The covers of Bibliotheca Teubneriana Greek texts through the years: Philodemi De ira liber, ed. C. Wilke (Leipzig, 1914); Bacchylidis carmina cum fragmentis, post B. Snell ed. H. Maehler (Leipzig, 1970); Poetae epici graeci, Pars II, Fasc. 1, ed. A. Bernabé (Munich, 2004)

The Bibliotheca Teubneriana, or Teubner editions of Greek and Latin texts, comprise the most thorough modern collection ever published of ancient (and some medieval) Greco-Roman literature. Ancient Greek literature refers to Literature written in the Greek language until the 4th century AD Latin literature, the body of written works in the Latin language remains an enduring legacy of the culture of Ancient Rome. The series, whose full name is the Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana, consists of critical editions by leading scholars (now always with a full critical apparatus on each page, although during the nineteenth century some editiones minores were published either without critical apparatuses or with abbreviated textual appendices). Textual criticism (or lower criticism) is a branch of Literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of Transcription errors in The critical apparatus (or Latin: la '''apparatus criticus''' is the critical and Primary source material that accompanies an edition of a text Today, the only comparable publishing ventures, producing authoritative scholarly reference editions of numerous ancient authors, are the Oxford Classical Texts and the Collection Budé (whose volumes also include facing-page French translations with notes). Oxford Classical Texts (OCTs or Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis, is a series of books published by Oxford University Press. The Collection Budé, or the Collection des Universités de France, is a series of books comprising the Greek and Latin classics up (The Loeb Classical Library, with facing-page English translations and notes, aims at a more general audience. )

History of the Series

In 1811, Benedictus Gotthelf Teubner (1784-1856) refounded in his own name a printing operation he had directed since 1806, the Weinedelsche Buchdruckerei, giving rise to the Leipzig publishing house of B. Year 1811 ( MDCCCXI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Year 1806 ( MDCCCVI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common This sort of fix restores section edit linkpoints to where they belong G. Teubner (its imprint, in Latin, in aedibus B. G. Teubneri). The volumes of the Bibliotheca Teubneriana began to appear in 1849. Year 1849 ( MDCCCXLIX) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Although today Teubner editions are relatively expensive (as are European-produced scholarly books in general), they were originally introduced to fill the need, then unmet, for low-priced but high-quality editions.

Prior to the introduction of the Teubner series, accurate editions of antique authors could only be purchased by libraries and rich private scholars because of their expense. Students and other individuals of modest means had to rely on editions which were affordable but also filled with errors. To satisfy the need for accurate and affordable editions Teubner introduced the Bibliotheca Teubneriana.

In the 19th century, Teubner offered both affordable editiones maiores (with a full critical appartus) for scholars, and low-priced editiones minores (without critical apparatuses or with abbreviated textual appendices) for students. Eventually, editiones minores were dropped from the series and Teubner began to offer only scholarly reference editions of ancient authors.

During the period between the end of World War II and German reunification, the publishing house of B. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including German reunification (Deutsche Wiedervereinigung took place twice after 1945 first in 1957 the Saarland was permitted to join the Federal Republic of Germany G. Teubner split into two firms, one in Leipzig in East Germany, and one in Stuttgart in West Germany. The German Democratic Republic ( GDR; Deutsche Demokratische Republik DDR; commonly known in English as East Germany) was a Socialist state Stuttgart (ˈʃtʊtgaɐ̯t is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Both offered volumes in the Bibliotheca Teubneriana.

After the fall of the Berlin wall and the reunification of Germany, B. G. Teubner was also reunited and subsequently consolidated its headquarters at Wiesbaden. Wiesbaden, a city in southwest Germany, is the capital of the state of Hesse.

In late 1999, B. Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) G. Teubner Verlag announced their intention to concentrate on scientific and technical publishing. All their Classical Studies titles, including the Biblotheca Teubneriana, were sold to K. G. Saur, a publisher based in Munich. Munich (München; Minga is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. Although new volumes began to appear with the imprint in aedibus K. G. Saur, the name of the series remained unchanged.

In 2006, the publishing firm of Walter de Gruyter acquired K. G. Saur and their entire publishing range, including the Bibliotheca Teubneriana. Since January 2007, the Bibliotheca Teubneriana is being exclusively published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG. As of 1 May 2007, the new North American distributor of titles from the Bibliotheca Teubneriana is Walter de Gruyter, Inc.

Greek Type in Teubner Editions

While the typography of the Greek Teubners has been subject to innovations over the years, an overview of the whole series shows a great deal of consistency. Typography is the art and techniques of arranging type, Type design, and modifying type Glyphs Type glyphs are created and modified using a variety The old-fashioned, cursive font used (with small variations) in most of the existing volumes is instantly recognized by classicists and strongly associated with Teubner. In Typography, italic type /ɪˈtælɪk/ or /aɪˈtælɪk/ refers to cursive Typefaces based on a stylized form of calligraphic Handwriting.

