Tazio - Erotikon - 1640

AMORI, INGANNI E SEDUZIONI NEL ROMANZO GRECO CHE SFIDA I SECOLI, TRA ERUDIZIONE E DESIDERIO
The love of Leucippe and Clitophon — among escapes, disguises, violences, kidnappings and passions — emerges as one of the most refined and ambiguous narratives of ancient literature, suspended between erotism, rhetoric and spectacle.
This 1640 edition of Achilles Tatius’ Erotikon represents a crucial moment in the modern rediscovery of the ancient Greek novel, thanks to the philological work of Claude Salmasius (Salmasius), one of the greatest scholars of the European Seicento. Printed in Leiden, a nerve center of humanist publishing, this first edition marks the text’s transition from the manuscript tradition to modern printed form, with a strong impact on European literary culture. The engraved frontispiece visually introduces a work that is at once an adventure novel, an implicit treatise on love, and a laboratory of narrative.
MARKET VALUE
The seventeenth-century editions of Achilles Tatius, especially those tied to Salmasius’ publishing activity and to the Dutch typography, maintain a stable but selective market. Copies in average condition typically range between €1,300 and €1,500.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Contemporary parchment binding. Engraved frontispiece. Pages with some browning and foxing. In old books, with a long history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. Pp. (6); 24nn; 752; 28nn; (6).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Erotikon, sive De Clitophontis et Leucippes amoribus libri VIII.
Lugd. Batavor., apud Franciscum Hegerum, 1640.
Achille Tazio.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The novel by Achille Tazio, probably composed between the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, is one of the five ancient Greek romances that have come down to us (along with Longus, Chariton, Xenophon of Ephesus, and Heliodorus). Its peculiarity lies in the sophisticated, sometimes ironic tone, and in a narrative construction rich with twists, sensory descriptions, and rhetorical digressions. The 1640 edition, edited by Salmasius, marks a fundamental step in classical philology: the scholar reorganizes the text, emends it, and makes it accessible to the European learned community, contributing to the modern fortune of the ancient novel. In this sense, the volume is not only a literary witness but also a key object in the history of reception of the classics and in the rediscovery of the ancient romance genre.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Achille Tazio was a Greek writer active probably in Alexandria between the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE. Almost everything known about him comes from the novel Leucippe and Clitophon, an work distinguished by its narrative intensity, stylistic refinement, and strong descriptive and erotic component. The text had limited circulation in the Middle Ages and was fully rediscovered only in the humanistic and modern ages.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
This edition of 1640, printed in Leiden, fits into the context of the great Dutch publishing season of the 17th century, characterized by philological rigor and high typographical quality. Based on the work of Claude Salmasius, it represents the first significant modern critical edition of the text and contributed decisively to its diffusion in Europe. Copies circulated mainly among academic circles and classical literature collectors, maintaining a constant but specialist interest over time.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
STCN (Short Title Catalogue Netherlands), Achilles Tatius, Erotikon, Leiden, 1640.
WorldCat/OCLC: multiple records for the 1640 Leiden edition.
Graesse, Trésor de livres rares, s.v. Achilles Tatius.
Brunet, Manuel du libraire, I, col. 113–114 (editions of Achille Tazio).
Schmid-Stählin, Geschichte der griechischen Literatur, II, part 2, pp. 812–820 (on the Greek romance).
Reardon, B.P., The Form of Greek Romance, Princeton, 1991.
ICCU/OPAC SBN: copies preserved in Italian libraries (records to be checked point by point for specific collation).