C. Plinij Secundi Veronensis Historiae naturalis libri xxxvij.
Pliny, the Elder.
Title: C. Plinij Secundi Veronensis Historiae naturalis libri xxxvij / aptissimis figuris exculti ; ab Alexa[n]dro Benedicto Ve. physico emendatiores redditi.
[Colophon : Impressus Venetiis summa diligentia : Per Melchiorem Sessam, Anno reconciliate Natiuitatis. M.D. XIII. Die XX Augusti.]
Physical Description: 14 p. l., 219 leaves : ill. ; 32 cm.
Acquired through the Stanford University Bookstore Fund.
First illustrated edition of Pliny’s highly influential Natural History, with thirty-seven woodcut illustrations which were specially designed for this text, one at the head of each book. A small column is found in three of the illustrations, probably used as the signature of the artist (perhaps a member of the Colonna family). Pliny’s work is an important encyclopedia of natural science; the illustrations are wide-ranging and include numerous depictions of the animal world (elephants, giraffes, camels, marine creatures, insects, etc.) as well as various illustrations of agricultural pursuits (including the growing of vines and beekeeping), mineral baths, and medical practices.
P. Ovidii Metamorphosis …
Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 or 18 A.D.
Title: P. Ovidii Metamorphosis, oder: Wunderbarliche vnnd seltzame Beschreibung, von der Menschen, Thiern, vnd anderer Creaturen veränderung, auch von dem Wandeln, Leben vnd Thaten der Götter, Martis, Veneris, Mercurij, etc. Allen Poeten, Malern, Goldschmiden, Bildhauwern, vnd Liebhabern der edlen Poesi vnd fürnembsten Künsten, nützlich vnd lustig zu lesen. Jetzt widerum̃ auff ein newes, dem gemeinen Vatterlandt teutscher Sprach zu grossem nutz vnd dienst, auss sonderlichem fleiss mit schönen Figurn, auch dess hochgelehrten Herrn Gerardi Lorichij der Fabeln Ausslegung, renouiert, ...
Imprint: Franckfort am Mayn. M.D.LXXXI.
Physical Description: 8 p. ℓ., 198 numb. ℓ., 7 ℓ. illus. 35 cm., in case 36 cm. (fol.)
Acquired through the Stanford University Bookstore Fund.
The first folio German edition to hold the fine woodcut illustrations of German mannerist Virgil Solis (1514-1562), illustrations first used in a Latin octavo edition of 1563. The translation by Jörg Wickram (ca. 1505-1560) was based on the fragmentary remains of a Middle High German translation by Albrecht von Halberstadt (fl. 1210-18). The great Nuremberg artist and engraver Virgil Solis was commissioned by a consortium of Frankfurt printers to produce the illustrations. He modeled his woodcuts on those done by Bernard Salomon for the De Tournes edition of 1557. His lively interpretations proved immensely popular, the blocks being re-used in some twenty-five editions up to 1652, with accompanying texts variously in Dutch, Flemish, German, Latin, and Spanish. Solis has been described as the most prolific graphic artist in mid-16th century Germany with more than two thousand prints and book illustrations attributed to his workshop.
Epistolae Heroidvm novissime recognitae aptissimisqve figvris excvlte ...
Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 or 18 A.D.
Title: Epistolae Heroidvm novissime recognitae aptissimisqve figvris excvlte / commentantibvs Volsco, Vbertino et Ascensio ; necnon in Sappho et Ibin Domitio, eodemqve Ascensio viris doctissimis ...
Imprint: Impressvm Tvscvlani apvd Benacvm : In aedibus Alexandri Paganini, 1525.
Physical Description: [2], cxxxviii [i.e. cxxxvii], [1] leaves : ill. ; 22 cm. (4to)
Acquired through the Stanford University Bookstore Fund.
A very rare edition of Ovid’s Heroides, beautifully printed in Paganino’s distinctive italic type, and illustrated with twenty-one woodcut illustrations of scenes from Greek mythology. The fine calligraphic types found here, a mixture of roman and italic, are quite different from any other types found in the 16th century and represent a notable step forward in the history of Venetian typefaces. The commentaries are by Antonio Volsco, Ubertino da Crescentino, and Josse Badius on the Heroides and Domizio Calderini on the other poems.
Grammatica nova in usum juventutis Scoticae ad methodum revocata ab Alexandro Humio ...
Hume, Alexander, schoolmaster.
