8vo. 2 volumes: (XXXII),1-438; 369-496,(138); (16),758,(64 index) p., frontispiece, 6 engraved plates, and occasional engraved text illustrations. Vellum 21 cm (Ref: STCN ppn 833518089; Hoffmann 1,429: 'Vorzügliche Werth erh. diese Ausg. durch Spanheim's u. Bentley's Noten'; Dibdin 1,368/69: 'An excellent and erudite edition' and the scholar 'will have abundant reason to rejoice in the acquisition of this edition'; Moss 1,249; Brunet 2,1481/2: 'Belle édition faisant partie de la collection Variorum'; Graesse 2,17; Ebert 3344) (Details: 6 thongs laced through both joints. The frontispiece depicts Callimachus while offering to the gods. Title of the first volume in red & black. Engraved printer's mark on the title, it depicts Athena and Ceres, who are holding between them a painting with an allegorical scene which shows people harvesting a crop. They are surrounded by putti, the motto is: 'cultior his vita est'; another and bigger version of the printer's mark on the second title. 6 plates, showing statues of Greek gods, drawn by G. Hoet, and etched by I. van Vianen. Greek text with opposing Latin translation, commentary & notes) (Condition: Vellum slightly soiled; some gatherings are yellowing) (Note: The Greek poet and scholar Callimachus of Cyrene, c. 305 - c. 240 B.C. was given employment at the famous Alexandrian library. There he produced the first scientific literary history. 'It is clear that Callimachus was a poet of great originality and extraordinary refinement. His amazing productivity (...) was accompanied by bold experimentation in his poetry, and a great versatility of style. The scholarly element, it is true, often adds a frigidity to his verse, but the lively personal and realistic touches which appear, never allow his writings to degenerate into arid selections of obsure myths'. (OCD 2nd ed. p. 195/6) § This edition of the surviving works of Callimachus of 1697 was prepaired by the Dutch scholar Theodorus Georgius Graevius (1669-1692), the promising son of the professor of Classics at the University of Utrecht, Johannes Georgius Graevius (1632-1703). The young man died when 23. The book was finished and published posthumously by his mourning father in 1697 with pain in his heart. 'Id non potest non gravissimum rescindere vulnus' he laments in the 'Dedicatio'. Johannes Georgius Graevius (Greffe), of German descent, was the last 42 year of his life a star of the first order which adorned the University of Utrecht. (Van der Aa 7,353/58 & Van der Aa 7,358). The young man, the father tells in the 'praefatio', was fascinated by Callimachus, and he was planning an edition of that poet with his own notes and commentary and that of others. Alas, an immature death took away the young man's hopes and promisses, but still he left his Callimachus finished. 'Non infrequenter' had he also corrected the Latin translation. When the German scholar Ezechiel Spanheim, 1629-1710, heard that the father was preparing the posthumous edition, he sent him all he had written about Callimachus. His 'In Callimachi Hymnos observationes' fill the second volume of the set. The fame of Graevius also enticed the 'splendissimum Britanniae lumen' Richard Bentley, 1662-1742, to send him old and new material, emendations and notes, he had on Callimachus in his portfolio. (On Spanheim see Sandys 2,327)) (Collation: Volume I: *-2*8, A-2D8 (minus leaf B8; STCN erroneously doesnot mention this omitted leaf; nothing however is missing, the pagination is correct, the catchword between p. 30 and 31 is correct, and the text also connects correctly), Ee4. 2a-2i8 (between leaf 2i3 and 2i4 have been bound 2 gatherings: +8, 2+4, in STCN notation: 2i8(2i3+†8 2†4)), 2k-2p8, 2q4 (leaf 2q4 recto has 'aan den binder' (for the binder), where the irregular pagination of the first volume is explained) Volume II: 2*8, 2A-3E8, 3F4 (leaf 3F4 blank)) (Photographs on request)