[ARISTOPHANES (450-380 BC)]. Nicodemi Frischlini Aristophanes, veteris comoediae princeps: poeta longe facetissimus & eloquentissimus: repurgatus à mendis, et imitatione Plauti atque Terentii interpretatus, ita ut ferè carmen carmini, numerus numero, pes pedi, modus modo, Latinismus Graecismo respondeat. Francoforti ad moenum, excudebat Ioannes Spies. M. D. LXXXVI. [1586].
Hardcover. First Frischlin edition. Octavo (170 x 120mm), ff. [8], 368 (numbered leaves with terminal blanks intact). Signatures: ›‹8 A-Z8 Aa-Zz8. Greek - Latin parallel text. Exquisite contemporary renaissance binding, probably produced by Caspar Horneffer, in blind-stamped pigskin over stiff wooden boards, front and rear cover with a large central panel depicting in great detail the crucifixion and the Resurrection of Christ respectively. Woodcut printer's device to title-page and verso final textual leaf. Decorative woodcut floriated capital initials and tail-pieces. Sections: [1] Vita Aristophanis, a Nicodemo Frischlino conscripta, [2] Compendium eius comparationis, qua Plutarchus Aristophanem cum Menandro confert, [3] Defensio Aristophanis contra Plutarchi criminationes, [4] De veteri comoedia, eiieusq́ue partibus, [5] Plutus, [6] Equites, [7] Nubes, [8] Ranæ, [9] Acharnenses. Condition: collated complete, binding tight and secure, covers with some grimy marks and light rubbing, old inking to title-page, mild browning and some insignificant spots to contents, final few leaves with light marginal staining. Provenance: nice armorial bookplate of Rupert Abb Weltenburg.
Note: The first of two print variants, a Greek-Latin parallel text edition containing the five surviving comedies: Wealth (Πλοῦτος Ploutos; Latin Plutus) 408 BC, The Knights (Ἱππεῖς Hippeis; Attic Ἱππῆς; Latin: Equites) 424 BC, The Clouds (Νεφέλαι Nephelai; Latin: Nubes) 423 BC, The Frogs (Βάτραχοι Batrakhoi; Latin: Ranae) 405 BC, and, The Acharnians (Ἀχαρνεῖς Akharneis; Attic Ἀχαρνῆς; Acharnenses) 425 BC. The text is edited by the humanist and philologist Philip Nicodemus Frischlin (1547-1590) and includes his Life of Aristophanes. The work is enriched with further contributions and comments by Matthäus Bader, Salomon Frenzel von Friedenthal, Lambert Ludolf Helm, Friedrich Sylburg, Johann Wilhelm Rosenbach, Francis Modius and others. Frischlin's translation is highly regarded for contributing to the late humanistic rediscovery of Aristophanes in Northern Europe. - VD 16, A-3269; Wilhelmi / Seck 82; Adams A-1718; Hoffmann I, 253 f.; Graecogermania, Greek Studies of German Humanists (Exhibition Catalog 1989) No. 92.
