Aesopus, Venice, Aldus, 1505, nineteenth-century brown morocco by Bedford in period style

Aesopus

Vita, et fabellae Aesopi cum interpretatione latina [and other works]. (Venice): Aldus, (October 1505)

folio (280 x 178mm.), small woodcut Aldine device on title-page, larger framed woodcut device on final verso, nineteenth-century brown crushed morocco by Bedford, tooled in gilt in period style, gilt edges, some early annotations (washed), title-page slightly soiled with small repaired tear, small section of upper corner of first few leaves repaired, joints weak

Aesop's Fables had previously been printed in Greek in 1498, by a consortium of four Venetian printers, one of whom, Gabriel di Brisighella, had previously collaborated with Aldus on his 1497 Aristotle volume. The Greek text had first appeared in Milan in 1481, printed by Bonus Accursius. Some of the supplementary texts appear here for the first time.

The first few quires contain text in Greek and Latin, which were printed on separate sheets that were designed to be interleaved, with the Greek text facing the Latin and vice versa.

LITERATURE:

Aldo Manuzio tipografo 95; Edit16 334; Renouard 49/6; Texas 84; UCLA 93

PROVENANCE:

Crawford, pencil inscription on flyleaf, i.e. Alexander William Lindsay (1812-1880), 25th earl of Crawford and Balcarres, sale, Sotheby's, 13 June 1887, lot 9, £8-15-0 to Jones; Henry Harris, sale, Sotheby's, 30 October 1950, lot 58, £22 to Maggs; Charles Clive Bigham (1872-1956), 2nd Viscount Mersey, Bignor Park, label on inside front cover and pencil inscription "Mersey 1952" on flyleaf, stating bought from Maggs in 1950; Christie's, sale, 24 June 1992, lot 264; Librairie Thomas-Scheler, Paris, label on inside lower cover