Farfel Notebook 03: Leaves 135-222

159 Sept. 1983 Maggs, Bros., London 25L = $37.50 Homerus (Iliad+Odyssey ? 8th C. B.C. [could not insert greek characters here caused save issues] ἅπασα (Opera) Greek. Odyssey XIII -330 line with dedicatory letter dated 13 Jan 1488/89. Demetrius Chalcondyles ed.

Florence: Bernardius Nerlius, Nerius Nerlius + (Bartolommco di Francesco di Libri) leaf sold for $65 in 1974 Demetrius Damilas, '9 Dec. 1488' [not before 13 Jan. 1488/89.] folio. (332x240mm) Ref: Goff H 300 HCR 8772 BMC VI 678 Unrubricated. Cop: HEHL, NYPL. ICI 4795 large caps (12 3/4" by 8 1/2" 13 3/8 x 8 1/2 12 3/8 x 8 7/8)

Vol I -250 Vol I -190 440 leaves, 42 +440 blank. 39 lines 237x123mm. Types 121 Gk; 110 R signatures; 96 R. Capital spaces (32cm Rosenwald Collection)

- 2 books from this press - Homer, Virgil -1487 BMC - "The type of this 1st ed. of Homer is a recasting with many new sorts making a total of more than 300, of the type used in 1476 Lascaris printed at Milan by Dionysius Paravisinus Goff L65 which was the 1st book printed throughout in Greek" - the 15th C brought forth no illustrated Homer because the sustere, not to say pedantic, nature of the Humanists considered illustrated books to be almost vulgar, unworthy of the "gravitas" of the ancients. - the Roman Empire of the East, Greek in language + institutions, continued in existence until 1453, when it fell to the Turks, fully 1000 yrs after the Empire of the West had succumbed. (5th C0 Greek Printing Types Brit. Museum Ref Z251 G79B86f - Besides Milan, Florence was the special home of Greek printing in the early period, the moving spirit being again Demetrius Chalcondyles (1424-1511) an Athenian, who taught these from 1471-1492. Under his auspices were produced at the end of 1488 the ed. princeps of Homer, a large + beautiful folio: its type is that of the Lescauis printed at Milan in 1476 + is still, as when first found in charge of Demetrius Damilas (a Cretan) Enstonate of Constantinus Lascaris - a Greek grammar -

The brothers Nerli were the publishers + Bernardo, in the dedication praises the biberality of his brother Neri, the help of Giovanni Accisioli the editorial labors of D. Chalcondyles.

completed Milan 30 Jan 1476 (4B) - the 1st book to be printed entirely in Greek, the 1st Greek book to bear a date the 1st Greek book to be signed by its printer. The type itself is the 1st Greek font to contain a complete set of capitals, though of somewhat degraded style. The lower-case is assimilated as far as possible to the continuity of script by the ingenious method of designing certain letters in several universityies so as to fit them in whatever position they may occur as close as possible to the letter following. With the issue of the Lascaris of 1476 Greek typography may be regardedas definitely launched on its course. - The 1st printing in greek of the Iliad, Odyssey + Homeric Hymns. It was edited by D. Chalcondgles + contains a preface, addressed to Piero de' Medici, by B. Nerlius: Here it is explained that the edition was undertaken to further Hellenic studies and that the text of Homer was selected in order to purify the current texts which stood in great need of improvement. -These works of Homer were existant as early as 1000 BC + were handed down for several hundreds of years by public reciters until reduced to writing under Pisistratus (605-627 BC) - It has been said that the Illiad which is martial + impassioned was written for men, while the Odeyssey, a sequel which deals with the marvelous, the romantic + the domestic was written for a woman. - the type was designed by D. Damilas. It was published under the patronage of Bernardo + Neiro Nerli of Florence. Type 110 R - large text type. Seperate Q with short flatened tail. E, F narrow with 2 forms of L + R. 96 R - round text type. Used for Nerlius's introducory letter in the Homer. 121GR - semi cursive text type. Used in the Virgil (1487/8). Without capitals, tied letters, "accents or breathings, + recast for the Homer with fewer variants, but several additional accented corts (See Proctor, p. 69 Printing of Greek Type)

Edited by Demstrius (b. Athens 1423, d. Milan 1511) Chaleondyles. Florence: [Printer of Virgil C 6061, probably Bartolommeo di Libri, and] Demetrius Damilas for the brothers Bernardus + Nerius Nerlius (with the financial support of Giovanni Acciaiuoli) Vol I Iliad Vol II Odyssey 250 leaves 190 leaves

