1688 Enlarged Second Edtn With Lord Sandys Provenance OPUSCULA MYTHOLOGICA, PHYSICA ET ETHICA By Thomas Gales Illus. After Gérard de Lairesse, Gilliam van der Gouwen [Engraved By]

1688 Enlarged Second Edition With Lord Sandys Provenance

OPUSCULA MYTHOLOGICA, PHYSICA ET ETHICA
By Thomas Gales

KEY DETAILS
Condition: Very Good
Format: Contemporary panelled calf, Octavo (Standard) (8vo 6 × 9 in 152 × 229 mm )
Note: Binding/size selection follows standard bibliographic conventions and is approximate; exact measurements may vary.
Published By: Henricum Wetstenium, Amsterdam, 1688
Language: Latin
Illustrated By: After Gérard de Lairesse, Gilliam van der Gouwen [Engraved By]
Provenance: From the Ombersley Court Library, Worcestershire, the historic library of the Sandys family. The front pastedown bears the engraved armorial bookplate of Lord Sandys, pasted over an earlier and substantially larger en...
Collation: Additional engraved title; [24], 752, [8] pp. Final index complete through Z, terminating with FINIS, followed by blank leaves. Complete.
Dust Jacket: None, as issued, No Jacket
SKU: BTETM0002458
Shipping Info: Approximate Package Dimensions H: 12.5, L: 30, W: 25 (Units: cm), W: 2Kg
Tracked Shipping, Insurance Coverage as per Customer Request

DESCRIPTION
Opuscula Mythologica, Physica et Ethica
Graece et Latine. Seriem eorum sistit pagina Praefationem proxime sequens. A substantial seventeenth-century collection of ancient Greek mythographical, philosophical, cosmological and ethical texts, edited by the English classical scholar Thomas Gale (1635–1702). First published at Cambridge in 1671, the present Amsterdam edition of 1688 is the revised and considerably enlarged second edition, and the form in which Gale's anthology became best known. The volume gathers together a remarkable range of short classical and late-antique writings concerning myth, allegory, cosmology, the nature of the gods, ethics and Pythagorean philosophy. Among the authors represented are Palaephatus, Heraclitus, Eratosthenes, Cornutus, Sallustius, Heraclides Ponticus, Ocellus Lucanus, Timaeus Locrus and Theophrastus, together with collections of moral and Pythagorean sayings attributed to Demophilus, Democrates, Sextus and others. Particularly notable is the additional engraved title, designed by Gérard de Lairesse and engraved by Gilliam van der Gouwen, incorporating allegorical and mythological imagery including Truth, Venus, Diana/Artemis and Apollo.

PROVENANCE
From the Ombersley Court Library, Worcestershire, the historic library of the Sandys family. The front pastedown bears the engraved armorial bookplate of Lord Sandys, pasted over an earlier and substantially larger engraved bookpile-type bookplate, portions of which remain visible around the later plate. The earlier owner has not yet been identified. Early manuscript shelf or inventory markings appear to the front endpapers and above the engraved title. A pencilled “494” to the rear corresponds with the volume's lot number at the modern dispersal of the library. Acquired directly by Books That Expand The Mind from the dispersal of the Ombersley Court Library at Chorley's, The September Auctions 2024, 17 September 2024, Lot 494. Purchaser's invoice retained with the acquisition records.

CONDITION, COLLATION & COPY NOTES
The engraved title is signed in the design by Gérard de Lairesse and was engraved by Gilliam van der Gouwen. Bound in contemporary panelled calf with blind-ruled and decorative borders to the boards, raised bands and gilt decoration to the spine, with red morocco lettering-piece. Binding with general age-related rubbing and surface wear; small split of approximately ½ inch at the head of one joint, but the boards remain attached. Corners and extremities rubbed. The binding nevertheless retains considerable period character and presents attractively. Additional engraved allegorical title present, followed by the printed title in red and black. Decorative typographical headpieces and ornaments throughout. Text printed principally in Greek and Latin, much of it in parallel columns. Internally generally clean and well preserved for a book of this age, with occasional light toning, spotting and handling marks. Early manuscript shelf and ownership notations as described above. Please see Photos as part of condition report.

