1600-1649
1602/1974 The Etymologist of Aesops Fables. Containing the construing of his Latine fables into English; also The Etymologist of Phaedrus fables, containing the construing of Phaedrus (a new found yet auncient Author) into English, verbatim. Both very necessarie helps for young schollers. Compiled by Simon Sturtevant. London: Printed by Richard Field for Robert Dexter. Reprinted by Walter J. Johnson, Inc. Amsterdam: Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Ltd. $20 from Dundee Books, Nov., '92.Sixty-nine pages of phrase-by-phrase and then word-by-word construing of some fifty or so Latin fables of Aesop. Then, after the straight verse texts of the 31 fables of Book 1 of Phaedrus, they are treated the same way. The introductions "to the industrious and discreet Schoolemaister" (A ii and 87) may give a good idea of early 17th-century pedagogy.
1614 Aesopi Phrygis Fabulae Elegantissimis iconibus illustratae. Hardbound. Lyon: Jean Jullieron. $499 from Salomon Rosenthal, TX, Sept., '13.
Bodemann finds the texts here stemming from the Jean de Tournes edition of 1551 in Lyon. Bodemann also sees the fable illustrations as copies of those in the Jean de Tournes-Guillaume Gazeau edition of 1549 from Lyon. The Bodemann description fits this little book down to the five added pages for the T of C after the 427 pages of the book. Small in format, 3⅛" x 4½", it is in exceptional condition for its age. The title-page advertises the addition of desired illustrations (twenty-seven of them) to the life of Aesop. The first of the images, which accompanies the excerpt from Philostratus, is a strong depiction of Aesop himself with animals--though, of course, like all the images, it is unfortunately small (2" x 1½"). There are fifty-two illustrations for the fables. As an example, try "The Fox and the Goat" on 145. This book is another pearl in this collection!
1619? Aesopi Phrygis Fabulae. Elegantissimis iconibus veras animalium species ad viuum adumbrantibus. Title pages missing. Identical with a volume, dated 1619 and published "apud Ioannem Tornaesium" in London, found in the Leighton library, Dunblane. This book is dated in pencil "1570 or 1582" by someone. Front cover separated. $85.50 at McNaughton's, Edinburgh, July, '92.
One of the gems of this collection. Undersized and fragile. Bilingual in columns of Greek and Latin for its first few sections: definitions of fable by Aphthonius and Philostratos; life of Aesop; and 150 fables (beginning on 119). Then several sections are bilingual on facing pages: 43 fables of Gabrius; the Battle of Mice and Frogs; the Battle of Cats and Mice. The last section has just Latin: 42 fables by Avienus. There are many wonderful small illustrations with the 150 fables, some of them marked with ink or color. The best of the illustrations: "The Fox and the Goat" (125), "The Cat and the Mice" (154), "The Ass and the Horse" (194), "The Eagle and the Turtle" (198), "The Ethiopian" (212), "The Mistress and the Two Servants" (215), "The Man and the Satyr" (260), WC (281). There is also a great hand-drawn ink cartoon (of some teacher?) on 299. There are bookplates from two prior owners. See the attached title-page and index-card xerox from the Leighton library.
1621 The Moral Fables of Robert Henryson. Reprinted from the edition of Andrew Hart. Edinburgh: The Maitland Club. See 1570/1621/1832.
1628? Aesopi Phrygis Fabulae Elegantissimis iconibus veras animalium species ad viuum adumbrantibus (Title-page missing). Hardbound. Geneva?: apud Ioannem Tornaesium? £150 from Celsus Books, London, March, '22.
This may be our fourth or fifth book in the family of Bodemann 29. We have a clear edition of 1551, a solid edition of 1570, and a supposed edition of 1619. In addition, there is the 1614 edition of Jean Jullieron. I will now quote the seller's introduction to this little book: "An interesting early illustrated Aesop in Greek and Latin, without its title page and last page of index, in a contemporary binding. 16mo., 410, [6] pp. 70 attractive illustrations to text, contemporary stamped calf, worn to head and foot of spine, light staining to inner gutter, pages a little browned, occasional early manuscript note. Attributed (mistakenly) in a manuscript note on front board to Burgkmair, 1547. However, we presume it is the Geneva edition by Joannes de Tournes printed in 1628, with illustrations very close (but not identical) to that of Salomon. Please note condition, but still a very charming book." I will go with that guess of 1628, but I note that the pagination squares exactly with the editions of 1570 and 1619(?). This book could be any of those "apud Ioannem Tornaesium" editions in and after 1570. What a pity that the title-page is missing! Another beautiful little book!
