Vergilius Maro, Publius | First illustrated edition of Vergil’s works

Vergilius Maro, Publius

Opera. Edited by Sebastian Brant. Strassburg: Johann Grüninger, 28 August 1502

Folio (312 x 208 mm). Collation: A⁶ B-S⁸ T-V¹⁰ x-z⁸ Aa-Hh⁸ ii⁶ KK-VV⁸ xx⁶ yy-zz⁸ a-f⁸ aa-cc⁸ dd¹⁰. Title printed in red above a woodcut of Vergil and attendants, numerous woodcut illustrations and initials, some with contemporary red highlighting, printer’s device beneath colophon; leaves N4–5 (Georgics III) and T5–6 (Aeneid I) supplied from another copy, title-page repaired on verso, B6 torn in text without loss, lower corner of e5 torn, a few tears, mostly closed and marginal, occasional light soiling. Contemporary blind-stamped pigskin over wooden boards by Erhart Herold of Erfurt (EBDB w002589; active c.1485–1529), metal corner-pieces, two clasps; lacking one clasp, here reproduced, expertly restored.

First illustrated edition of Vergil’s works, including the apocrypha and Maffeo Vegio’s thirteenth book of the Aeneid. The woodcuts are attributed to the Late Master of the Grüninger Workshop.

The celebrated Strasbourg Vergil of 1502 is a hugely ambitious illustrated edition of the Opera. Its extensive woodcuts function as a parallel visual commentary, offering a vivid “translation” of the text distinct from the scholarly apparatus. The commentary itself is unusually polyphonic: drawing on five authorities ranging from the fourth-century grammarian Servius to the near-contemporary Italian humanist Cristoforo Landino.

REFERENCES

VD16 V1332

PROVENANCE

Early owners (annotation in red ink on b7v, bibliographical notes in Latin on front pastedown) — Arthur Benoni Evans (1781–1854), professor of Classics (bookplate) — Sotheby's London, 5 December 2017, lot 188