102. ÆSOPUS. VITA ET FABULE, Gr. et Lat. FABULE QUÆDAM SELECTE, Gr. et Lat. Without Date, Place, or Printer's Name. Quarto. EDITIO PRINCEPS; and rightly called, in the Bibl. Pinell. vol. iii. n°. 7473, Liber eximiæ raritatis.' As a great deal of unnecessary discussion has arisen among bibliographers, respecting the time, and place, of printing the present volume, it may be as well briefly to remark, that as Bonus Accursius resided at Milan, in the prosecution of his literary labours, it is probable, as the editor of the present work, that it was printed under his superintendence at the same place; and when we further notice the perfect conformity of the types (Greek and Roman) of this impression, with those of the Psalter of 1481, (vide p. 125 ante), of the Lexicon of Crestonus, and of the first Greek grammar of Lascaris, 1476, all printed at Milan, there seems to be little doubt respecting this volume being a genuine specimen of early Greek typography at Milan. Consult Saxius's Hist. Typog. Lit. Mediol. p. 162, as quoted in a note in the Appendix of Consul Smith's Catalogue, p. CLXXXIX; to which add the valuable note of Morelli in Harles's Fabr. Bibl. Græc. vol. i. p. 639, 640: although the Italian bibliographer does not seem justified in correcting De Bure for having observed upon the resemblance of the types to those of the Florence Homer of 1488: Cat. de la Valliere, vol. ii. p. 549, no. 3823. In regard to the date of its execution, it was probably not printed before the year 1480. We now proceed to a description of the volume. On the recto of the first leaf is the following address; which has been, in part only, extracted by Maittaire: Annal. Typog. vol. i. 262: edit. 1719. Bonus Accursius Pisanus doctissimo ac sapientissimo ducali quæstori Iohanni Francisco turriano salutem plurimam dicit. Cum animaduerterem quanto i pretio et apud platonem et apud uniuersam uetustatem Aesopus habitus fuerit: existimaui me facturum rem non indignam: si græcas eius fabellas & uitam una cu latina interpretatione imprimi curare quo diuulgarentur inter omnes: & eas ad te omnium primū qui grauissimus & doctissimus sis: dono mittere. res enim graues ac seueræ redduntur ueluti mitiores: si suis salibus condiantur. hoc autem fecisse Aesopum ex hoc ad te uolumine cum potium lectitaueris non difficulter intelliges. nam huiusmodi fabellæ iter maximas tuas occupationes afferet tibi: ut existimo non parum uoluptatis : & ex ear lectione consules liberis tuis: quo tibi sint ut cæteris in rebus tum in doctrina eloquentiaque simillimi. Non enim me latet non licere tibi per occupationes tuas harum rerum lectioni operam dare: at ne indiges quidem : qui & scribendo & loquendo ornatissimus sis & eruditissimus. Verum liberi tui si huic rei studuerint: reddentur propediem & docti & diserti in primis: quos tu plurimum cupis esse exculta quadam ac perpolita litteratura. qua itelligis nemini posse e nostris hominibus absolute contingere : ubi græcan littera omnino sint rudes. Cæterum ut ad Aesopum redeam: ex eius uita quæ est ueluti totius operis caput qualis uir fuerit: dilucide cognosces. Est enī ut uidebis: & lauta & facetiap plena: quæ dum legitur uel e mortuis risum excuteret. id autem ita esse res ipsa idicabit. Nolim eni prolyxiore uti oratione ne pro uoluptate tædium tibi afferam. Vale uir doctissime ac sapientissime: & me uti soles ama. On the recto of the following leaf, at top, ΑΙΣΩΠΟΥ ΒΙΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΜΥΘΟΠΟΙΟΥ. ΜΑ ΞΙΜΩ ΤΩ ΠΛΑΝΟΥΔΗ ΣΥΓΓΡΑΦΕΙΣ There are 22 lines beneath. The Greek life terminates on the reverse of fol. 31, from its commencement. On the recto of the ensuing leaf begin the Fables: ΑΙΣΩΠΟΥ ΜΥΘΟΙ ΑΕΤΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΑΛΩΠΗΞ. εὸς καὶ αλώπηξ φιλιωθέντες, πλησίον λίας ποιούμενοι τὴν συνηθειαν. ὁμὲν. The fables extend to 36 leaves-at bottom of the recto of the 36th. Τέλος Τῶν Του Αισώπου Μύθων.* the reverse blank. On the recto of the ensuing leaf begins a Latin version by Rinutius, of the life of Æsop, from the Greek; dedicated to the Reverend Dominus Antonius &c. This continues from sign. a i. to d viiij, in eights: on the reverse of d viiij, are 14 lines, ending with FINIS. It is the same address as that which appears in the Latin edition of Milan (vide infra), and may be seen extracted in Freytag's Adparatus Litterarius, vol. iii. p. 787. On the recto of the following leaf, sign. e, Both Count Reviczky and the late Bishop of Ely imagined that there were no signatures to the Greek part of this volume; but the above copy contains them, towards the corner of the bottom margin, in some places cut off: and printed in a sufficiently rude manner. If this be not a posterior performance, it may be doubted whether the remaining portions of this volume be a co-eval work; inasmuch as the signatures are, in these, placed in the usual order, just beneath the text. The Bishop of Ely has correctly remarked, 'Liber hic rarissimus nondum hactenus a Bibliographis accurate tractatus,' |