Aesopi Phrygis Fabulae Elegantissimis iconibus veras animalium species ad viuum adumbrantibus

Abstract

Here is a precious addition to the collection, both for its antiquity and its excellent condition. The one shortcoming of its condition is that the title-page seems to be a xerox copy. As Bodemann #29.2, it fits into this collection as a later edition of Bodemann #29.1 from 1551. I also have Bodemann #29.4 from 1614. Bodemann calls this an expanded and changed reprinting of the 1551 edition. There is no longer an address to the reader by Adam Knopff, then the editor. The expansion involves the forty-two fables of Avienus now included at the end, before the AI of fables. The book now has 410 + 6 pages, whereas the 1551 printing had 375 + 7. The woodcuts are Nachschnitte. That volume had 39 fable illustrations but this one has 61. Bilingual in columns of Greek and Latin through 179, including: definitions of fable by Aphthonius and Philostratos, life of Aesop, and 150 fables (beginning on 119). Then several unillustrated sections are bilingual on facing pages: 43 fables of Gabrius beginning on 288, the Battle of Mice and Frogs, the Battle of Cats and Mice. Some of the best illustrations are: The Fox and the Goat (125: my choice for best illustration overall), The Birdcatcher and the Viper (160), The Woodcutter and Mercury (177), The Ass and the Horse (194), The Eagle and the Turtle (198), The Ethiopian (212), and The Mistress and the Two Servants (215). Not all of the illustrations are equally distinct or equally well done.