Bibliotheca Teubneriana
The Bibliotheca Teubneriana, or Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana, also known as Teubner editions of Greek and Latin texts, comprise one of the most thorough modern collections published of ancient (and some medieval) Greco-Roman literature. The series consists of critical editions by leading scholars. They now always come with a full critical apparatus on each page, although during the nineteenth century there were editiones minores, published either without critical apparatuses or with abbreviated textual appendices, and editiones maiores, published with a full apparatus.
Teubneriana is an abbreviation used to denote mainly a single volume of the series (fully: editio Teubneriana), rarely the whole collection; correspondingly, Oxoniensis is used with reference to the Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis, mentioned above as Oxford Classical Texts.
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; the Loeb Classical Library, with facing-page English translations and notes, aims at a more general audience).
History of the series
In 1811,
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 apparatus) 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
After the fall of the
In late 1999, B.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
In 2006, the publishing firm of
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. 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.[1]
Original "Teubner" font
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 Porsonian standard more familiar in the English-speaking world) 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.
Upright variant
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
Beginning in the 1990s, the digital production of books has been marked by new digital fonts, sometimes based on Teubner's older traditions. In the 1990s, individual editions of Euripides' tragedies were digitally typeset in a font apparently based on the original Teubner cursive. 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.G. Saur.
Griechische Antiqua
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.
M. L. West's recent edition of the Iliaduses a digital font that seems closer to this type than to the main Teubner tradition.See also
- Stiftung Benedictus Gotthelf Teubner
VEB Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft(AVG)- Verlag Harri Deutsch
- Edition Leipzig
References
ISBN 978-0-67407227-5. (1088 pages) ISBN 0-902984-17-9.Further reading
- Seemann, Anna-Maria (2018-12-18) [2017]. Parallelverlage im geteilten Deutschland - Entstehung, Beziehungen und Strategien am Beispiel ausgewählter Wissenschaftsverlage [Parallel publishers in the divided Germany - Emergence, relationships and strategies on the example of selected scientific publishers]. Schriftmedien – Kommunikations- und buchwissenschaftliche Perspektiven (in German). Vol. 6 (1 ed.). Berlin, Germany:
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnbergin 2016.)External links
- Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana a list of titles from the publisher, De Gruyter. Click on the VOLUMES tab.
- List of links to scans of Teubner volumes in the "Links Galore" spreadsheet.