Galatino first published this work in 1516 at the request of the pope; it went through a number of editions. The Arcanis Catholicae is followed by Reuchlin’sDe Arte Cabalistica as issued, and the whole is bound with an Estienne printing of Mercier’s commentary on the minor prophets — a scarce book that is puzzling as regards its date of publication. Searches of OCLC, RLIN, & NUC locate only the copies at Oxford, Cambridge, University of Chicago, New York Public, and Harvard. The Americans date the work to 1583, following Renourd’s lead, while Oxford says 1570 and Cambridge says 1565.

All three texts are given in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek.

Provenance: Front pastedown with inked inscription reading “Ex Bibliotheca Hebr. & Judaica / H.A. Ader 1886.”

•  Galatino: VD17 1:083777H, or VD17 32:631273P. Mercier: Renouard 149; Adams M1318. 18th-century vellum with yapp edges, spine with gilt-stamped title; vellum moderately soiled, with front joint just starting from top. Waterstaining to front free endpaper and fly-leaf. Pastedown with inscription as above. Front free endpaper with early 19th-century inked inscription in upper corner; front fly-leaf with annotations and with affixed early cataloguing slips; booklabel of “Muehlbauer & Behrle, Publishers Importers & Booksellers . . . Chicago.” One leaf with pencilled marginal annotations.

All these works saw previous editions, and Proba’s Virgiliani centones were apparently very popular in the 16th century; the three are first found together in a Frankfurt edition of 1541. This is thesole Estienne edition of all three, though the Homerokentra were reprinted in Estienne’s editions of the works of Homer in 1588 and 1604. It is printed in small roman and Greek typefaces with the Estienne printer’s device on the title-page and a few woodcut headpieces.

•  Renouard (2nd ed.), Annales de l'imprimerie des Estienne, 147; Adams H810; Schreiber 205; Soltész, Catalogus librorum sedecimo saeculo . . . in Bibliotheca Nationali Hungariae . . . H468. On Eudocia, see: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., IX, 881. On Nonnus of Panopolis, see: Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., XIX, 737. Old calf with remnants of gilt barely visible, chipped and abraded especially on spine. Title-page lacking bottom edge, into imprint, rebacked with paper. Two inked ownership inscriptions on title-page, second inked out. Light foxing and a few shallow dog ears.

The texts of the orations and "letters" of the great Athenian orator (436–338 B.C.) are printed in double-column format, with the Greek presented in exquisite Greek type in the inner columns and the Latin translation in roman type in the outer ones. A version of the famous Estienne printer's device graces the title-page.

Single-click either double-page image for an enlargement.

•  Adams O219; Renouard (2nd ed.), Annales de l'imprimerie des Estienne, 155.1; Schreiber, Estienne, 225; Schweiger, Handbuch der classischen Bibliographie, I:181; Dibdin (4th ed.), An Introduction to . . . Greek and Latin Classics, II:126. 18th-century plain calf, recently rebacked; round spine, raised bands accented with gilt ruling. Gilt-tooled center devices in spine compartments. Two gilt-lettered spine labels. Title-page dust-soiled; a library's blind pressure-stamps; properly deaccessioned with no additional stamps. A covetable exemplar.

The present copy lacks, at the end, Aldus Manutius's "farmer's calendar," which was intended as a commentary on Palladius.

•  Renouard (2nd ed.), Annales de l'imprimerie des Estienne, 55.2; Adams M1358; Schreiber 70e. 18th-century mottled calf with round gilt spine, raised bands, plain covers, gilt ruling on board-edges, French swirl endpapers, nicely mottled edges. Clean and crisp. Lacks the final five leaves: a blank and the separate calendar.

•  Publisher's cloth, spine lettered in gold. As new.

Provenance: Syston Park bookplate; later bookplates of Milton (of Peterborough) and Viscount Birkenhead (i.e., Lord Chancellor, Viscount Birkenhead [Frederick Edwin Smith, First Earl of Birkenhead, 1872–1930]).

•  Adams S155; Renouard 60.14; Schweiger, II, 873. English 19th-century straight-grained red morocco; gilt beaded border on covers, plain round spine with raised bands (each accented above and below with gilt beading); single gilt fillet on board edges and on turn-ins. Light waterstaining in inner and lower margins, into type on title-page and occasionally extending into text. All edges gilt. A quite decent copy of a less than common Estienne imprint, with a pleasing provenance.