Erasmus, Apophthegmatum, Basel, 1531, modern red morocco

Desiderius Erasmus

Apophthegmatum, sive scite dictorum libri sex. Basel: Froben, (March) 1531

4to (200 x 138mm.), woocut printer’s device on title-page and final verso, woodcut initials, modern red morocco gilt, green morocco board liners with gilt decoration imitating a series of contemporary woodcut portraits, first and last few quires with neat paper repairs, loss of a few letters on G4, a passage on Kk4v-Ll1r crossed through

FIRST EDITION of Erasmus's collection of sayings or anecdotes extracted from classical sources, compiled for and dedicated to Prince William of Cleves, which proved to be very influential on sixteenth-century culture and learning across Europe.

There is a manuscript note on title-page about the prohibition of Erasmus’s works, dated Zaragoza, 3 March 1633, by Raphael Siurana (a Rafael Siurana of Zaragoza is recorded at the University of Irache, Navarre, in 1625).

LITERATURE

VD16 E 2035