Das Gemälde des Kebes. Aus einer alten griechischen Handschrifft

Engraved vignette on title & one large folding engraved plate (a little frayed at inner margin). xxxx, 78 pp. 8vo, cont. half-sheep & speckled boards (two corners a little worn, a little worming to covers), spine gilt. Moscow: “bey der Typographischen Gesellschafft,” 1785.

First edition of this translation, printed in Moscow, and edited anonymously. Cebes of Thebes (ca. 430-350 B.C.E.) was a member of Socrates’ inner circle. One of the speakers in the Phaedo of Plato, he was represented as an earnest seeker after virtue and truth, keen in argument and cautious in decision. One of the dialogues that has been attributed to him is the Pinax or Tabula, also known as the Tablet of Cebes. In fact, it was probably Hellenistic, from the second or at the earliest, the first century. The Tabula was well known in antiquity, and after the first modern publication in the late fifteenth century, popular in Europe through the eighteenth century.

The large and remarkable folding plate depicts all aspects of humanity, from sinners at the bottom to saints at the top. The charming engraved vignette on the title depicts Samson slaying a lion.

Very good copy.

❧ Brunet, I, 1711–(erroneously giving the date as 1786). Hoffmann, I, 484.