Opera

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Opera

Publisher Elzevir Press, [Leiden?], 1636

Printer The Elzevir Press, [Leiden?]

Author Virgil (Vergilius Publius Maro) (Roman, 70-19 BCE)

Date1636

Dimensionsbook: 5 1/8 x 3 x 1 in. (130 x 76 x 25mm)
page: 12.7 x 7.3 cm (5 x 2 7/8 in.)

ClassificationBooks

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number

1923.3152

Not on View

Label TextVirgil ( 70-19 B.C ) was born in Mantua, achieved fame in Rome in the early years of the Emperor Augustus, and died in Naples. The land of Italy is the underlying theme of all his surviving work: The Aeneid, the Eclogues, and the Georgics. In the tale of Aeneas, the legendary founder of Rome, Virgil describes how Aeneas fled the sack of Troy, found refuge with Dido at Carthage, and eventually conquered and settled in Rome. This engraved map of the Mediterranean Basin shows the various sites of the travels of Aeneas. Virgil's writings, especially, the Aeneid, were admired in his own day, and that admiration has persisted through the ages. Countless artists, musical composers, writers, and other readers have drawn inspiration from Virgil. By the time of this addition, more than a hundred separate editions of Virgil's work had been printed. He was was a best selling author in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. One can thus understand why the Elzevir Press, the famous Dutch printer/publisher, would want to print the writings of this great Latin poet. This is one of the Elzevir Press masterpieces, a fine example of their "pocket-sized" classics -- a rare edition with two passages printed in red, one of which is displayed here.