ATHENAEUS OF NAUCRATIS
Deipnosophistae, in Greek, FIRST EDITION, edited by Marcus Musurus, Greek italic type, capital spaces with guide-letters, dolphin and anchor device on first and last pages, with blank leaf B10 of preliminaries (often lacking), some mostly light dampstaining, final leaf with device laid down, modern half calf over marbled boards, gilt lettered on spine [Adams A2096; Ahmanson-Murphy, 123; Renouard p.67; Vicaire 50], folio (304 x 108mm.), Venice, Aldus Manutius and Andreas Torresanus, August 1514
Footnotes:
EDITIO PRINCEPS OF THE EARLIEST SURVIVING COOKERY TEXT: a valuable source of information on intellectual mores of the classical world, 'magnifiquement exécutée' (Vicaire).

The Deipnosophistae ('Banquet of the learned') is the only known work by Athenaeus of Naucratis, a Greco-Egyptian writing in the early part of the 3rd century AD. In it a variety of scholars are invited to dine at a banquet held at the house of Larensius, a wealthy book-collector and patron of the arts. They debate at length a wide spectrum of topics, notably food, wine and cookery (the work is an important source of Greek, Persian, Roman and Sicilian recipes, many of which would have been lost), homosexuality (an unusually candid portrait for the time), sexual mores in general, health, music and philology. Aldus had planned a Greek edition of the work soon after establishing his press, but only got as far as printing a one-page proof in his second Greek type, which was not used after 1499.
This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: •
• Zero rated for VAT, no VAT will be added to the Hammer Price or the Buyer's Premium.