Update 2010-10-06: After inspection of the published version, I must unfortunately say that I cannot recommend using it for more than citation purposes. Indeed, I’d almost forgotten the proofs. Some clever mind at Blackwell’s had made a great number of completely unnecessary changes to the submitted text—the aim being to help the reader, I presume. I duly pointed out all the mistakes and infelicities introduced, of course. What I now just discovered is that in many cases my remarks have not been taken into account. A few examples: on p. 504, l. 1, the reference to chapter 7 is obviously out of place; in the sections on Chrysippus and Apollonius, my definitions were mostly (though not on p. 509) incorporated into the body of the text; the grounds on which single and double quotation marks are distinguished are a mystery to me; my groupings of paragraphs were in general ignored (again, a pleasant exception on p. 510); sometimes two paragraphs were flown into one; and so on. So dear prospective reader, please use and peruse what I’d like to call the original version.

Bekker, I., De Apollonii Alexandrini libris syntaxeos, diss. Halle, 1806

and for some time now I thought I should verify the reference since I wasn’t able to find the book in any library.

August Emanuel Bekker, as he called himself at that time, was indeed made doctor in 1806, a few days before he turned 21. His son Ernst Immanuel Bekker writes in Erinnerungen an meinen Vater (Preussische Jahrbücher 29 (1872), p. 559; cf. the entry in the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie):

Im Frühling 06 wurde das Doktorexamen cum laude bestanden, die Dissertation de Apollonii Alexandrini libris syntaxeos ist nicht gedruckt. Der Promotion am 10. Mai folgte im Juli die Anstellung als Inspektor des filologischen Seminars, mit hundert Talern Gehalt.

The Universitätsarchiv contains only the Dissertationsurkunde, but not the dissertation itself. This isn’t surprising, of course, given that the work had not been printed. Unfortunately, however, the dissertation could not to be found either at the Abteilung Sondersammlungen of the ULB Sachsen-Anhalt. This might well have to do with Napoleon’s closure of the university from October 1806 until May 1808. In all likelihood, then, Bekker’s primitiae are lost.

(Many thanks to Claudia Frank and Dr Marita von Cieminski from the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt for their friendly assistance.)