the tales of chivalry. The death of Ulysses bears strong resemblance to an oriental fiction: Circe had born a son to Ulysses after his departure from her enchanted island; this son, having learned the secret of his birth, goes in search of his father, and not recognizing him, kills him by mistake, thus fulfilling an old prophecy. One of Sophocles' lost plays, according to Casaubon, the French classical scholar, had this same plot.
Guido of Columna's work was the principal source for Caxton's Recuyell of the Histories of Troye, the first book printed in English. Columna was a troubador at the court of Friedrich II and later of Edward I of England. The original Greek manuscript of this romanticized biography of Alexander the Great was discovered around 950 by Leo Archiprebyter during a diplomatic mission to Constantinople. After transcribing it he made a Latin prose version for his patron, Duke John III. His version has had the widest influence on the subsequent transmission of the Alexander romance. Husner's Strassburg editions are interpolated and enlarged from Leo's translation.
Goff C 733. GW 7230. Hain-Copinger 5509. Proctor 605. Polain I, 1131.
HBS 68563.
$9,000.
COLUMNA, Guido de. Historia Destructionis Troiae. [Strassburg: George Husner, October 9, 1486].
Sixth edition overall and second edition printed in Strassburg. Folio in sixes (11 1/16 x 8 inches; 280 x 204 mm.). Unpaginated. Eighty-eight leaves, complete. Printed in double column, 43 lines, gothic letter, rubricated throughout in red.
Early calf, rebacked to style. Spine lettered in gilt. Edges dyed red. Newer endpapers. Leaves with some minor soiling throughout. Occasional small professional repairs to tiny closed tears at bottom margin. A small wormhole to blank fore-edge margin, not affecting text. Overall a very good copy with generous margins.
This prose version of the story of the Trojan War, the most popular medieval version, was based on Benoit de St. Maur's Roman de Troie. In it, Achilles and Hector became complete chivalric heroes, and Thersite a dwarf; the walls of Ilium were of marble and the palace of Priam was as splendid as any enchanted castle in the tales of chivalry. The death of Ulysses bears strong resemblance to an oriental fiction: Circe had born a son to Ulysses after his departure from her enchanted island; this son, having learned the secret of his birth, goes in search of his father, and not recognizing him, kills him by mistake, thus fulfilling an old prophecy. One of Sophocles' lost plays, according to Casaubon, the French classical scholar, had this same plot.
Guido of Columna's work was the principal source for Caxton's Recuyell of the Histories of Troye, the first book printed in English. Columna was a troubador at the court of Friedrich II and later of Edward I of England. The original Greek manuscript of this romanticized biography of Alexander the Great was discovered around 950 by Leo Archiprebyter during a diplomatic mission to Constantinople. After transcribing it he made a Latin prose version for his patron, Duke John III. His version has had the widest influence on the subsequent transmission of the Alexander romance. Husner's Strassburg editions are interpolated and enlarged from Leo's translation.
Goff C 733. GW 7230. Hain-Copinger 5509. Proctor 605. Polain I, 1131.
HBS 68563.
$9,000.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Heritage Book Shop, LLC
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 68563
- Title
- Historia Destructionis Troiae
- Author
- COLUMNA, Guido de
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- Georg Husner
- Place of Publication
- Strassburg
- Date Published
- 1486
- Keywords
- Incunabula|Early Books
Terms of Sale
Heritage Book Shop, LLC
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Heritage Book Shop, LLC
Biblio member since 2006
Beverly Hills, California
About Heritage Book Shop, LLC
Owned and operated by Ben Weinstein, who has been in the business of antiquarian books for over fifty years, Heritage Book Shop\'s inventory consists of some of the finest items in the areas of first editions, early printed books, bindings, illustrated books, literature, and manuscripts. Heritage Book Shop serves a clientele base consisting of private collectors as well as esteemed public institutions. We take great pride in the dedication we offer our clients. Whether you are building a first-rate collection of a favorite author or an extensive library, we look forward to offering the experience of our knowledgeable and helpful staff.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Folio
- A folio usually indicates a large book size of 15" in height or larger when used in the context of a book description. Further,...
- Rebacked
- having had the material covering the spine replaced. ...
- Calf
- Calf or calf hide is a common form of leather binding. Calf binding is naturally a light brown but there are ways to treat the...
- Leaves
- Very generally, "leaves" refers to the pages of a book, as in the common phrase, "loose-leaf pages." A leaf is a single sheet...
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