Oneirocritica. Astrampsychi & Nicephori versus etiam oneirocritici. Nicolai Rigaltii ad Artemidorum Notae.

4to: [12]-269-[3 bl., 18, 1 bl., 1]-20-65-[1 bl.]-275 (= 279)-[1 bl., 1, 1 bl., 13, 1 bl.] pp. (sl. toned, lower half dampstained, with a few mouldy spots).

Old havana morocco, covers with triple gilt ruled border, richly gilt spine on 5 raised bands, gilt sides, gilt inside dentelles, a.e.g., marbl. pastedowns (sl. rubbed, corners sl. bumped). Good copy.

"Editio princeps of the Oneirocriticon of pseudo-Achmet ibn Sereim, an important 10th-century Greek manual of dream interpretation based on Arabic sources, with an improved Latin translation in parallel, Greek-Latin printings of three similar texts, and a commentary. "Achmet" was in fact a Byzantine Greek who claimed that his father was dream-interpreter to al-Ma’mun (r. 813-33). The Greek culture of dream-writing appears to have largely died out in the 5th century, and to have recovered only in the 9th century, under Arabic influence. Achmet’s work is one of the longest and most comprehensive works on dream interpretation in Greek history. His text was originally published in a Latin version by Johannes Leunclavius in 1577; the present edition notably includes passages omitted from that translation. The other main text is the Oneirocritica of 2nd-century Greek scholar Artemidorus of Ephesus, which was first published in 1518; it is accompanied by a lengthy commentary by N. Rigault (1577-1654), and two short dreambooks in verse, one traditionally attributed to patriarch Nicephorus (758-828) but probably written in the late 9th or early 10th century, the other to Astrampsychus, supposedly a Persian magus in the era of Alexander the Great, but evidently a peg for a text which originally formed part of the Nicephorus manuscript tradition. The Latin translations of Artemidorus, Nicephorus and Astrampsychus are respectively by Janus Cornarius, Rigault, and Johannes Opsopäus” (Peter Harrington). Title printed in red and black. Ref. Hoffmann I:405. - Goldsmith (BL) A-914. - Caillet 470. - Thorndike VI:481-486. Prov. [Georges Petit].