ARISTOPHANE. Κωμῳδίαι ἐννέα. Comœdiæ novem. Venice, Aldus Manutius, 1498. In-folio of [347] ff. (of 348), granite calf, filleted spine, gilt edges (17th-century binding). First edition of Aristophanes, printed entirely in Greek. This is one of the masterpieces to have come off the Aldine presses, which Firmin-Didot describes as "a veritable literary and typographical monument". This rare and precious incunabulum contains nine of the eleven comedies by Aristophanes that have come down to us: Lysistrata and Les Thesmophories were not printed for the first time until 1515, in Florence. The publisher was the Greek scholar Marcus Musurus. Musurus wrote an excellent preface and collected the scholias from the manuscripts of various authors who had themselves extracted them from older works. This critical apparatus is of rare quality. A copy with good margins (315 x 205 mm), very well preserved in an antique binding. From the Francis Kettaneh library (1980, I, no. 7), with bookplate. Without the last blank page T6. Heads and hinges restored, jaws cracked, first and last leaf partially unbound, some leaves yellowed. ISTC Ia00958000 - HC 1656* - Goff A958 - Pell 1174 - Renouard, 16, n°3 - GW 2333 - Pr 5566 - BMC, V, 559 - Essling 1163 - Ahmanson-Murphy 25 - A. Firmin-Didot, Aldus Manutius and Hellenism in Venice, pp. 105-111.