Title: Grammatica nova in usum iuventutis Scoticæ : ad methodum revocata ab Alexandro Humio et auctoritate senatus, omnibus Regni scholis imperata. Accessit schola ad singula capita, capitumque sectiones, ut res poscit, accommodata.
Imprint: Edinburghi : Excudebat Thomas Finlason, 1612.
Physical Description: [8], 103, [1]; [12], 106, [2] p. ; 15 cm.
Acquired through the Fitger-Williams Fund.
Few copies of this Latin grammar, the first to be officially appointed for use in all Scottish schools, have survived. Composed by Alexander Hume, a Scottish schoolmaster known as “the Grammarian,” it was supported both by the Privy Council and the Scottish Parliament. Hume taught at the High School at Edinburgh, resigning his post in 1606 to become principal master of the grammar school at Prestonpans, a new academy for the teaching of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, recently founded by John Davidson, the parish minister there. In 1615 Hume moved to the grammar school at Dunbar. This Latin grammar is his principal work.
De recta Latini Graecique sermonis Pronunciatione Des. Erasmi Roterodami ; Dialogus. Eiusdem Dialogus, cui titulus ...
Erasmus, Desiderius, d. 1536.
Title: De recta Latini Graeciq́ue sermonis Pronunciatione / Des. Erasmi Roterodami ; Dialogus. Eiusdem Dialogus, cui titulus Ciceronianus, siue, De optimo genere dicendi.
Basileae [i.e. Basel] : Froben, MDLVIII [1558]
Physical Description: 287, [1] p. ; 18 cm. (8vo)
Acquired though the Stanford University Bookstore Fund.
Two dialogues on different aspects of classical philology. The first is an influential treatise in which Erasmus explores the question of how to construct a correct schema for the pronunciation of Latin & Greek; the second is a critique of the Ciceronians, a group of (mainly French and Italian) humanists who defended Cicero’s writings as the ideal models for imitation in the writing of Latin prose. Such was the popularity and influence of these texts that they were issued in more than a dozen editions in the 16th century.
This copy contains extensive seventeenth-century marginal annotations throughout. Provenance: Hans Booch; Joachim Stuther (inscription, dated 1607); Joannes Tesser (inscription, dated 1614); Johann Ihre. Johann Ihre is considered to be among the most gifted linguist of the Swedish Enlightenment; he belonged to the same remarkable generation that produced Swedenborg, Linnæus, and Celsius. Pronunciation patterns in the Teutonic languages were one of Ihre’s primary subjects of study; he was, in fact, the first to recognize the consonant shift in those languages that would later be elaborated upon by Rasmus Christian Rask and Jakob Grimm, and which is now known as Grimm’s Law.
Commentarius Caesaris
Caesar, Julius.
Impressum Venetiis : Per Philippum de Pinciis Mantuanum, anno ab Incarnatione domini 1494 die uero .xxy. [i.e. 25] octobris.
Physical Description: [268] p. (p. [268] blank) ; 32 cm. (fol.)
Acquired through the Fitger-Williams Fund.
Fourth printing of this edition, edited by Girolamo Bologni (1474-1517; also known as Hieronymus Bononius), who has added a poem. It is a page-for-page reprint of the edition published in Venice in 1490. Bologni was a poet and editor of Roman history and early Christian writings. Numerous early manuscript annotations appear in the margins; present is the bookplate of Count Boutourlin (1763-1829), director of the Russian Imperial Library, whose own fine collection of books was destroyed in Moscow in 1812.
Metamorphose, autrement, L'asne d'or … traduite de latin en nostre vulgaire par George de La Bouthiere Autunois.
Apuleius.
Title: Metamorphose, autrement, L'asne d'or / de L. Apulee de Madaure philosophe platonique ; traduite de latin en nostre vulgaire par George de La Bouthiere Autunois.
Imprint: A Lyon : Par Iean de Tournes & Guillaume Gazeau, 1553.
Physical Description: 646, [2] p. : ill. (woodcuts) ; 12 cm. (16mo)
Acquired through the Antoinette and Warren R. Howell Fund.
First edition of this French translation by La Bouthère of Apuleius' Latin novel, The Golden Ass. The beautifully executed woodcuts were the work of Bernard Salomon (ca. 1506-ca. 1561), the foremost of De Tournes’ designers. The Golden Ass is the only Latin novel that survives complete; it had an enormous influence in the Renaissance. Many stories are embedded within this novel, most notably the tale of Cupid and Psyche.
