1544 Editio Princeps of Josephus’ Opera
JOSEPHUS,
FLAVIUS.
Opera
Editio princeps
of the original Greek texts of Josephus, printed in 1544 by the great Froben press.Josephus writings represent the only contemporaneous historical account to link the secular world of Rome and the religious heritage of the Bible. His greatest work is his Antiquitates Judaicae (The Antiquities of the Jews) in which he recounts the history of the Jews from creation up until the revolt of AD 66-70 and contains contemporary references to Jesus, James (the brother of Jesus), John the Baptist, Pontius Pilate, Herod the Great, Agrippa I and Agrippa II, as well as the Sadducees, the Pharisees and the Zealots. His Bellum Judaicum (History of the Jewish War) gives a detailed account of the revolt of AD 66-70 and includes Josephus’ famous description of the siege of Jerusalem. "The Jewish War not only is the principal source for the Jewish revolt but is especially valuable for its description of Roman military tactics and strategy" (Britannica).
A superb contemporary binding: The illustrated binding of blind-tooled pigskin over wooden boards is a magnificent example of late-medieval craftsmanship. The boards are illustrated with busts of bearded men topped with halos, crowns, mitres and other venerable symbols: these illustrations include Moses receiving the commandments, the grace of God and King, the holy warrior, and the learned doctor, among others (click image for closeup). Aside from these illustrations, the boards are decorated with six wide double-borders forming six rectangular compartments of diminishing size. The third-largest compartment contains the illustrations. The two innermost compartments on both boards contain floral ornaments. On the upper board, the two innermost compartments are square in shape, while on the lower board they are rectangular. The upper board retains one brass catch with a floral etching, while the lower board retains the brass bases for both clasps. The spine is divided by raised bands into five compartments. Each band is bordered in blind."[The Froben’s press] is remarkable for the number and importance of its productions, as well as for excellence of workmanship. In his desire for accuracy Froben surrounded himself with a number of scholars to whom he deputed the work of editing and correcting. Chief among these was Erasmus, who, after visiting him on several occasions, in 1521 permanently took up his residence with the printer and gave fresh impetus to the press" (The Printed Book by Harry G. Aldis).
The
Romans' Sack of Jerusalem (Book 6, translated into English in 1732 by William
Whiston from the 1544 editio princeps. )
"So the Romans being now become masters of the wars, they both placed their
ensigns upon the towers, and made joyful acclamations for the victory they had
gained, as having found the end of this war much lighter than its beginning; for
when they had gotten upon the last was, without any bloodshed, they could hardly
believe what they found to be true; but seeing nobody to oppose them, they stood
in doubt what such an unusual solitude could mean. (404) But when they went in
numbers into the lanes of the city, with their swords drawn, they slew those
whom they overtook, without mercy, and set fire to the houses wither the Jews
were fled, and burnt every soul in them, and laid waste a great many of the
rest; (405) and when they were come to the houses to plunder them, they found in
them entire families of dead men, and the upper rooms full of dead corpses, that
is of such as died by the famine; they then stood in a horror at this sight, and
went out without touching anything. (406) But although they had this
commiseration for such as were destroyed in that manner, yet had they not the
same for those that were still alive, but they ran every one through whom they
met with, and obstructed the very lanes with their dead bodies, and made the
whole city run down with blood, to such a degree indeed that the fire of many of
the houses was quenched with these men's blood. (407) And truly so it happened,
that though the slayers left off at the evening, yet did the fire greatly
prevail in the night, and as all was burning, came that eighth day of the month
Gorpieus [Elul] upon Jerusalem; (408) a city that had been liable to so many
miseries during the siege, that, had it always enjoyed as much happiness from
its first foundation, it would certainly have been the envy of the world. Nor
did it on any other account so much deserve these sore misfortunes, as by
producing such a generation of men as were the occasions of this its overthrow.
Basel: Froben & Episcopius, 1544. Folio, contemporary blind-tooled pigskin over wooden boards. Light wear to corners and edges, spine label lacking; occasional worming to boards and first twenty leaves; wear to title, principally due to worming. Marginal annotations in Greek throughout in a delicate, scholarly script. The annotations are dated from 1546 to 1549. With contemporary annotations: There are numerous neat ink annotations in the margins of the text dated from the 9th of May, 1546, to the final entry of the 9th of February, 1549. Generally in Greek, the commentary highlights the places in Josephus’s text where references are made to Jesus Christ and John the Baptist. The commentary also includes three very personal annotations in Latin, marking pauses in the writing for important events that impacted life in general or upon the personal life of the commentator. These comments include mention of his brother, the death of a parent, and, perhaps most interestingly, reference to what was likely the Schmalkaldic War (1546-47) between the Protestants and Catholics that was then being waged. An exceptionally well-preserved copy. All in all, one of the most influential books in Western Civilization, in rare and extraordinary contemporary binding. $13,000.