Vergilii Maronis dreyzehen Eneadische bücher, von Troianischer Zerstörung, und Auffgange des Römischen Reichs
Straßburg: Christian Müller, 1559. 8vo, 15.5x10cm, [2], 709 [i.e. 721], [13]pp. in blackletter. Complete with 13 woodcuts, several with touches of contemporary hand coloring, title in two colors with decorative border. Bound in full contemporary pigskin, elaborately stamped. Contemporary annotations throughout. Heavy wear and soiling to boards, previous clasps not present, lacking front and rear endpapers, but sound. Title margins trimmed, worming to title and two proceeding leaves, affecting a few words, sense still clear, and a small section of the first illustration. Worming to final 5 pages of index, mainly marginal, affecting just a couple characters. Final page of index with top 1/3 torn away. Still a complete, untouched copy.
A scarce Strasbourg printing of Thomas Murner’s influential German Virgil, first issued in 1515, here with its full complement of 13 bold narrative woodcuts—one for each book. Murner’s vernacular rendering of the Aeneid brought the epic of Aeneas and the founding myth of Rome to a non-Latin readership, a key moment in the humanist push toward accessible classical texts. German vernacular Virgils of this period, particularly with illustrations intact, are far less commonly encountered in the trade than their Latin counterparts. A desirable survival in attractive contemporary binding.
Price: $1,500.00