Opera.: Opera, in Greek = Ilias [&] Ulyssea. Batrachomyomachia. Hymni XXXII. 

Venice: Aldus Manutius and Andrea Asolano,, April 1524. The father of Greek poetry, from the Aldine Press The third and last Aldine edition of Homer, reproducing the text of the previous Aldines (published in 1504 and 1517 and based in turn on the important editio princeps of 1488) with amendments. For all three editions, it is uncommon to find both volumes together and uniformly bound, here in an attractive 18th-century binding. The Aldine Press was the first to present Homer in a portable and affordable octavo edition, making the complete works available for the first time to the wider public and thus playing a fundamental role in disseminating Greek literature. The desire to promote Greek studies was one of the main reasons behind Aldus's decision to establish his press in 1494; he chose Venice as the location because of its vibrant community of Greek immigrants and surrounded himself with Greek assistants and scholars. This third edition includes the same dedication as the previous iteration, to Cardinal Gerolamo Aleandro (1480-1542). One of the most learned men of the time, Aleandro was a friend of Erasmus, and worked as Rector of the University of Paris before becoming librarian of the Vatican. The text contains a number of alterations which are attributed to Gian Francesco Torresani of Asola (1498–1557), brother-in-law of Aldus, who ran the press after the founder's death. This copy has an early Italian provenance, from the library of Andrea Mainetti, with his ownership inscription in Greek and Latin to the title page and his intermittent neat annotations to the text. This was likely the Bolognese merchant Andrea Mainetti (c.1632-1699), author of several poems, a description of the Holy Land, and a work on the administration of rural estates, the latter both surviving in manuscript in the University of Bologna's library. Two volumes, octavo (160 x 97 mm). Eighteenth-century red morocco, spines with raised bands, gilt lettering in compartments, gilt-dotted frame to compartments and covers, elaborate gilt roll to board edges and turn-ins, marbled endpapers, edges gilt, green silk book marker. Housed in a red quarter morocco solander box by the Chelsea Bindery. Aldine anchor device to title pages and verso of final leaf in both volumes. Spines uniformly faded, a touch of wear to corners, minor scuffs to leather, faint foxing to outer leaves, small damp stain to outer margin of first gathering in Odyssea, generally clean, final blank of Ilias loosely inserted. An attractive, well-margined copy. Brunet III, 269-70; Dibdin II, pp. 44-5; EDIT 16 CNCE 22952; Renouard, Alde, 233:1.