Second Gesner Edition of Joannes Stobaeus bound with Polyantheain contemporary blindstamped vellum.

Joannes Stobaeus & Dominicus Nanus Mirabellius. ΚΕΡΑΣ ΑΜΑΛΘΑΙΑΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΣΤΟΒΑΙΟΥ ΕΚΛΟΓΑΙ ΑΠΟΦΘΓΜΑΤΟΝ ΚΑΙ ΥΠΟΘΗΚΩΝ [ bound with POLYANTHEA Opus sauissimis Floribus exorinium Dominico Nano Mirabelio,] Ioannis Stobaei Sententie ex thesauris Graecorum delectae, quarum autores circiter ducentos & quinquaginta citat; et in Sermones siue Locos communes digeste, à Conrado Gesnero Doctore Medico Tigurino in Latinum sermonem traductae, sic ut Latina Græcis e regione respondeant.
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POLYANTHEA Opus sauissimis Floribus exorinium Dominico Nano Mirabelio, Basilea; Coloniae. Ex officina Joannis Oporini, sumptibus Christophori Froschoveri, 1549. & Iasparis Gennepæ. 1552. 1549 &1552
2 works bound in one. Folio. Blindstamped vellum over wooden boards dated 1558. with religious scenes; clasps [one broken].

Stobeaus: pp[20], 630, [31]. Text in double columns in Greek and Latin, historiated woodcut initials.
The second Gesner edition of Stobaeus' anthology of extracts from Greek authors.
The anthology is a very valuable collection of extracts from earlier Greek writers, which Stobaeus collected and arranged, in the order of subjects, as a repertory of valuable and instructive sayings. In most of the manuscripts there is a division into three books, forming two distinct works; the first and second books forming one work under the title Physical and Moral Extracts or Eclogues; the third book forming another work, called Florilegium or Sermones The extracts were intended by Stobaeus for his son Septimius, and were preceded by a letter briefly explaining the purpose of the work and giving a summary of the contents. It is evident from this summary, preserved in Photius's Bibliotheca (9th century), that the work was originally divided into four books and two volumes,and that surviving manuscripts of the third book consist of two books which have been merged.

Polyanthea pp[8]CCCVI. Latin text.
The Polyanthea first published in 1503, by Domenicus Nanus Mirabellius, who describes himself as a citizen of Alba and doctor of arts. This encyclopaedia in the form of an anthology has between 750 and 1,500 entries arranged in alphabetical order on moral and theological questions as well as on subjects of general interest: friendship, ages of life, grammar, war, memory, rhetoric, blood, health, the zodiac ... This work has been described as "the famous encyclopedia in whose mold have formed all the European intellectuals of the classical age and whose history remains to be written." f Engraved Title to Polyanthea;Christ in Heaven to upper vignette; God creating Eve from Adams rib, in the garden of Eden to lower; 8 small vignettes to sides of scholars. Binding: lower corner re-laid to front; one clasp broken; occasional wormholes; a few chips
Generally clean; dampstain,with slight loss to lower edge of first work preface and index; tiny wormhole in first 68 pages occasional touching marginalia; occasional ink underlining.
Wormtrack and holes from rear board lessening until page cclxxiiii ; wormtrack touching letters from rear to pageCCCI. Light staining to Title of second work.

Joannes Stobaeus. 5th-century AD
from Stobi in Macedonia, was the compiler of a valuable series of extracts from Greek authors. The work was originally divided into two volumes containing two books each. The two volumes became separated in the manuscript tradition, and the first volume became known as the Extracts (also Eclogues) and the second volume became known as the Anthology (also Florilegium). Modern editions now refer to both volumes as the Anthology. The Anthology contains extracts from hundreds of writers, especially poets, historians, orators, philosophers and physicians. The subjects covered range from natural philosophy, dialectics, and ethics, to politics, economics, and maxims of practical wisdom. The work preserves fragments of many authors and works who otherwise might be unknown today.
Graesse 6:500 & 4:535 (1546 edition). 345 by 230mm (13½ by 9 inches).   ref: 3003  €2800