Erasmus, Adagiorum, Venice, Aldo, 1508, seventeenth-century brown calf

Erasmus, Desiderius. Erasmi Roterodami Adagiorum chiliades tres, ac centuriae fere totidem. (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, September 1508)

Aldo Manuzio's edition of Erasmus's Adages is four times the length of the first edition, printed in Paris in 1500. Erasmus came to the Aldine workshop to prepare his edition and clearly was stimulated by the scholars in Aldo's circle, such as Janus Lascaris and Marcus Musurus. The text, which traces Greek and Latin proverbs back to their origins with amusing comments added, was much used by other writers, Rabelais in particular. At the beginning of the second chilias (fol. 112) Erasmus talks at some length about Aldo's Herculean activities in printing the Greek classics and also about the Aldine device, claiming "that Pietro Bembo showed Aldus a denarius minted during the reign of the emperor Titus, noting that the image of the dolphin and anchor succinctly reflected Aldus's twin objectives: the dolphin symbolizing speed of production; the anchor denoting stability of purpose. Aldus would show the coin to Jean Grolier during a visit to the Treasurer in Milan in the late summer of 1511" (Grolier/Aldus).

Folio (304 x 205 mm). Roman types, with occasional Greek, 54 lines plus headline. collation: A⁶ B⁸ χ-²χ⁶ a-z⁶ &⁶ aa-qq⁶ rr¹⁰: 276 leaves (rr10 blank). Woodcut Aldine device on title-page and rr9v, 8- or 9-line initial spaces with guide letters at the beginning of each section. (Dampstained at upper inner corners with restoration to first and last few leaves, some other scattered minor soiling and staining.)

binding: Seventeenth-century English brown calf (316 x 225 mm), covers with a blind-roll border, brown-speckled edges. (A little scuffed, rebacked by Deborah Evetts.)

provenance: Thomas Newton (1544/1545-1607), signature on title-page and a foot of rr9v below register and anchor and dolphin device — unidentified owner, extensive notes, aphorisms, and recipes on terminal blank — unidentified owner, inscription "Wharton " on front pastedown, possibly Sir George Wharton, 1st Bt. (1617-1681), although not traced in Daniel Browne, A Catalogue of Part of the Libraries of Sir George Wharton and Another Learn’d Gentleman Deceased, London, 20 October 1713. acquisition: Purchased from Librairie Paul Jammes, Paris, 1980. references: UCLA 98; Adams E418; Aldo Manuzio tipografo 100; Edit16 18199; Grolier/Aldus 128; Renouard 53/2; USTC 828220