Folio. (8), 393,(1 blank),(10 index) p. Contemporary calf. 35 cm (Ref: ESTC R12714; Hoffmann 3,89; Brunet 4,624; Ebert 16779; Graesse 5,276) (Details: Gilt back with 6 raised bands. Gilt coat of arms on both boards. Woodcut printer's device on the title, depicting a palm tree, the motto reads: ''Depressa resurgo'. 'Oppressed, higher I rise'. Printed in 2 columns, Greek text of 248 letters, with parallel Latin translation. At the end have been added 5 letters 'ex veteri codice orientali') (Condition: Binding somewhat rubbed. Upper & lower part of the front joint split over 4 and 6 cm. Tiny bump in front board. Small stamp on the title. Small hole in the text of leaf 2A2) (Note: This edition is the 'editio princeps' of 248 letters of the great Byzantine scholar Photius, ca. 810 - ca. 893, who was Patriarch of Constantinople from 858 to 867, and from 877 to 886. He was the leader of the Byzantine Renaissance, and left works of immense value. The most important is the 'Bibliotheka', a critical bibliography of 280 works with his comments. Gibbon said that it was a living monument of erudition and acute criticism. This work is often the best and only source of notable works now lost. Photius also compiled a 'Lexikon', a glossary drawing upon earlier lexicographic works. The 'Mystagogia' is a theological work treating the Trinity. The 'Amphilochia' or 'Quaestiones ad Amphilochium', concerns ca. 300 catechetical question-and-answer discussions of religion and philosophy. § The surviving letters of Photius, 298 or 299, were written between 859 and 886, i.e. from the beginning till the end of his Patriachy. They show the same acute criticism and learning as his other works. It is thought that there were two collections of letters during Photius' lifetime. The first contained the letters 1/248, and was compiled ca. 875. The second corpus contained the letters 1/283 and it dated from ca. 886. The first collection, 1/248, was first published in 1651, with a Latin translation and notes, by the well known English Greek scholar Richard Montagu, bishop of Norwich, (1577-1641) from a manuscript in the Bodleian Library. At the end have been added 5 letters, with a translation, from a manuscript brought to England by Chr. Ravius. Montagu's first fruit was an edition of the Invectives of Gregorius Nazianzenus against the emperor Julianus Apostata, which was published in 1610) (Provenance: Coat of arms on boards: a shield with 2 eagles and 2 griffins in the quarters, flanked by 2 collared and lined greyhounds standing on the hindlegs. Above the shield a ducal coronet, left of the crown a bishop's mitre, on the right a crosier. Stamp on the title: 'Minderbroeders, Heerlen') (Collation: A-3D4, 3E6) (Photographs on request) (Heavy book, may require extra shipping costs)