BOLZANIO. Grammaticae Institutiones ad Graecam linguam.

8vo; 152x105 mm; Contemporary full vellum binding with sign of joints. Printer’s device on titlepage. Leaves 322. Latin, italic and Greek type. Handwritten notes in brown and black inks on first two pages and on the last. Handwritten note on titlepage. Defects and slight losses on binding. Damp stains more affective on the first and on the last leaves. Unsophisticated copy.

A rare edition of the first Greek grammar written in Latin, contributing to the spread of Greek in the western world. 

This edition comprises nine books divided into three parts: the first three books are devoted to the basics of the language (alphabet, accents, articles, declension of the noun, pronoun and adjective, verb); the following four (fourth to seventh) include exceptions in the various dialects, syllable count, use of patronymics and diminutives, verb conjugation. The eighth and ninth books deal with irregular verbs. The text includes examples from classical authors and inscriptions, such as Homer, Hesiod, Thucydides, Demosthenes and many others, and contemporary ones.

This edition follows the already expanded third edition of the grammar written by the Franciscan friar Urbano delle Fosse, also known as Urbano Bolzanio (1442-1524).

Bolzanio, a pupil of the famous Constantine Lascaris of Constantinople, was one of the most celebrated humanists of his time. In 1484 he moved to Florence at the invitation of Lorenzo de' Medici, who appointed him guardian to his son Giovanni, the future Pope Leo X. In 1490 he returned to Venice where he taught Greek and collaborated with Aldo Manuzio, publishing the first edition of his grammar, dedicated to Giovanni Francesco Pico della Mirandola.