Cl. Claudiani Principum, Heroumque Poetae praegloriosissimi, Quae exstant. Caspar Barthius ope XVII manuscriptorum exemplarium restituit; commentario multo locupletiore, grammatico, critico, philologo, historico, philosophico, politicoque, ita illustravit, ut Auctor pretiosissimus omni aetati, scholasticae, academicae, aulicae, politicaeque, esse debeat ex commendato commendatissimus.

4to. (LXXVI, including title & frontispiece),111,(1 blank),1371,(1 blank),(31 corrigenda),(1 blank) p. Vellum 21 cm (Ref: VD17 3:006469N; Schweiger 2,283; Dibdin 1,470: ‘Barthius commentary is not only superior to every work which preceded it, but has never been surpassed by any similar production’; Moss 1,376/7: ‘rare, and held in considerable estimation’; Brunet 2,88; Ebert 4756; Graesse 2,194; Fabricius/Ernesti 3,201) (Details: 5 thongs laced through both joints. Frontispiece by A. Aubry, depicting the Roman emperor Theodosius the Great and his ‘Magister Militum’ Stilicho, who guards 2 little boys, Honorius and Arcadius. Title in red and black. Woodcut printer’s mark on the title, motto: ‘Superata tellus sidera domat’. Woodcut initials and headpieces) (Condition: Vellum soiled, and loosening from fore edge of both boards. Upper board slightly curved. Front endpapers worn. Old inscription and name on the front flyleaf. Name below the frontispiece. Name and small stamp on the title. Stain in the upper margin of frontispiece and title leaf) (Note: 1650 was a lucky year for the last important Roman poet Claudius Claudianus (ca. 400). In the same year as Barthius the Dutch scholar Nicolaas Heinsius published an edition of the works of Claudian. Claudianus ‘war ein sehr fruchtbarer, temperamentvoller Dichter und bietet reichen historischen Stoff in rhetorischem Stil’. (Buchwald, Tusculum-Lexikon, 3rd ed. p. 171/2) As ’tribunus et notarius’ he acted as court poet for the emperor Theodosius, his general Stilicho, and the emperor’s sons Honorius and Arcadius. In 400 he was honoured with a bronze statue on the Forum Trajanum in Rome. His work was widely read in the Middle Ages. The humanists also placed him on the center stage. In the beginning of the 20th century philologist lost interest, but since the rise of interest in late antiquity in the sixties, he is again recognized as one of the great Roman poets. (NP., s.v. Claudianus). Caspar von Barth, or Barthius, 1587-1658, was a child prodigy. He read a lot during his lifetime, but seems to have known little. His specialty seems to have been hoarding material. In his youth, in 1612, he published his first edition of Claudian. He republished it, with many corrections and additions in 1650. The commentary is, says Schweiger, ‘überladen’. The very weight of this book, almost 2 kilo’s, proves that he is right. For some Barthius was a charlatan, for others a ‘divinum ingenium’. Barthius ‘war gelehrt, hatte viel gelesen und so auch in seinen Schriften ausgespeichert, aber Ordnung, Klarheit und Schärfe lässt sich vermissen’, is the final judgment in ADB. (Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie 2, p. 101/2) This edition shows however enough glimpses of genius to deserve the praise most bibliographers assigned to him) (Provenance: On the front flyleaf the name of Lennart Håkanson, professor of Latin Literature at the Univ. of Uppsala, 1980-1987. § 2 other names seem to point to Denmark. Under the frontispiece in old ink: ‘Axelii Julii Iv. F. Nobilis Dani Dno de Wolstorp etc. Anno 1657’. We found on the internet the following provenance, dated 1662, of one ‘Axelius Julius Ivari Filius Dus de Wolstorp [?] hujus Libri possessor [?]’, in an edition of ‘De anulis antiquis’ of 1654. This makes: ‘Axelii Julii Ivari Filii Nobilis Dani Domino de Wolstorp’. The ‘Domino’ is awkward. § In faint ink in the right margin of the frontispiece and on the title: ‘J. Mundelstrup’. We found the following title, a poem in Latin and Danish, on the internet of one J. Mundelstrup: ‘a Augustiss. Friderico Qvarto, Daniæ … regi, gloriosissimam pacem regnis Ao. 1720 vindicatam gratulabatur’. § A small round stamp on in left lower corner of the title: ‘A.St.B.’) (Collation: a4 (a2 plus (2)a4; meaning that between leaf a2 and a3 has been inserted a second gathering of 4 leaves signed a, containing an afterwards composed dedication), b-e4 (minus the blank leaf e4), f-h4, i2; A-O4 (leaf O4 verso blank); A-8K4, 8L2; 8M-8P4 (leaf 8P4 verso blank)) (Photographs on request) (Heavy book, may require extra shipping costs)