The third provenance mystery of 2023 features two books, both by Stobaeus, and both printed in Lyon by Sebastianus Gryphius in 1555:
- Sententiae ex thesauris Graecorum delectæ, quarum autores, circiter CCL. Citat
- Sententiarum Ioannis Stobaei tomus secundus
Although the second book is apparently the second volume to the first, both books were issued independently of one another. The 'second volume' is a unique item, with this being the only recorded copy – until recently the Universal Short Title Catalogue had it listed as a 'lost book'.
While there is no mystery concerning one of the hands present in 'tomus secundus', since it is clearly a hand-written index in Robert Ashley's hand, the second hand remains unidentified.
Stobaeus was a 5th century anthologist originally from Macedonia (the city of Stobi to be precise) and is known not for his own writings, but for having compiled a variety of extracts from Greek writers, based on notes he made from his own readings. It is through these extracts that we retain much of original Greek literature and philosophical writings, albeit in a handed-down, extracted format.
The two books issued by Gryphius would have formed part of the broad range of classical works produced by this well-respected French printer during the sixteenth-century. Gryphius specialised in producing 'pocket' editions of Latin classics, potentially to rival the editions being produced by Aldus Manutius. Gryphius produced books as small as sextodecimo (16mo), measuring, like these ones, approximately 12cm in height (although sizes for 16mo books could differ).
1. Title page
As can be seen here, Gryphius used a truly fantastic printer's device, depicting a griffin (a play on his surname) perched atop a book (to reflect his trade as a printer) under which is suspended a winged globe (the significance of which escapes me), surrounded by his motto, 'Virtute duce, comite fortuna', taken from Cicero.
2. Second hand rotated
The unidentified hand, in addition to writing these notes on one of the final blank end-leaves, has annotated the work throughout with manicules (pointing hands), dashes, and underlining. As this hand is present on the leaf facing the marginalia written in Robert Ashley's hand, it provides us with a good comparison between two early modern readers, and how annotated their books. Ashley's focus was on indexing the work to highlight the themes of interest to him, whereas the other annotator was interested in noting aphorisms from Stobaeus and Plutarch.
As ever, if you recognise this hand or have further comments please get in touch: library@middletemple.org.uk.
Renae Satterley
Librarian
July 2023
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