Two Early Sixteenth Century Editions of Classical Histories, One Edited by Erasmus

Quintus Curtius Rufus, De rebus gestis Alexandri Magni. Cum annotationibus D. Erasmi

Folio. [4], LXXXIX leaves; [10], 124 pages. Late sixteenth (?) century leather; light scuffing, hinges cracked but cords holding tightly; insect damage to text block with loss of text throughout; margins in Orosius trimmed close, affecting title image. First printing of Erasmus' critical edition of Quintus Curtius. This first century Roman biography of Alexander the Great was an early Renaissance bestseller, with editions from at least a dozen printers throughout Europe by 1517. Erasmus brought it as reading material on a voyage to England in 1517, and finding the text incomplete and corrupt, he prepared his own critical edition. This was first published by his friend Strasbourg printer Matthias Schürer in 1518. Erasmus' version proved so popular that five more printers had issued their own editions of his text by 1541; these in turn were reprinted a total of five more times by 1575. This first edition is scarce on the market, with Rare Book Hub locating only one sale at auction since 1971, at PBA in 2008 for $2,400.

Bound with: Paulus Orosius, Adversvs paganos historiarvm libri septem. Cologne: Eucharius Cervicornus, 1526. An attractive copy of this first universal history by a Christian writer, Paulus Orosius (c 375-c 418), a Hispanic student of St Augustine who traveled widely throughout the Mediterranean. Elaborate title page border depicting the labors of Hercules, signed "AW," Anton Woensam (1493-1541), a prolific painter and woodcut artist whose work was favored by the booming publishing industry in Cologne. Other page borders and initials are also by Woensam, as described by Merlo, 1864.