ANTÔNINOU LIBERALIS METAMORPHÔSEÔN SUNAGÔGÊ. Antonini Liberalis transformationum congeries, interprete Guilielmo Xylandro. Cum Thomae Munckeri notis, quibus suas adjecit Henricus Verheyk.

Leiden (Lugduni Batavorum), Apud Sam. et Joan. Luchtmans, 1774. 8vo. XXXII,304,(19 index),(1 blank) p. Vellum 21 cm (Ref: STCN ppn 238037584; Hoffmann 193: 'Am Ende befindet sich ein bedeutender Excurs: De dialectis in Antonino Liberal. obviis'; Ebert 752; Graesse 1,154; Brunet 1,330: 'cette édition était la meilleure avant celle de 1832'; Spoelder, p. 490: Amsterdam 9) (Details: Greek text, with facing Latin translation. Prize copy, including the printed prize for Janus Fredericus van Beeck Calkoen. 6 thongs laced through joints. Backstrip panelled in gilt with repeated floral motives. Gilt borders and cornerpieces. Gilt coat of arms of Amsterdam in centre of the boards. Still having 3 green ties, the 4th tie is broken but still there. Engraved printer's mark on title: 'Tuta sub Aegide Pallas') (Condition: Vellum soiled, vellum on the upper board slighty wrinkled and damaged. Paper foxed and somewhat warped. At the end are some small stains in the gutter) (Note: Antoninus Liberalis was an ancient Greek grammarian/ mythographer, probably of Antonine times (AD 100 and 200). His only surviving work, the 'Metamorphoseon synagoge' (collection of metamorphoses) survives in a single manuscript of the later ninth century, now in the Palatine Library in Heidelberg; it contains 41 briefly summarised tales about mythical metamorphoses effected by offended deities, unique in that they are couched in prose, not verse. Many of the transformations in this compilation are found nowhere else, and some may simply be inventions of Antoninus. The manner of the narrative is a laconic and conversational prose. (Source Wikipedia). § The German philologist Wilhelm Xylander (Holzmann), 1532-1576, was professor of Greek at Heidelberg. He published the editio princeps of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (1558), and of Antoninus Liberalis in 1568. 'He made good use of the MSS accessible to him, and also gave proof of a singular acumen in the emendation of texts'. (Sandys 2,270). § The Dutch schoolmaster Thomas Muncker, or Munckerus, who was Rector of the 'Schola Latina' of Delft from 1667 till 1680, produced an edition with his notes in 1676. Saxe called him 'cathedra Academica dignissimus'. (Van der Aa, 12/2, 1148) He is best known for his edition of the 'Mythographi Latini', Amst. 1681. Johan Hendrik Verheyk, (Verheijk), Dutch schoolmaster, 1725-1784. He was Rector in Amsterdam. (Eckstein 589). He also produced a nice edition of Eutropius in 1762) (Provenance: The printed prize is for Janus Fredericus van Beeck Calkoen, dated 19 sept. 1783, and signed by the Rector F. Eckolt. Janus Fredericus, or better Jan Frederik van Beeck Calkoen, was born in 1772. He was appointed in 1805 professor of Mathematics & Astronomy at the University of Utrecht, and director of the local Observatory. His health was bad, and he died prematurely in 1811. (NNBW 9, 123/4)) (Collation: *-2*8, A-V8, X2 (leaf X2 verso blank))(Photographs on request)