'editio optima' (Dibdin)

A finely bound example of the eleven extant comedies of the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes (446-386 BCE), together with the scholia and extensive commentaries by Ludolf Kuster and others, printed in Greek and Latin.

'This excellent edition, emphatically called Editio optima, contains for the first time, some new Scholia on the Lysistrata; some notes of Isaac Casaubon on the Equites; and of Spanheim and Bentley on a few other plays. [...] The animadversions and commentaries of many learned men adorn this edition...' (Dibdin, pp299-300).

2 parts in one, folio (43.6 x 30 cm); text in Greek and Latin, title printed in red and black, engraved device of a Pegasus to title, engraved initials in first part, decorative head- and tailpieces, four small engravings in the second part, some foxing, slight age-toning; 19th-century red morocco by John Clarke, in 18th-century style, borders beautifully decorated with an elaborate gilt design, inner dentelles gilt, spine with six raised bands, elaborately gilt in compartments, gilt lettering to second and seventh compartments, minor spotting and scuffing to covers, corners slightly rubbed, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers, an attractive copy; [12], xxviii, 580; 324, [60]pp.