An earlier casting of the Homer type, the design of which may have been modelled on Michael Apostolis's script (sec N. Barkar, Aldus Marutius 28-31), had been used by Damilas + Paravisinus for Lascaris's Erotemata (Milan: 1476), the 1st book printed entirely in Greek. For the complications in trying to find an existing Florentine might have employed for hteir Homer - the most ambitious Greek production until the Aldine Aristotle - see Proctor (The Printing of Greek 66-69) HEHL #88367 The work commences with 2 prefaces, on ein Latin by B. Nerlius, the other by Chalcondyle, the ed. in Greek. After the 2 prefaces comes the biography of Homer from Herodotus, succeded by the Preface to Plutarch's life fo the poet. The Iliad begins on the recto of leaf 43 (AI) ending on the verso of leaf 206. The 2nd vol. begins with the Odyssey without preface, occupies 161 leaves + is followed by the Batrachomgomachi occupying 4 leaves. The Hymns begin on the recto of leaf 166 + and the Vol. on the verso of leaf 189, the whole comcluding with a colophon of 9 lines - A-D8 E10; A-Z ET7 Rx8; AA-ZZ8 ETET6 my leaf -LL8 (Odyssey XIII verse 300)

LLI-LL8, then MMI beginning last quarter of book. LL III (Verso) title OΔYΣCEIAC N OMHPOY PAѰ[?]ΔEAC MMI (recto) title YΠOΘEC[cannot insert character]C THC [cannot insert character] OMHPOYPAѰ[?]ΔEAC 43a Ilias; 251a, end FIET6 Odvσσeiu; 412a Batpaxomvomaxia; 416a, Hymns Yauri.

160 Sept. 1983 Maggs Bros., London 45L = $67.50 Manuscript leaf - Persian - 17th or early 18th Century. Nizami Ganjavi (1141-1202 -3) See "Maggs Bulletin" no. 50 #66 Oct 86 75= 1= %1.50 Layla and Majnun Illuminated pages from a MSS - ink, opaque watercolor + gold on paper Written on glazed paper - 4 columns, thin gold bars between the columns. within gold + blue border. 12x21.2cm 19 lines one illuminated heading is blue on an arabesque design. Nasta'liq script - a variant style of Ta'liq which was developed in the late 15th C. by the Persians - compouded form the names (Naskh x Ta'liq).

The Khamsa (Quintet), or Five Poems, by Nizami was often commissioned from the 14th C. onwards + which together completed in 1010 (Findausi) with the Shahnama (Book of Kings) was considered essential by a patron for inclusion in his library. The 5 poems include the tragic story of Layla and Majnun, children of fival tribes who fall in love with each other at school + who were kept apart. Majnun fled to the desert ot live with the animals finally dying on Laylis grave.

Nizami - his 1st work was the Makhzan ul-Asrar, or Treasury of Mysteries, composed 1179. This was followed by 4 romantic poems - The Story of Khusrow + Shirin, taken from ancient Persian history; the famous Bedouin love story of Majnun + Layla; the Haft Paiker or Seven Beauties, inwhich he relates the adventures of the Sassanian King + huntsman Bahram - Gor + his seven wives; the Fortunes of Alexander or Book of Iskander, an epic after the manner of Firdawsi - Parsia's leading romantic poet - Leili + Majnun is the bittersweet story of 2 lovers whos families, like the Montagus + Capulets, are sworn enemies; the 2 young people persevere in thier love but are joined only in death.

Persia - 1 an ancient empire centering in W + SW Asia; at its peak it extended from Egypt + the Aegean to India; conquered by Alexander the Great 334-331 BC 2 former official name (until 1935) of Iran. Moslems invaded Persian in the 8th C + sternly suppressed the ancient religion of Zorathistra. THe persians accepted the Koran but with a difference -ink, gold, colors, opaque watercolors on paper/ velum.

During the period 1370-1500 the supremacy of the new Iraqi tradition was challenged by the growth in popularity of 2 new scripts: ta'liq and nasta'liq. The First is a chancery hand with highly stylised forms. The second was used initially for the transcription of poetry, but by the end of the 15th C it had supplanted naskh for the writing of prose as well. [inserted] The Arts of the Book in Central Asia Ref ND 3244 A77 1980 f ed. Basil Greg [end inserted] - ornamentation of the 1st folio - in the center - medallion or nosette known as a shamsa. The 14th C saw a change in the colouring of the nosette. In the first 1/2 the predominating colors are gold, white, pale blue + red, very occasionally also green, but in the second 1/2 dark blue begins to predominate + continues to do so throughout the whole of the 15th C. -paper - gold spraying (afshan). - framers - 15th C - one dark blue + 2 gold lines. By the end of the 15th C + 16th C the number of collored lines in the frome increases upto to 7-9. - The binding of books in leather can be traced back to Coptic Egypt during the 1st C AD. As Islam + the Arabic language spread, so did leather working techniques + book binding styles. The fact that the fine goat skin used for bindings is called morocco attista to the traditional importance of Islamic leather working skills. The earlier books were decorated by impressing metal stamps upon the moistened leather. When there is no added element. a book cover is called blind tooled. When gold leaf is affized to a design already blind tooled, the cover is said to be gold tooled - lacques covers later