Plauto - Plauti Comoediae - 1640

Tito Maccio Plauto (Plautus)
M. Acci Plauti Comoediae superstites XX
Amstelodami, Apud Joannem et Cornelium Blaeu, 1640
Pergamena coeva floscia,12x6 cm;
pp. 640,(5).

A fine sixteenth-century edition of Plautus’ Comedies, printed in Amsterdam by the famous typographers Joannes and Cornelius Blaeu, members of the renowned Dutch publishing dynasty active in the seventeenth century.
Frontispiece engraved in copper with a rich allegorical architectural frame: a woman seated atop, putti and theatrical masks on the sides, a large printer’s mark with an armillary sphere at the center. Blaeu printer’s mark on the frontispiece.

The work gathers the twenty surviving comedies of Titus Maccius Plautus, one of the greatest authors of early Latin theater. The texts, in Latin, belong to the genre of fabula palliata, a Roman adaptation of Greek comedy. The plots revolve around misunderstandings, deceptions, mistaken identities, and romantic intrigues. Typical figures recur, such as the clever slave, the old miser, the young lover, and the swaggering soldier. Famous plays like Aulularia, Miles Gloriosus, and Amphitruo display lively dialog and sparkling humor. The language is rich in wordplay, with varied metres and vibrant, popular expressiveness. The collection testifies to Plautus’ enduring influence on European theatrical tradition.

A contemporary parchment copy with manuscript titling on the spine (no longer legible); signs of wear, tiny holes on the spine, small losses at the foot of the spine, browning and slight foxing; a tear on the lower part of the frontispiece, some leaves with marginal reddening and small holes not affecting the text. Frontispiece stamped with an old library mark.
Overall, a genuine, intact, and unsold copy, with good margins, a typical witness of early seventeenth-century Dutch typography.

Blaeu editions of classical Latin works are distinguished by their typographic elegance and the quality of the engravings. This print of Plautine comedies represents a significant testimony to the publishing fortune of classical texts in seventeenth-century Europe.”}