Collection prof. dr. Stefan Radt

Number of the collection description:

[UBG CB 086]

Collection description made by:
Sharon van Dijk

Collection description

Brief overview

Name: Radt Collection

Size: 83 volumes (held by Special Collections)

Languages: Greek, Latin, German, Dutch, French, English

Summary: Collection bequeathed by Professor Radt

Collection number: UBG 086

Owner: University of Groningen Library  

Location: University of Groningen Library

Provenance and acquisition

Biography

Stefan Lorenz Radt (1927-2017; http://viaf.org/viaf/2512595) was born on the 4th August 1927 in Berlin. He was the only child of Jewish parents, Fritz Radt and Jula Cohn. His parents were active participants in the intellectual and cultural life of Berlin. In 1937 the political circumstances in Germany forced the family to move tot he Netherlands, where Fritz was employed by Elzevier. During the war, the family went into hiding from Feburary 1943 to May 1945. From 1946 to 1953 Stefan Radt studied Classics at the University of Amsterdam. After his studies, he was awarded a scholarship of the Philologisch Studiefonds (Philological Scholarship Fund) which enabled him to spend a trimester in Cambridge and travel through Italy and Greece. He briefly worked as a teacher at the Gymnasium in Hilversum and in 1958 obtained his PhD in Amsterdam. In 1961 Stefan Radt obtained a position as researcher at the University of Amsterdam and in 1967 he was appointed Professor in Greek Language and Literature at the University of Groningen. In 1987 he became Emeritus Professor.

Acquisition

Professor Radt bequeathed his book collection (and his personal archive) to the University Library.

Contents

There are currently 65 works from the Radt Collection in the Special Collections department. The key topics in the collection are those which were the focus of his research. His PhD thesis, entitled Pindars Zweiter und Sechster Paian (1958), is an edition and commentary of two poems by Pindar which were recovered in part on papyri. The collection contains works which concern Pindar, such as Francisci Porti Cretensis, Commentarii in Pindari (1583) and Pindari Lycorum Principis (1616) edited by Erasmus Schmidt Delitianus.

The large number of lexicons in the collection demonstrate an interest in lexicography which likely contributed to, or derived from, Professor Radt’s work on the Lexikon des frühgriechischen Epos. Examples include the Thesaurus Graecae Linguae (1572) by Henricus Stephanus, Lampas, sive Fax Artium Liberalium, hoc est, Thesaurus Criticus (1604) by Janus Gruterus and Hesychii Lexicon (1668) by Schrevelius (without binding).  

The collection contains several works on Greek tragedy, which may have played  role in Professor Radt’s preparations for his editions of fragments of the lost tragedies of Sophocles (1977) and Aeschylus (1985) as volumes 4 and 3 respectively in the series Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta. For example, Notae sive Lectiones ad Tragicorum Graecorum Veterum (1762)  by Benjamin Heath and Sophoclis quae exstant omnia cum veterum grammaticorum scholiis. Superstites Tragoedias VIII (1786) by Richard Francois Philippe Brunck, in two parts.

Professor Radt’s most extensive work is an edition with commentary and German translation of the Geographica of Strabo (1987-2011). In this context, the Strabonis Geographica, recensuit Gustavus Kramer in two volumes (published 1844 and 1847) is very interesting. Both volumes are falling apart and contain numerous annotations in the margins, in different colours, as well as corrections of the Greek text itself. Note that the hand is not Professor Radt’s.

The collection contains a surprisingly large number of works written or edited by Isaac Casaubon (1559-1614), the famous Greek scholar. They include his Polybiou tou Lykorta Megalopolitou Historion (1609), Strabonis Rerum Geographicarum Libri XVII (1620) and another edition of the latter from 1707. The presence of Isaaci Casauboni Epistolae (1709), an edition of the correspondence of Isaac Casaubon (and the correspondence of his son Meric), also demonstrates Radt’s interest in Casaubon.

Further remarks

The collection also contains a few prize bindings: three from Amsterdam - one awarded to Joannes Ludovicus van der Velden (1785), one to Gerardus Hooft (1789) and a third of which the inscription has been torn out - and one from Groningen, awarded to Isaac Terpstra by the Latin School in 1819.

The edition of Athenaeus’s Deipnosophistae published by Aldus Manutius in 1514 is particularly interesting, not in the least because medieval manuscript fragments can be found in the front and back of the binding.

Radt’s copy of Publii Virgilii Maronis Appendix (1573), edited by Joseph Scaliger, contains two advertisements of antiquarian bookstores which refer to it. It came into Radt’s possession in April 1986. The name in pencil at the front of the volume reveals that it belonged to Clemens M. Bruehl in 1976. A friend of Radt, he had been in the resistance during the war and later became Professor of Ancient Languages in Leiden. It is likely that Bruehl, who passed away in June 1986, gifted him the book.

Instructions for users

Accessibility

The material in this collection can in due course be requested via SmartCat.

Use/reproduction

For the terms and conditions of use and reproduction, see our webpage.

Appendices

Related collections

Archive Radt (UB Groningen), uklu 086 Radt

Literature

Harder, M.A. ‘Levensbericht Stefan Lorenz Radt’, 2018.

https://dwc.knaw.nl/DL/levensberichten/PE00008087.pdf

Controlled key words

Subjects: For a list of standardised key words, check the Art & Architecture Thesaurus® Online (AAT).

Personal names: For a list of standardised personal names, see VIAF.org

Geographical names: