From the Bookstall....

ASSOCIATION COPY OF CLASSICAL GREEK TEXT

Callimachi Cyrenaei Hymni: Hymns of Callimachus (in Greek)

Froben, Basileae, Anno MDXXXII (1532).PHOTO

Original vellum binding.PHOTO

245 pages. 6 X 7 ½ inches.

Copy from the Library of James Wilson, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Wilson's signature is prominent on the second blank page and is dated in his hand 1766. PHOTO

(See biographical notes below for Callimachus & James Wilson)

There are also manuscript notes facing the title page that are attributed to Wilson by the 1940's auction description (see below) Another early ownership name is on the free end paper...J.M. Duncan 1807.

Still later, the book came into the procession of 20th century book collector, John Gribbel, his bookplate appears on the front end paper.

The Gribbel collection was sold at auction in 1940. The auction description has been cut out & tipped on to the second blank leaf below the Wilson signature.

$4000.00

Biographical Notes:

Callimachus (the Latin spelling) was a Greek scholar of the 3^rd century B.C. born in Cyrene, he was the head of a school in Alexandria and chief of the Alexandrian library . Of the 800 works ascribed to him, only 6 hymns and 64 epigrams and a few fragments are extant. This edition represents those works.

James Wilson (1742-1798)Wilson came to the U.S. from Scotland in 1765, where he took a position as a Latin tutor at the University of Pennsylvania, he almost immediately abandoned this pursuit to study law under John Dickerson. A scholar-politician, Wilson amassed an impressive library. He was an active member of the Continental Congress, publishing an essay in 1774: Considerations on Nature and Extent of Legislative Authority of British Parliament in which the line appears..."All men are by nature, equal and free. No one has the right to any authority over another without his consent".

Wilson's voice was considered second only to Madison, in the establishment of American government, Wilson being the delegate from Pennsylvania to the Constitutional Convention. Following the Revolution, Washington appointed Wilson to associate Justice of the Supreme Court.

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