Collection

First edition of the Lexikon of Souidas one of the most significant Byzantine encyclopaedic dictionaries, a source of information regarding persons and things not found elsewhere. This voluminous book, large in size, was printed only once in the 15th century, in Milan by Giovanni Bissoli and Benedetto Mangio – former rivals of Aldus Manutius’s in Venice. For the edition, a committee was set up in which participants were D. Chalkokondyles, who did the literary editing of the text, Antonio Motta, Giovanni Cattaneo and the printers Bissoli and Mangio. The Lexicon was printed in 880 copies and does not see to have had the commercial success expected. Aldus acquired a number of copies of the first edition, recorded in his Catalogue (1503). However, in 1514 he proceeded to an edition of his own, in fact based on a more credible manuscript than the one Chalkokondyles had at disposal.

Format: 33 cm

Page description: lv. [516]

References: H 1513δ • BH I/1 (25) • BMC VI, 792 • Census, S 829 • Rhodes, S 14 • PAP I, 5323 • Charta Ι, 228-230 • ΜΥΡΙΟΒΙΒΛΟΝ 86 (13)

Entity: Renaissance – Humanism

Item Type: Book