Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library. The Aldine Collection A–C

Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library. The Aldine Collection A–C

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 138. Apuleius, Metamorphoseos, Venice, Aldus, 1521, later vellum.

Apuleius, Metamorphoseos, Venice, Aldus, 1521, later vellum

Auction Closed

October 12, 08:25 PM GMT

Estimate

600 - 800 USD

Lot Details

Description

Apuleius Madaurensis, Lucius. L. Apuleii Metamorphoseos, sive Lusus asini libri XI. Floridorum IIII. De deo Socratis I. De philosophia I. Asclepius Trismegisti dialogus eodem Apuleio interprete… Isagogicus liber Platonicae philosophiae per Alcinoum philosophum, graece impressus... (Venice: in the house of Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, May 1521)


The first Aldine edition of The Golden Ass, containing the editio princeps of Alcinous's second-century handbook on Plato's philosophy in the original Greek; while the rest of the volume is in Latin, the text on the title-page specifies that the Latin version of Alcinous is too corrupt to print.


Gian Francesco Torresano dedicated this edition to the newly-arrived French ambassador to Venice, François Lerouge, on the recommendation of Pietro Alcionio; however Lerouge died from the mal francese shortly afterwards.


This copy has the title-page in the first state, with the text on 17 lines and the printing error "Tiropiensis." For a copy with the corrected wording, see lot 139.


8vo (159 x 93 mm). Italic and Greek type, 30 lines plus headline. collation: a-z8 A-K8 1-38 44: 292 leaves. Woodcut Aldine device on title-page and final verso. (Lower corner of E2 torn, light staining at foot of last few leaves.)


binding: Modern vellum (167 x 107 mm).


provenance: Sotheby & Co., London, 5-6 June 1972, lot 460, £32, to Charles Traylen. acquisition: Purchased from Charles W. Traylen, Guildford, 1975. references: UCLA 202; Cataldi Palau 67; Edit16 2231; Renouard 91/8

You May Also Like

(Hamilton, Alexander, James Madison, and John Jay) | Bushrod Washington's Federalist, praised by George Washington as a "work [that] will merit the notice of Posterity"
(Hamilton, Alexander, James Madison, and John Jay) | Bushrod Washington's Federalist, praised by George Washington as a "work [that] will merit the notice of Posterity"

Estimate: 120,000 - 150,000 USD

Adams, John | Establishing an American Army: John Adams introduces a congressional committee charged with meeting with General Washington “concerning various Matters of Importance”
Adams, John | Establishing an American Army: John Adams introduces a congressional committee charged with meeting with General Washington “concerning various Matters of Importance”

Estimate: 150,000 - 250,000 USD

Adams, John | A learned disquisition on the common law and natural rights and the roles those concepts played in Adams's own contributions to the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the United States
Adams, John | A learned disquisition on the common law and natural rights and the roles those concepts played in Adams's own contributions to the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the United States

Estimate: 120,000 - 180,000 USD

Lincoln, Abraham | The President refutes rebel press propaganda about the siege of Vicksburg
Lincoln, Abraham | The President refutes rebel press propaganda about the siege of Vicksburg

Estimate: 80,000 - 120,000 USD

Jefferson, Thomas | In a widely discursive letter, Jefferson announces that he is joining Washington’s cabinet and expresses great relief at the recovery of the President from a serious illness
Jefferson, Thomas | In a widely discursive letter, Jefferson announces that he is joining Washington’s cabinet and expresses great relief at the recovery of the President from a serious illness

Estimate: 60,000 - 80,000 USD

Lincoln, Abraham | The President thanks a schoolboy on behalf of "all the children of the nation for his efforts to ensure "that this war shall be successful, and the Union be maintained and perpetuated."
Lincoln, Abraham | The President thanks a schoolboy on behalf of "all the children of the nation for his efforts to ensure "that this war shall be successful, and the Union be maintained and perpetuated."

Estimate: 200,000 - 300,000 USD

Virginia House of Delegates | The genesis of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights
Virginia House of Delegates | The genesis of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights

Estimate: 350,000 - 500,000 USD

Smith, John | The General History of Virginia... 1624
Smith, John | The General History of Virginia... 1624

Estimate: 150,000 - 200,000 USD

Lincoln, Abraham | The President's letter to John Key—sent just four days after he issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln, Abraham | The President's letter to John Key—sent just four days after he issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation

Estimate: 200,000 - 300,000 USD

Washington, George | The commander in chief orders that Redcoat prisoners be treated "with humanity, and Let them have no reason to Complain of our Copying the brutal example of the Brittish Army"
Washington, George | The commander in chief orders that Redcoat prisoners be treated "with humanity, and Let them have no reason to Complain of our Copying the brutal example of the Brittish Army"

Estimate: 80,000 - 100,000 USD