Catalogus legum antiquarum, unà cum adjuncta summaria Interpretatione, per Joannem Ulricum Zasium Brigantinum diligenter collectus. Cum adnotationibus Ludovici Charondæ Jurisconsulti Parisiensis

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16mo. ff. [12], 319 [i.e. 139], [1] (blank). Vellum. The extremely rare first ‘Charondas’ edition of the legal dictionary of Johann Ulrich Zazius of Constance (1461-1535), the great friend of Erasmus, which the precocious poet, philosopher, advocate and jurisconsult Louis le Caron (1534-1613) corrupted, successively, with philological innovations and spurious samples of legislation. To mark his entry into the highly competitive field of antiquarian jurisprudence, le Caron chose his more familiar pen-name of Charondas, after the ancient law-giver of Sicily. But his philological innovations, beginning with his Catalogus legum antiquarum, met with a stern response from the far more learned specialist Barnabé Brisson, who in 1556 specifically accused him of forgery in support of his speculative interpretation of fragmentary law texts, especially those reconstructed from passages in the vexed manuscript remains of Sextus Pompeius Festus. Le Caron was eventually driven to defend his readings by claiming to have found a new manuscript of Festus, which confirmed them, and promising to edit it. He never did, however, and it has never been seen by anyone else since 1578. See A. Grafton, Joseph Scaliger. A Study in the History of Classical Scholarship, Oxford & New York, 1983, I, p. 139, 145. See also H. M. Adams, Catalogue of Books Printed on the Continent of Europe, 1501-1600, in Cambridge Libraries. 2 vols. Cambridge, 1967, Z-82. . Click here to view the Johns Hopkins University catalog record.