Bod-Inc: A-041
Aelianus Tacticus
De instruendis aciebus.
Analysis of Content
[a2r] Aelianus Tacticus: De instruendis aciebus. ‘Aeliani de instruendis aciebus opus ad Divum Hadrianum Theodoro Thessalonicense latinum factum et Antonio Panormite Alphonsi Regis preceptori dicatum.’ Translated by Theodorus Gaza. [Edited by Johannes Sulpitius Verulanus.] Dedicated to Antonius Beccadellus, called Panormita. Incipit: ‘Scientiam graecis acierum instruendarum solitam Dive Hadriane quam ab Homeri usque temporibus sumpsisse initium certum est . . .’ H. Köchly and W. Rüstow, Griechische Kriegsschriftsteller vol. II/1: (Die Taktiker) (Leipzig, 1855), 199-554 (Greek and German texts). The Greek original is dedicated to Emperor Trajan, erroneously referred to as Hadrian in the Greek manuscripts and in Gaza's translation: see Max Jähns, Geschichte der Kriegswissenschaften vornehmlich in Deutschland. I: Altertum, Mittelalter, XV. und XVI. Jahrhundert, Geschichte der Wissenschaften in Deutschland, 21 (Munich and Leipzig, 1889), 94-7. The Latin translation of Theodorus Gaza follows a text of the Paris recension: see Köchly-Rüstow, 209.
Imprint
Imprint: Rome: Eucharius Silber, 15 Feb. 1487. 4°.
Remarks: In the same year Silber printed Vegetius (V‑052), Frontinus (F‑109), and Modestus (M‑287). The books were conceived as a unit; see the dedicatory letter from Johannes Sulpitius in his edition of Vegetius in copy number 1, in which the four items are bound together ('Tres de ea re scriptores egregios quos nuperrime recognoui, Vegetium, Aelianum, et Frontinum simul coniunxi et ut emendatissimi in tuas et in aliorum manus uenirent effeci . . .'). Goff, CIBN and others list the books under the common heading ‘Scriptores rei militaris'; under such heading are listed in this catalogue two more editions containing the same texts, one printed by Eucharius Silber in 1494 (S‑120), which contains also a Latin translation of Onosander, Strategicus, another printed by Franciscus Plato de Benedictis in 1495-96 (S‑121), edited by Philippus Beroaldus, who rearranged the order of appearance of the texts, but the edition is otherwise based on Sulpitius's.
Collation
Collation: [a b8 c4 d8]. Not as GW.
References
ISTC: ia00096495
GW: GW 310;
Hain: HC 35?;
Goff: Goff S‑343 (B);
BMC: BMC IV 107;
Proctor: Pr 3826;
Others: BSB‑Ink A‑62; CIBN S‑171 (pt); Oates 1530; Sheppard 3022-4.
LCN: 14334561
Copies
Copy number: A-041(1)
Bound with:
1. Flavius Renatus Vegetius, Epitoma rei militaris. Rome: Eucharius Silber, 29 Jan. 1487 (V‑052(1));
3. Sextus Julius Frontinus, Strategemata. Rome: Eucharius Silber, 1 June 1487 (F‑109);
4. Modestus, De vocabulis rei militaris. Rome: Eucharius Silber, 7 June 1487 (M‑287).
Wanting the blank leaf [a1].
Binding: Nineteenth-century English dark green morocco, with gilt-edged leaves.
Size: 205 × 137 × 20 mm.
Size of leaf: 198 × 127 mm.
On [a1r] of item 1 the following bibliographical note in a seventeenth-century probably Dutch hand, brown ink: ‘Vegetius Petri Scriverii cum notis God[escalci] Stewechii. Item Frontinus in quarto ex off[icina] Plant[ini] Anno 1607'; this note refers to an edition of Vegetius and Frontinus edited by Pieter Schrijver (1576-1660) with the commentary of Godescalcus Stewechius (1551-1586), printed in Leiden in 1607 by Frans Raphelengius in the Plantin's printing shop. Marginal and interlinear notes, mainly providing corrections to the text, ‘nota' marks (`N'), underlining, and running subject headings for Vegetius and Frontinus, in the same hand. The bibliographical note and the annotations to items 1 and 3 suggest that these two items had been previously bound with the 1607 edition of Vegetius, probably in the hands of a Dutch owner.
Provenance: Netherlands (seventeenth century); see notes above. Purchased for £10. 10. 0; see Books Purchased (1815), 5.
SHELFMARK: Auct. L 4.12(2).
Copy number: A-041(2)
Wanting the blank leaf [a1].
Sheet [b2.7] is bound after [b4].
Binding: Nineteenth/twentieth-century pasteboards.
Size: 219 × 154 × 8 mm.
Size of leaf: 213 × 144 mm.
Unread manuscript note on [d8v].
Provenance: Ingram Bywater (1840-1914); Elenchus, no. 35. Bequeathed in 1914.
SHELFMARK: Byw. A 1.5.
Copy number: A-041(3)
Bound with:
1. Pomponius Mela, Cosmographia. Venice: Erhard Ratdolt, 18 July 1482 (M‑179(2));
2. Michael Marullus, Epigrammata. [Rome: Eucharius Silber, c.1483-90] (M‑140(1)).
Binding: Parchment over pasteboards, with blue-edged leaves.
Size: 217 × 149 × 16 mm.
Size of leaf: 209 × 139 mm.
Provenance: Marco Lazzari; armorial book-stamp on A2r of item 1; see Oates 2050. Old shelfmark ‘9.9.6'(?). Robert Finch (1783-1830). Bequeathed to the University by R. Finch; see Finch catalogue 3. Taylor Institution, University of Oxford; book-plate with shelfmark in turquoise ink: ‘V 176'. Transferred to the Bodleian from the Taylor Institution in 1921.
SHELFMARK: Inc. e. I4.1482.1(3).
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