1628, Aelianus, Variae historiae libri XIIII.

Condition : good, binding worn, handwritten ex libris, small trace of moisture in the margins of the first 10 leaves and pages 429 - 460, some minor lateral defects. Overall a very good copy.
Illustrations : printer's mark.
Binding : contemporary full leather.
Volume : 1 volume.
Format : in-8.
Pages : 8 ff, 460 pp.9 ff (*8, a - z8, A - F8, G7).
Publisher : Lugduni (Leiden), apud Claudium Larjot Typographum Regium.
Date : 1628.

Bilingual Old Greek and Latin edition, facing each other on two columns.

Nice edition of the varied History of Elian († 235), Greek-speaking Roman historian, zoologist and orator. Of the fourteen books that originally made up the work, only fragments have survived. The work is worthwhile mainly because of its preservation of authors who have since been lost. Extant solely in abridged form, his Variae Historiae is a compendium of fascinating anecdotes on famous ancient literary, philosophical and political personalities, such as Aristotle, Pliny, Ctesias, the natural world, mirabilia, customs and myths. He famously provided one of the earliest accounts of fly-fishing.