Creator
Aristotle.
Title
Theophrastus de Historia Plantarum …
Coverage
Venice
Publisher
Aldus Manutius
Date
1 June 1497
Description
The complete works of Aristotle, printed by Aldus between November 1495 and June 1498, would have secured Aldus’s fame as a printer had he printed nothing else. The entire publication, issued separately but often bound in five or six volumes, represented more leaves of Greek type than had cumulatively been printed since the time of Gutenberg. This one volume, including (among other texts) Aristotle’s Metaphysics, is bound in contemporary Bolognese goatskin alla greca, signified by the thick boards flush with the book block, grooved edges, and head- and tailbands that protrude beyond the boards. This style of binding, common on Greek manuscripts of the Middle Ages, was employed as well on bindings of Greek printed books. The text is open to the beginning of Aristotle’s Problemata.
Source
From the collection of T. Kimball Brooker.