Classics
C. Plinij Secundi Veronensis Historiae naturalis libri xxxvij.
Pliny, the Elder.
Title: C. Plinij Secundi Veronensis Historiae naturalis libri xxxvij / aptissimis figuris exculti ; ab Alexa[n]dro Benedicto Ve. physico emendatiores redditi.
[Colophon : Impressus Venetiis summa diligentia : Per Melchiorem Sessam, Anno reconciliate Natiuitatis. M.D. XIII. Die XX Augusti.]
Physical Description: 14 p. l., 219 leaves : ill. ; 32 cm.
Acquired through the Stanford University Bookstore Fund.
First illustrated edition of Pliny’s highly influential Natural History, with thirty-seven woodcut illustrations which were specially designed for this text, one at the head of each book. A small column is found in three of the illustrations, probably used as the signature of the artist (perhaps a member of the Colonna family). Pliny’s work is an important encyclopedia of natural science; the illustrations are wide-ranging and include numerous depictions of the animal world (elephants, giraffes, camels, marine creatures, insects, etc.) as well as various illustrations of agricultural pursuits (including the growing of vines and beekeeping), mineral baths, and medical practices.
P. Ovidii Metamorphosis …
Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 or 18 A.D.
Title: P. Ovidii Metamorphosis, oder: Wunderbarliche vnnd seltzame Beschreibung, von der Menschen, Thiern, vnd anderer Creaturen veränderung, auch von dem Wandeln, Leben vnd Thaten der Götter, Martis, Veneris, Mercurij, etc. Allen Poeten, Malern, Goldschmiden, Bildhauwern, vnd Liebhabern der edlen Poesi vnd fürnembsten Künsten, nützlich vnd lustig zu lesen. Jetzt widerum̃ auff ein newes, dem gemeinen Vatterlandt teutscher Sprach zu grossem nutz vnd dienst, auss sonderlichem fleiss mit schönen Figurn, auch dess hochgelehrten Herrn Gerardi Lorichij der Fabeln Ausslegung, renouiert, ...
Imprint: Franckfort am Mayn. M.D.LXXXI.
Physical Description: 8 p. ℓ., 198 numb. ℓ., 7 ℓ. illus. 35 cm., in case 36 cm. (fol.)
Acquired through the Stanford University Bookstore Fund.
The first folio German edition to hold the fine woodcut illustrations of German mannerist Virgil Solis (1514-1562), illustrations first used in a Latin octavo edition of 1563. The translation by Jörg Wickram (ca. 1505-1560) was based on the fragmentary remains of a Middle High German translation by Albrecht von Halberstadt (fl. 1210-18). The great Nuremberg artist and engraver Virgil Solis was commissioned by a consortium of Frankfurt printers to produce the illustrations. He modeled his woodcuts on those done by Bernard Salomon for the De Tournes edition of 1557. His lively interpretations proved immensely popular, the blocks being re-used in some twenty-five editions up to 1652, with accompanying texts variously in Dutch, Flemish, German, Latin, and Spanish. Solis has been described as the most prolific graphic artist in mid-16th century Germany with more than two thousand prints and book illustrations attributed to his workshop.
Epistolae Heroidvm novissime recognitae aptissimisqve figvris excvlte ...
Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 or 18 A.D.
Title: Epistolae Heroidvm novissime recognitae aptissimisqve figvris excvlte / commentantibvs Volsco, Vbertino et Ascensio ; necnon in Sappho et Ibin Domitio, eodemqve Ascensio viris doctissimis ...
Imprint: Impressvm Tvscvlani apvd Benacvm : In aedibus Alexandri Paganini, 1525.
Physical Description: [2], cxxxviii [i.e. cxxxvii], [1] leaves : ill. ; 22 cm. (4to)
Acquired through the Stanford University Bookstore Fund.
A very rare edition of Ovid’s Heroides, beautifully printed in Paganino’s distinctive italic type, and illustrated with twenty-one woodcut illustrations of scenes from Greek mythology. The fine calligraphic types found here, a mixture of roman and italic, are quite different from any other types found in the 16th century and represent a notable step forward in the history of Venetian typefaces. The commentaries are by Antonio Volsco, Ubertino da Crescentino, and Josse Badius on the Heroides and Domizio Calderini on the other poems.
Grammatica nova in usum juventutis Scoticae ad methodum revocata ab Alexandro Humio ...
Hume, Alexander, schoolmaster.