REFERENCES
STCN 842221603. Willems XCIII. Brunet IV, 198. Graesse V, 31. Ebert 8053. Brunet regarded the 1688 edition as a particularly desirable edition of the work, and later bibliographers likewise distinguish it from the smaller 1671 Cambridge first edition by its substantial revision and enlargement.

SYNOPSIS
Gale's Opuscula Mythologica, Physica et Ethica occupies an unusual position between classical philology, mythology, philosophy and the history of ancient religion. Rather than presenting a single continuous work, Gale assembled a body of relatively short Greek texts whose original transmission had often been fragmentary or scattered. In doing so he brought together some of the most important surviving sources for the interpretation of ancient myth and religious allegory. The opening mythographical texts include Palaephatus' rationalising explanations of supposedly miraculous myths, together with works attributed to Heraclitus and Eratosthenes, the latter's Catasterismi preserving traditions concerning the transformation of mythological figures into constellations. Other sections explore the interpretation of Homeric mythology, the nature and classification of the gods and the philosophical reading of pagan religion. Cornutus and Sallustius are particularly important witnesses to the allegorical and theological traditions through which Greek myth continued to be interpreted in late antiquity. The philosophical texts extend into cosmology and the Pythagorean tradition. Ocellus Lucanus and Timaeus Locrus deal with the nature and structure of the universe, while collections of Pythagorean ethical sayings preserve maxims concerning conduct, virtue and the ordering of human life. Also included is Theophrastus' Characters, his celebrated series of sharply observed moral and social types, among the most influential surviving works of ancient character writing. The anthology therefore documents several overlapping currents of ancient thought: mythology as history, mythology as allegory, the philosophical interpretation of the gods, cosmology, ethical instruction and the transmission of Pythagorean philosophy. Its importance extends beyond classical scholarship. Such texts became central to Renaissance and early-modern attempts to reconcile pagan mythology with natural philosophy, ancient theology and allegorical systems of interpretation, giving the volume particular relevance to the history of Western esotericism, prisca theologia and the early-modern reception of classical religion.

AUTHOR BIO
Thomas Gale (1635–1702) was an English classical scholar, antiquary and clergyman. Educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, he became Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge before later serving as High Master of St Paul's School and Dean of York. Gale was one of the leading English classical editors of the later seventeenth century and produced important editions of Greek and Latin historical, mythographical and philosophical texts. His scholarship reflected the increasing effort of seventeenth-century antiquaries to establish reliable texts from manuscript and printed sources, while making comparatively obscure ancient writers accessible to a wider learned readership. The Opuscula Mythologica is among his most enduring classical publications and remains valuable because it brings together a substantial body of otherwise dispersed Greek mythographical and philosophical literature.

ILLUSTRATOR
After Gérard de Lairesse, Gilliam van der Gouwen [Engraved By]
Additional engraved allegorical title after Gérard de Lairesse, engraved by Gilliam van der Gouwen GÉRARD DE LAIRESSE Gérard de Lairesse (1641–1711) was one of the most important Dutch painters and designers of the later seventeenth century. Working principally in Amsterdam, he became particularly celebrated for historical, classical and allegorical compositions. His designs were widely disseminated through engravings and book illustration. The allegorical engraved title to the present volume is characteristic of de Lairesse's learned classical imagery, combining personifications and mythological figures appropriate to Gale's collection of writings on mythology, philosophy and religion. GILLIAM VAN DER GOUWEN Gilliam, or Willem, van der Gouwen (c.1650–after 1720) was a Dutch engraver active in Amsterdam during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. He produced numerous book illustrations and engraved compositions after leading contemporary artists, including Gérard de Lairesse. For the present edition he engraved de Lairesse's elaborate allegorical title, one of the most visually distinctive features of the volume.