Original "Teubner" Font

Examples of the original Teubner Greek type, in its older (left: Aeschines, ed. F. Blass, Leipzig, 1895) and newer (Pindari carmina cum fragmentis, post B. Snell ed. H. Maehler, Leipzig, 1969) forms

This type was in regular use at least from the 1870s to the 1970s, for verse and prose texts. In older (e. g. , nineteenth-century) Teubners, several old-fashioned features of the type (almost crabbed by the more familiar Porsonian standard) are still found which would later be smoothed away, for example, omega with bent-in ends, medial sigma that is not completely closed, and phi with a bent stem. Porson is a Typeface in the Greek alphabet based on the handwriting of the English classicist Richard Porson, who as his biographer writes "excelled

Upright Variant

Example of the upright variant of the original Teubner Greek type: Iamblichi Babyloniacorum reliquiae, ed. E. Habrich, Leipzig, 1960

Teubner used an upright type, designed to match the original cursive type, in some editions. In the example shown, the cursive type is still used in the critical apparatus. In other editions (for example, Aristotelis Athenaion politeia, ed. M. Chambers, Leipzig, 1986), this upright font is used throughout.

Digital Descendants

Examples of more recent variants of the original Teubner Greek type, both italic (top: Euripides, Electra, ed. G. Basta Donzelli, Stuttgart 1995) and upright (center: Aeschyli tragoediae, ed. M. L. West, Stuttgart, 1990; bottom: Poetae epici graeci, Pars II, Fasc. 1, ed. A. Bernabé, Munich, 2004)

Beginning in the 1990s, the digital production of books has been marked by new digital fonts, sometimes based on Teubner's older traditions. Typesetting involves the presentation of textual material in graphic form on Paper or some other medium. In the 1990s, individual editions of Euripides' tragedies were digitally typeset in a font apparently based on the original Teubner cursive. Euripides ( Ancient Greek:) (ca 480 BC–406 BC was the last of the three great tragedians of classical Athens (the other two being Aeschylus There have also been recent innovations in upright type. One of these, which may be seen in Bernabé's edition of the Orphica, seems likely to be the current standard for new Teubners from K. Orpheus ( Greek: Ὀρφεύς ˈɔrfiəs ( OHR-fee-uhs) or /ˈɔrfjuːs/ ( OHR'-fews) in English is a figure from Greek mythology born in G. Saur.

Griechische Antiqua

Teubner Greek type based on Griechische Antiqua (top: Philodemi De ira liber, ed. C. Wilke, Leipzig, 1914; center: Homeri Odyssea, ed. P. Von der Muehll, Stuttgart, 1962), with a more recent digital descendant (bottom: Homeri Ilias, rec. M. L. West, volumen alterum, Munich, 2000)

Some Teubner Greek editions made a bold typographic departure from the tradition outlined above. E. J. Kenney considered this twentieth-century experiment to be a refreshing break from the Porsonian norm, and emblematic of the best kind of modernist simplicity and directness:

More recently there has been a welcome and long overdue return to the older and purer models. The pleasing modification of M. E. Pinder's "Griechische Antiqua" used by Teubner in some of their editions represents a lost opportunity, having been regrettably abandoned in favour of the "dull and lumpish" fount (Victor Scholderer's words) that is still the uniform of the series. ^[1]

Kenney referred to Bruno Snell's Bacchylides edition of 1934; closely comparable is the Philodemus example illustrated here. A slightly less radical version of this font (notably without lunate sigma) was used in some later Teubner editions (and in non-Teubner publications such as Rahlfs' Septuaginta of 1935), and M.L. West's recent edition of the Iliad uses a digital font that seems closer to this type than to the main Teubner tradition. Sigma (upper case Σ, lower case σ; Greek Σιγμα lower case in word-final position ς) is the eighteenth letter of the Greek Alfred Rahlfs (29 May 1865 - 8 April 1935 was born in Linden, Hannover, Germany. The Septuagint (ˈsɛptuədʒɪnt or simply " LXX " is the Koine Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, translated in stages between the Martin Litchfield West (born 23 September 1937, London, England) is an internationally recognised scholar in Classics, Classical The Iliad ( Greek: Ἰλιάς (Ancient Ιλιάδα (Modern is together with the Odyssey, one of two ancient

Notes

1. ^ E. J. Kenney, "From script to print," in Greek Scripts: An illustrated introduction, Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, 2001, p. 69.

External links

• Listing of titles from the publisher, K. G. Saur