Title: Grammatica nova in usum iuventutis Scoticæ : ad methodum revocata ab Alexandro Humio et auctoritate senatus, omnibus Regni scholis imperata. Accessit schola ad singula capita, capitumque sectiones, ut res poscit, accommodata.
Imprint: Edinburghi : Excudebat Thomas Finlason, 1612.
Physical Description: [8], 103, [1]; [12], 106, [2] p. ; 15 cm.
Acquired through the Fitger-Williams Fund.
Few copies of this Latin grammar, the first to be officially appointed for use in all Scottish schools, have survived. Composed by Alexander Hume, a Scottish schoolmaster known as “the Grammarian,” it was supported both by the Privy Council and the Scottish Parliament. Hume taught at the High School at Edinburgh, resigning his post in 1606 to become principal master of the grammar school at Prestonpans, a new academy for the teaching of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, recently founded by John Davidson, the parish minister there. In 1615 Hume moved to the grammar school at Dunbar. This Latin grammar is his principal work.
De recta Latini Graecique sermonis Pronunciatione Des. Erasmi Roterodami ; Dialogus. Eiusdem Dialogus, cui titulus ...
Erasmus, Desiderius, d. 1536.
Title: De recta Latini Graeciq́ue sermonis Pronunciatione / Des. Erasmi Roterodami ; Dialogus. Eiusdem Dialogus, cui titulus Ciceronianus, siue, De optimo genere dicendi.
Basileae [i.e. Basel] : Froben, MDLVIII [1558]
Physical Description: 287, [1] p. ; 18 cm. (8vo)
Acquired though the Stanford University Bookstore Fund.
Two dialogues on different aspects of classical philology. The first is an influential treatise in which Erasmus explores the question of how to construct a correct schema for the pronunciation of Latin & Greek; the second is a critique of the Ciceronians, a group of (mainly French and Italian) humanists who defended Cicero’s writings as the ideal models for imitation in the writing of Latin prose. Such was the popularity and influence of these texts that they were issued in more than a dozen editions in the 16th century.
This copy contains extensive seventeenth-century marginal annotations throughout. Provenance: Hans Booch; Joachim Stuther (inscription, dated 1607); Joannes Tesser (inscription, dated 1614); Johann Ihre. Johann Ihre is considered to be among the most gifted linguist of the Swedish Enlightenment; he belonged to the same remarkable generation that produced Swedenborg, Linnæus, and Celsius. Pronunciation patterns in the Teutonic languages were one of Ihre’s primary subjects of study; he was, in fact, the first to recognize the consonant shift in those languages that would later be elaborated upon by Rasmus Christian Rask and Jakob Grimm, and which is now known as Grimm’s Law.
Commentarius Caesaris
Caesar, Julius.
Impressum Venetiis : Per Philippum de Pinciis Mantuanum, anno ab Incarnatione domini 1494 die uero .xxy. [i.e. 25] octobris.
Physical Description: [268] p. (p. [268] blank) ; 32 cm. (fol.)
Acquired through the Fitger-Williams Fund.
Fourth printing of this edition, edited by Girolamo Bologni (1474-1517; also known as Hieronymus Bononius), who has added a poem. It is a page-for-page reprint of the edition published in Venice in 1490. Bologni was a poet and editor of Roman history and early Christian writings. Numerous early manuscript annotations appear in the margins; present is the bookplate of Count Boutourlin (1763-1829), director of the Russian Imperial Library, whose own fine collection of books was destroyed in Moscow in 1812.
Metamorphose, autrement, L'asne d'or … traduite de latin en nostre vulgaire par George de La Bouthiere Autunois.
Apuleius.
Title: Metamorphose, autrement, L'asne d'or / de L. Apulee de Madaure philosophe platonique ; traduite de latin en nostre vulgaire par George de La Bouthiere Autunois.
Imprint: A Lyon : Par Iean de Tournes & Guillaume Gazeau, 1553.
Physical Description: 646, [2] p. : ill. (woodcuts) ; 12 cm. (16mo)
Acquired through the Antoinette and Warren R. Howell Fund.
First edition of this French translation by La Bouthère of Apuleius' Latin novel, The Golden Ass. The beautifully executed woodcuts were the work of Bernard Salomon (ca. 1506-ca. 1561), the foremost of De Tournes’ designers. The Golden Ass is the only Latin novel that survives complete; it had an enormous influence in the Renaissance. Many stories are embedded within this novel, most notably the tale of Cupid and Psyche.
