Aldine Heirs, Orphic Lore, Across the Hellespont : a rare Aldine Musaeus & Orphica (1517). THE BOOK: Musaeus; Orpheus. Musaei opusculum de Herone & Leandro. Orphei Argonautica. Eiusdem Hymni. Orpheus de lapidibus. (Venice: in aedibus Aldi et Andreae soceri, November 1517). Small 8vo, a–k⁸ = 80 leaves. Approx. 16.5 × 10 cm. Greek text (Musaeus with facing Latin); two woodcuts of Hero & Leander across the Hellespont, Aldine anchor-and-dolphin device on title and on final leaf (k8v). Fine early 19th-century diced russia calf, blind diapered panels within gilt fillets, gilt dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. MOUSEION CURATOR NOTE: “A book of crossings: between two towers in the woodcuts—Sestos and Abydos; between two columns of language—Greek and Latin; and between two eras—Aldus’s pioneering Greek program and the heirs who carried it forward. This pocket Aldine turns a tragic love poem and a dossier of Orphic lore into a portable humanist library.” BOOK DESCRIPTION: Very rare edition, one of the few illustrated Aldine octavos to be printed. First edition of Orphic De lapidibus, first ever appearance in print, the earliest Aldine collected issue of Musaeus together with the Orphica. Printed two years after Aldus Manutius’s death, this Aldine-heirs octavo gathers four texts that shaped Renaissance reading of Greek myth and ritual: Musaeus’s Hero & Leander (in Greek, with a parallel Latin crib for students of the language), the Orphic Argonautica, the Hymni, and—of special note—the lapidary poem De lapidibus (Lithica), which appears here in its first ever printing. The mise-en-page is classic Aldine: tight but elegant Greek, italic Latin for the facing column, crisp running headers (e.g., ΟΡΦΕΩΣ / ΑΡΓΟΝΑΥΤΙΚΑ), and the house device at both beginning and end. The two small woodcuts—Hero on the tower at Sestos and Leander at Abydos, with the Hellespont between—are the visual heart of the volume. They are remarkably effective: the geography of desire and danger is laid out at a glance. In this compact format the Aldine heirs created what collectors now prize: a handsome, portable Greek classic that also functioned as a gateway to Orphic philosophy and Renaissance natural knowledge (the Lithica). PROVENANCE: Charles-Joseph Pieters (1782–1863) — the Ghent bibliographer of the Elzeviers and author of the Annales de l’imprimerie des Elsevier. Printed EX LIBRIS label at the top of the pastedown with the name abraded. Henri Tardivi (1853/54–1915) — Bibliothèque de Henri Tardivi, Saint-Étienne. Large engraved ex-libris on the pastedown, with his manuscript library number No. 4784; the imagery (putto with mortar & pestle, lamp, serpent) echoes his profession as pharmacist. Collector’s note (inserted slip) — a French bibliographical aide-mémoire quoting Willems 433 and Brunet 715/16 (praise for the Elzevir Terence). Kept with the book as part of its 19th-century bibliophile working file. Provenance significance: the Pieters–Tardivi chain ties the volume to two documented private libraries and to the very bibliographical culture that created the canon of collectible Aldines. MOUSEION CURATOR NOTE: “A complete, unusually clean Aldine-heirs octavo (Venice, 1517) uniting Musaeus and the Orphica—including the first edition of the Lithica—in a handsome diced-russia binding with Pieters–Tardivi provenance: a pocket masterpiece of Renaissance Greek printing and a museum-worthy object in its own right.״ CONDITION REPORT: A notably clean, bright copy with crisp impressions and even tone throughout. Leaves very flat, two woodcuts sharp, title and terminal Aldine device clear. Binding: Early 19th-century diced russia in the English/Continental luxe style. Light rubbing to joints and extremities only; gilt on spine compartments and gilt dentelles fresh; marbled endpapers bright; all edges gilt gleam. A very attractive presentation, markedly superior to the more common plain vellum. Size: Bound c. 16.5 × 10.0 × 1.6 cm (approx.). Collation: a–k⁸ = 80 ff. (no j). Complete. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Musaeus’s late-antique epyllion (Hero & Leander) was a model of stylistic sweetness for Renaissance poets; the Orphic Argonautica and Hymns fed Neoplatonic and ritual interests; the Orphic De lapidibus (Lithica)—here in editio princeps—channeled lapidary lore into learned discourse. Issued by the heirs of Aldus (the house of Aldus and his father-in-law Andrea Torresano) as part of their program to keep key Greek texts in circulation in a portable octavo with the emblematic dolphin-and-anchor device. Designed for students and scholars—Greek opposite Latin for Musaeus; Greek throughout the Orphica—this little book is the epitome of Aldine pedagogical typography. MOUSEION CURATOR NOTE: “Open the book at fol. 9 and you stand between two towers with the Hellespont at your fingertips. Turn to fol. 31 and the running head ΟΡΦΕΩΣ carries you into the Argonautica; at the end the Aldine anchor returns, closing the voyage. It is a choreography of reading that only Aldine could stage so gracefully.”