En damus C. Plinii Secundi divinum opus cui titulus, Historia mundi....

Basel: Johannes Froben, 1525. Very Good. Folio (37 cm); [18] leaves, 671, [143] pages. Woodcut printer's device, the double-headed caduceus designed by Holbein, on title page, on verso of p. 671, on the title page of the index, and on the final page. Holbein's detailed chiaroscuro woodcut initials throughout. Bound in vellum over boards, titled in manuscript on spine. Old jottings in manuscript on upper board (apparently an Italian and Latin vocabulary list including the names of foodstuffs). Portion of vellum near head of spine replaced. Erasmus's name on running head of dedicatory letter aggressively inked over! Occasional scattered very light foxing in a generally bright and unblemished text. References; Adams P-1560; van der Haeghen, Biblioteca Erasmiana, p. 45. For the initials (among Holbein's largest), see Schneeli and Heitz, table V #II, and table LXXXIII, #XL.

Erasmus's edition of Pliny's Natural History, conserving the notes from Ermolao Barbaro's edition of 1492, printed by Johannes Froben at the height of his powers. Froben's title page is effectively a billboard: "We give you the work of the Divine Pliny called History of the World, more immaculate than any edition ever produced before, starting with the annotations of erudite men, first among them Ermolao Barbaro, and then exemplary contributions by learned people which are still worth correcting, with faith in the oldest codices, from which we have restored many faults, so difficult to find that no one, no matter how learned, could find them or had found them before. We have nothing to envy [in any previous edition]. We have defeated all of our elders. And if someone now takes this prize from us, we will not envy them, but we will be grateful for the improvement of public education. Go, reader, and be fruitful. And, by the way, we added an index that lacks for nothing.