Classics
C. Plinij Secundi Veronensis Historiae naturalis libri xxxvij.
Pliny, the Elder.
Title: C. Plinij Secundi Veronensis Historiae naturalis libri xxxvij / aptissimis figuris exculti ; ab Alexa[n]dro Benedicto Ve. physico emendatiores redditi.
[Colophon : Impressus Venetiis summa diligentia : Per Melchiorem Sessam, Anno reconciliate Natiuitatis. M.D. XIII. Die XX Augusti.]
Physical Description: 14 p. l., 219 leaves : ill. ; 32 cm.
Acquired through the Stanford University Bookstore Fund.
First illustrated edition of Pliny’s highly influential Natural History, with thirty-seven woodcut illustrations which were specially designed for this text, one at the head of each book. A small column is found in three of the illustrations, probably used as the signature of the artist (perhaps a member of the Colonna family). Pliny’s work is an important encyclopedia of natural science; the illustrations are wide-ranging and include numerous depictions of the animal world (elephants, giraffes, camels, marine creatures, insects, etc.) as well as various illustrations of agricultural pursuits (including the growing of vines and beekeeping), mineral baths, and medical practices.
P. Ovidii Metamorphosis …
Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 or 18 A.D.
Title: P. Ovidii Metamorphosis, oder: Wunderbarliche vnnd seltzame Beschreibung, von der Menschen, Thiern, vnd anderer Creaturen veränderung, auch von dem Wandeln, Leben vnd Thaten der Götter, Martis, Veneris, Mercurij, etc. Allen Poeten, Malern, Goldschmiden, Bildhauwern, vnd Liebhabern der edlen Poesi vnd fürnembsten Künsten, nützlich vnd lustig zu lesen. Jetzt widerum̃ auff ein newes, dem gemeinen Vatterlandt teutscher Sprach zu grossem nutz vnd dienst, auss sonderlichem fleiss mit schönen Figurn, auch dess hochgelehrten Herrn Gerardi Lorichij der Fabeln Ausslegung, renouiert, ...
Imprint: Franckfort am Mayn. M.D.LXXXI.
Physical Description: 8 p. ℓ., 198 numb. ℓ., 7 ℓ. illus. 35 cm., in case 36 cm. (fol.)
Acquired through the Stanford University Bookstore Fund.
The first folio German edition to hold the fine woodcut illustrations of German mannerist Virgil Solis (1514-1562), illustrations first used in a Latin octavo edition of 1563. The translation by Jörg Wickram (ca. 1505-1560) was based on the fragmentary remains of a Middle High German translation by Albrecht von Halberstadt (fl. 1210-18). The great Nuremberg artist and engraver Virgil Solis was commissioned by a consortium of Frankfurt printers to produce the illustrations. He modeled his woodcuts on those done by Bernard Salomon for the De Tournes edition of 1557. His lively interpretations proved immensely popular, the blocks being re-used in some twenty-five editions up to 1652, with accompanying texts variously in Dutch, Flemish, German, Latin, and Spanish. Solis has been described as the most prolific graphic artist in mid-16th century Germany with more than two thousand prints and book illustrations attributed to his workshop.
Epistolae Heroidvm novissime recognitae aptissimisqve figvris excvlte ...
Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 or 18 A.D.
Title: Epistolae Heroidvm novissime recognitae aptissimisqve figvris excvlte / commentantibvs Volsco, Vbertino et Ascensio ; necnon in Sappho et Ibin Domitio, eodemqve Ascensio viris doctissimis ...
Imprint: Impressvm Tvscvlani apvd Benacvm : In aedibus Alexandri Paganini, 1525.
Physical Description: [2], cxxxviii [i.e. cxxxvii], [1] leaves : ill. ; 22 cm. (4to)
Acquired through the Stanford University Bookstore Fund.
A very rare edition of Ovid’s Heroides, beautifully printed in Paganino’s distinctive italic type, and illustrated with twenty-one woodcut illustrations of scenes from Greek mythology. The fine calligraphic types found here, a mixture of roman and italic, are quite different from any other types found in the 16th century and represent a notable step forward in the history of Venetian typefaces. The commentaries are by Antonio Volsco, Ubertino da Crescentino, and Josse Badius on the Heroides and Domizio Calderini on the other poems.
Grammatica nova in usum juventutis Scoticae ad methodum revocata ab Alexandro Humio ...
Hume, Alexander, schoolmaster.
