ΑΙΣΧΥΛΟΥ: ΤΡΑΓΩΔΙΑΙ Ζ, AESCHYLI: TRAGOEDIAE VII. [GENEVA] 1557 First complete edition of all the surviving tragedies of Aeschylus and Editio PRINCEPS of a substantial part of Agamemnon. Large in Quarto,early 18th century full leather,spine gilt, covers with few wear, title page slightly restored, only Greek text, some light water stain in few pages,overall text clean and bright, a very good copy. The most important early edition of the playwright's work. It was published in Geneva by the scholar-printer Henri Estienne.Before 1557, the Agamemnon,the first play in the Oresteia trilogy was only known in a mutilated form. Earlier printers, including Aldus Manutius in 1518, had mistakenly conflated the fragments of the Agamemnon with the next play, the Libation Bearers,the Choephoroi, treating them as a single work. Working from a 14th-century manuscript discovered in Florence, the editor was able to restore the missing verses and correctly separate the two plays for the first time in print history.The book was a joint effort between two of the greatest minds of the late Renaissance :Piero Vettori, the primary editor, who provided the restored text and improved the scholia (ancient commentaries) and Henri Estienne the printer, who also acted as an editor. He added 40 pages of his own critical observations,Sexti Aurelii Victoris Sententiae, which were highly regarded for their brilliance in textual reconstruction. It is aesthetically famous for its use of the Grecs du Roi (The King’s Greek) typefaces.These fonts were originally commissioned by Francis I of France and designed by Claude Garamond. Estienne used two different sizes,a medium size for the main tragedy text and a smaller size for the dense scholarly notes,creating a layout that set the standard for classical Greek publishing. Although Estienne was initially a Parisian printer, historical research,based on paper types, confirms it was printed in Geneva, where his father had moved the family press to escape religious persecution.