Plauto - Comoediae - 1518

Plautus, Titus Maccius

Twenty Plautine comedies by Marcus Actius Plautus

Venice - 1518 -
Melchiorre Sessa

(10), 367 circa.
In folio - 31.5 × 22.5 cm.


The famous Roman comediographer who lived in the 3rd–2nd century BC.

Splendid and rare post-incunabula edition.
in folio, enriched with 88 woodcut illustrations, which adorn the twenty “comoediae”
present in the text.
Round character surrounded by a comment, with numerous woodcut initials.

Plautus was one of the most prolific and important authors of Latin literature and also the playwright who most influenced Western theater.
He was a notable exponent of the theatrical genre of the palliata.
(a Latin theatrical genre of comedy with a Greek subject, featuring characters, settings, and a work title of purely Greek stamp), devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus.

By universal acclaim, Plautus’s great strength lies in the comedy that arises from individual situations, each one taken on its own, one after another, and in the verbal creativity that each new situation is able to unleash.

In Plautine comedies, a very predictable plot often appears: a quarrel between two characters over money, over a woman, or over something valuable.
The antagonist is usually an old miser,
or an old man in love (“Senex Libidnosus”) or a pimp, or even the boastful soldier (“Miles Gloriosus”).
The young protagonist (often in love) is always present to sort out the situation, helped by the “servus callidus”.

Excellent late seventeenth-century binding in full hard parchment, with barely visible fingernail marks.
Spine with four light raised bands, with an ancient manuscript of the title, as well as two preserved laces.

The interior is in very good condition, with very fresh and clean paper, including the 88 splendid woodcuts.
Rare browning on very few cards.
Noteworthy is the backing of the beautiful two-tone frontispiece, with approximately half of the frontispiece (towards the outer edge) restored in excellent reproduction on contemporary paper (see photo).
Browning on the frontispiece and more lightly on the
second card (Repertorium).
Contemporary manuscript ex libris in the original part of the frontis, with ancient ex libris also in the portion reproduced on ancient manuscript paper
(see photo).
Paper exlibris on the front verso.
Small marginal wormhole, far from the text, on the last 3/4 leaves.
Old paper seminar stamp at (1).
Original endpapers preserved, with a repaired tear on the rear endpaper.

Excellent and rare copy, complete in every part.
Settled. Complete.