Folio, 243 ll. (lacking final blank) a-i k8 l10; A-K8 L10 M8 N10; O p-r8 s6 t7 Double column, 42-lines per page, Greek and Roman letter. Triple column index, 55 lines per page. A few small marginal oilstains, occasional marginal wormhole repaired, a very good, clean, wide-margined copy in rose crushed morocco, 1824/5, somewhat sunned, elaborate gilt frames, central gilt Aldine device in a triple-ruled gilt and blindstamped rope lozenge to both boards, inner dentelles gilt, spine gilt in compartments, brown morocco label, marbled endpapers, aeg. Armorial bookplates of Sir John H. Thorold (1734-1815) of Syston Park and T. J. Coolidge Jr to front pastedown. “Fine copy. Scarce. Thorpe 1823” in pencil on fly.
First Aldine and most complete edition of the earliest printed Greek lexicon, which did more to advance Greek studies in the Renaissance than almost any other work and first edition of Aldus' Latin-Greek vocabulary. It is the third printing after Milan 1478 and Vicenza 1483, but with the addition of Aldus' long preface and his useful Latin-Greek vocabulary, placed after the main lexicon. Indeed it seems that Aldus claimed the Dictionarium as his or much his own, rather than acknowledging it as an expanded version of Crastoni's. The dictionary continues to fol. L1, the rest of the volume contains tracts. (Renouard). The pages are numbered in an early hand as recommended by Aldus in his preface.
“Sir John Thorold (1734-1815), Baronet of Syston Park, Grantham, Lincolnshire, was one of the most ardent collectors of his time. The magnificent library which he and his son Sir John Hayford Thorold formed at Syston Park contained some of the rarest incunabula in existence. The library was extremely rich in first editions of the Greek and Latin classics, some of them on vellum.” (Fletcher's English Book Collectors). “From 1824 till his death [Sir John Hayford Thorold] built up in an incredibly short time a beautiful collection of Aldines and Incunables.” De Ricci. Many of his Aldines, including the present volume, were bound in 1824-5 by Ridge & Storr, of Grantham.
Crastoni was an Italian Carmelite, humanist and lexicographer. Born in Piacenza, he was the first scholar to make it his mission to bring Greek language and literature into fashion in Italy, dedicating himself to the systematic compilation and publication of works necessary for the study of Greek. Also producing works on i.a. the Psalms, Theocritus, Hesiod and Aesop, this work - his most famous and far-reaching - was for many years the only serious lexicographic aid for students of Greek everywhere.
BMC V 558. Goff C960. Ren. 13:7 'Cette edition…est belle et très rare.' .Hain-Copinger 6151. Goldsmith: 'A beautiful book and exceeding rare'. Dibdin, Bibliotheca Spenseriana III.p.58 "This is one of the noblest publications of the Aldine press".