Title: Grammatica nova in usum iuventutis Scoticæ : ad methodum revocata ab Alexandro Humio et auctoritate senatus, omnibus Regni scholis imperata. Accessit schola ad singula capita, capitumque sectiones, ut res poscit, accommodata.
Imprint: Edinburghi : Excudebat Thomas Finlason, 1612.
Physical Description: [8], 103, [1]; [12], 106, [2] p. ; 15 cm.
Acquired through the Fitger-Williams Fund.
Few copies of this Latin grammar, the first to be officially appointed for use in all Scottish schools, have survived. Composed by Alexander Hume, a Scottish schoolmaster known as “the Grammarian,” it was supported both by the Privy Council and the Scottish Parliament. Hume taught at the High School at Edinburgh, resigning his post in 1606 to become principal master of the grammar school at Prestonpans, a new academy for the teaching of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, recently founded by John Davidson, the parish minister there. In 1615 Hume moved to the grammar school at Dunbar. This Latin grammar is his principal work.
De recta Latini Graecique sermonis Pronunciatione Des. Erasmi Roterodami ; Dialogus. Eiusdem Dialogus, cui titulus ...
Erasmus, Desiderius, d. 1536.
Title: De recta Latini Graeciq́ue sermonis Pronunciatione / Des. Erasmi Roterodami ; Dialogus. Eiusdem Dialogus, cui titulus Ciceronianus, siue, De optimo genere dicendi.
Basileae [i.e. Basel] : Froben, MDLVIII [1558]
Physical Description: 287, [1] p. ; 18 cm. (8vo)
Acquired though the Stanford University Bookstore Fund.
Two dialogues on different aspects of classical philology. The first is an influential treatise in which Erasmus explores the question of how to construct a correct schema for the pronunciation of Latin & Greek; the second is a critique of the Ciceronians, a group of (mainly French and Italian) humanists who defended Cicero’s writings as the ideal models for imitation in the writing of Latin prose. Such was the popularity and influence of these texts that they were issued in more than a dozen editions in the 16th century.
This copy contains extensive seventeenth-century marginal annotations throughout. Provenance: Hans Booch; Joachim Stuther (inscription, dated 1607); Joannes Tesser (inscription, dated 1614); Johann Ihre. Johann Ihre is considered to be among the most gifted linguist of the Swedish Enlightenment; he belonged to the same remarkable generation that produced Swedenborg, Linnæus, and Celsius. Pronunciation patterns in the Teutonic languages were one of Ihre’s primary subjects of study; he was, in fact, the first to recognize the consonant shift in those languages that would later be elaborated upon by Rasmus Christian Rask and Jakob Grimm, and which is now known as Grimm’s Law.
Commentarius Caesaris
Caesar, Julius.
Impressum Venetiis : Per Philippum de Pinciis Mantuanum, anno ab Incarnatione domini 1494 die uero .xxy. [i.e. 25] octobris.
Physical Description: [268] p. (p. [268] blank) ; 32 cm. (fol.)
Acquired through the Fitger-Williams Fund.
Fourth printing of this edition, edited by Girolamo Bologni (1474-1517; also known as Hieronymus Bononius), who has added a poem. It is a page-for-page reprint of the edition published in Venice in 1490. Bologni was a poet and editor of Roman history and early Christian writings. Numerous early manuscript annotations appear in the margins; present is the bookplate of Count Boutourlin (1763-1829), director of the Russian Imperial Library, whose own fine collection of books was destroyed in Moscow in 1812.
Metamorphose, autrement, L'asne d'or … traduite de latin en nostre vulgaire par George de La Bouthiere Autunois.
Apuleius.
Title: Metamorphose, autrement, L'asne d'or / de L. Apulee de Madaure philosophe platonique ; traduite de latin en nostre vulgaire par George de La Bouthiere Autunois.
Imprint: A Lyon : Par Iean de Tournes & Guillaume Gazeau, 1553.
Physical Description: 646, [2] p. : ill. (woodcuts) ; 12 cm. (16mo)
Acquired through the Antoinette and Warren R. Howell Fund.
First edition of this French translation by La Bouthère of Apuleius' Latin novel, The Golden Ass. The beautifully executed woodcuts were the work of Bernard Salomon (ca. 1506-ca. 1561), the foremost of De Tournes’ designers. The Golden Ass is the only Latin novel that survives complete; it had an enormous influence in the Renaissance. Many stories are embedded within this novel, most notably the tale of Cupid and Psyche.