Praeparatio evangelica (Greek editio princeps) (1544)

Title page, set in capitals of the grecs du roi: "ΕΥΣΕΒΙΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΠΑΜΦΙΛΟΥ ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙΚΗΣ ΠΡΟΠΑΡΑΣΚΕΥΗΣ ΒΙΒ. ΠΕΝΤΕΚΑΙΔΕΚΑ" with Latin parallel "Eusebii Pamphili Euangelicæ præparationis Lib. XV" and "EX BIBLIOTHECA REGIA," over Estienne's olive-tree/serpent device and the motto "Βασιλεῖ τ᾽ ἀγαθῷ κρατερῷ τ᾽ αἰχμητῇ"; imprint "LVTETIAE. Ex officina Rob. Stephani, Typographi Regii, Regiis typis. M.D.XLIIII. Cum priuilegio Regis."

Opening of Book I (p. 1): an arabesque woodcut headpiece above the running head "ΕΥΣΕΒΙΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΠΑΜΦΙΛΟΥ ΕΥΑΓ.", with a large decorated initial Τ beginning the Greek text in Garamond's medium "gros romaine" royal Greek type.

Greek text page — A full page of continuous Greek text (p. 20) set in the grecs du roi, showing the type's profusion of ligatures and contracted forms modelled on the cursive hand of Angelos Vergikios.

Greek text with verse quotation — Page 100, closing with an indented block of quoted hexameter verse — the royal Greek type handling Eusebius's many citations of poets and philosophers.

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The Greek editio princeps of Eusebius's Praeparatio evangelica, and the first book printed in Garamond's grecs du roi — the Greek royal types commissioned from Claude Garamond by François I (contract 2 November 1540), whose medium "gros romaine" size was completed in 1543. Robert Estienne, appointed imprimeur du roi pour le grec in 1543, drew the text from Greek manuscripts in the royal library at Fontainebleau. The companion Ecclesiasticae historiae (Estienne, 1544) was the second work set in the type, which fixes this Praeparatio as the first. The grecs du roi, modelled on the hand of the Cretan copyist Angelos Vergikios, set the European pattern for Greek typography for the next two centuries (USTC 149170).

See also the 1470 Latin translation, De evangelica praeparatione, printed by Jenson at Venice.

Praeparatio evangelica (Greek editio princeps)

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