Omnia Platonis Opera.

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Creator

Plato.

Title

Omnia Platonis Opera.

Coverage

Venice

Publisher

Aldus Manutius and Andrea Torresani

Date

May 1513.

Description

Aldus first committed to publish the works of Plato in 1497, and finally carried through in this editio princeps of 1513. The text is based on manuscripts that Joannes Lascaris brought to Venice from the monasteries on Mount Athos in Greece. Aldus dedicated the volume to Giovanni de’ Medici, the newly elected Pope Leo X, and in the preface sets out his vision for classical studies and the foundation of a Greek academy in Rome. Martin Lowry (in The World of Aldus Manutius) refers to this preface as “one of the most comprehensive statements of the humanist position to be found outside Erasmus.”

Source

From the collection of T. Kimball Brooker.