[Opera] with commentaries by STATIUS, Publius Papinius

208 leaves (of 210, lacking the first & final blanks), 44 lines plus headline, 62 lines of commentary, Roman letter, 3- to 4-line initial spaces. Small folio, 17th-cent. red morocco (small marginal repairs to 2nd & 3rd leaves), sides panelled in gilt, spine nicely gilt, green morocco lettering piece on spine, a.e.g. Venice: Jacobus de Paganinis, 24 December 1490. Second edition (1st ed.: 1483) of the collected verse of Statius (ca. A.D. 45-96), the great Latin poet. Present here are the Thebaid, a mythological epic with commentary by Placidus Lactantius; the Achilleid, a fragment of an uncompleted epic with commentary by Franciscus Mataratius; and the Silvae, a collection of mostly occasional poems, of which the shortest, nineteen lines addressed by the insomniac poet to the god of sleep, is deservedly well-known. Domitius Calderinus has provided the commentary for Silvae. A fine copy from the Macclesfield library. Rather scarce. Some marginalia washed when rebound in the 17th century. ❧ Goff S-692.