1645? Candidatus Rhetoricae. (Or Novus Candidatus.) Author unknown. Handwritten card says "Elzevers ed., Amsterdam." $20 at Blake, June, '93.
This little book is a find whatever it finally turns out to be! For now it seems to be a Jesuit collegium text in rhetoric following the Progymnasmata of Aphthonius. If one works from the back of the book, there is an apparently independent 48-page work, Angelus Pacis by Nicolas Caussini (Latinized name), S.J. The rest of the book seems to be a commentary on or presentation of Aphthonius' Progymnasmata in 3 parts covering 435 pages, followed by a T of C and an AI, which is often one page off. Pars II is titled "Rhetoricae Praecepta," Pars III "De Panegyrico seu Laudatione." Pars I seems to be "Apparatus ad Fabulam et Narrationem." Fable is handled on 15-31. After the famous Greek definition of Theion done into Latin ("sermo falsus veritatem effingens"), the author distinguishes "rational" (human) and "moral" (animal) fables, with "mixed" fables including both. He holds (19) that the sense of the fable generally needs to be expressed; otherwise people often miss the point of a fable. His Latin for promythium is "praefabulatio," for epimythium "affabulatio." "Apologus" and "parabola" are identical for him with "fabula." After describing the qualities and uses of fables, the author presents some nine fables that exemplify various levels of style, twice telling the same stories on two levels (WL and FC). The last example is of the florid style: "The Silkworm and the Spider" takes four pages to tell! I found this book sitting in a box of disparate, unmarked, old books. It pays to look!
1649 Les Fables D'Esope Phrygien. Illustrées de Discours Moraux, Philosophiques, & Politiques. Jean Baudoin. Illustrations: Marie Briot. Nouvelle édition. Hardbound. Paris: Jean du Bray. DKK3,500 from Herman Lynge, Copenhagen, 4April, '21.
As the seller indicates, the spine is gone and the covers loose but the block is intact, with all 118 full-page fable illustrations, one for each fable. The seller's shorthand description is revealing because it lists three parts: "(22),102,(4),712 - (8),112 pp. Titlepage to part 2 with engraved portrait. With all 118 full-page engraved illustrations (numb. 1-118)." There are really three parts here. The first of the three parts starts with two title-pages and various introductory materials. The first title-page, explicitly dated "1631" (the date of Bodemann #67.1) lists as its publishers Toussainct DuBray, Matthieu Guillemot, Pierre Roccolet, and Antoine de Sommaville. It presents a strong image of Aesop above a collection of animals. The second title-page, without image, lists only Jean Du Bray as the publisher, carries the date 1659, and announces the addition of the fables of Philelphe. The first part then offers a full-page illustration of Aesop featured in Fabula Docet" (#17) followed by the life of Aesop without illustrations. Then comes the long second part, begun with a T of C of fables. This portion includes the 118 numbered full-page images for Aesop's fables, apparently executed by Marie Briot. The engraved portrait, also dated 1659, mentioned by the seller starts the third part, the "fables of Philelphe," presented without illustrations. Francois Philelphe died in Florence in 1481. From what I can gather, his fables are longish developments of Aesop-like stories, with extensive reflections after each prose story. His eighteen "fables" here take up the 112 pages of the third part. There is something of a mystery here as the seller indicates a date of 1649. Bodemann gives that same date for Parts II and III in #67.1. These considerations lead me to wonder if we have #67.1, #67.2, or something in between. A look at the first third of the illustrations confirms Bodemann's notice of the influence Gheeraerts. The motifs seem to be very close to those we will recognize in Barlow and Hollar. I look forward to further comparison of this volume with our (other?) 1659 Du Bray Baudoin.from Antiquariat Canicio in Heidelberg. This copy is so fragile!