8 - ΠΑΥΣΑΝΙΟΥ: ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΑΣ ΠΕΡΙΗΓΗΣΙΣ, PAUSANIAS: GRAECIAE DESCRIPTIO. LIPSIAE, 1696

ΠΑΥΣΑΝΙΟΥ: ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΑΣ ΠΕΡΙΗΓΗΣΙΣ, PAUSANIAS: GRAECIAE DESCRIPTIO. LIPSIAE, 1696 Fourth edition in Greek, ROYAL FOLIO, contemporary full vellum, spine and covers richly gilt, unidentified fine coat of arms at covers, complete,text in the original Greek with Latin translation, text clean and bright,overall a very good copy of an impressive work Pausanias travel account in Greece is the first comprehensive travel account in human history and still today a solid source for ancient Greek archaeology. The 1696 edition is famously known among scholars as the Kuhn edition. Published in Leipzig by Thomas Fritsch, it is widely considered the best edition of the pre modern era and remained the definitive scholarly text for over a century for travelers to Greece, specifically served as the primary reference for many early archaeologists in Greece.It is legendary for its meticulous assembly of previous scholarship and the inclusion of rare notes. The most significant feature of this edition is that Kuhn utilized a copy of the 1516 Aldine edition that had belonged to the great scholar Isaac Casaubon. Kuhn incorporated Casaubon's handwritten marginal notes and corrections directly into the text and commentary. Kuhn also brought together the annotations of the greatest previous editors, including Wilhelm Xylander, the 1558 translator and Friedrich Sylburg,the 1583 editor, making it a variorum style work that captured the best Greek scholarship of the Renaissance. This was exactly the edition used by Winckelmann,the father of modern archaeology and 18th-century Grand Tourists in Greece. It acted as a literal treasure map for the rediscovery of sites like Olympia, Delphi, and Athens.