Editio princeps

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In classical scholarship, editio princeps is a term of art. It means, roughly, the first printed edition of a work, that previously had existed only in manuscripts, which were therefore circulated only after being copied by hand.

For example, the editio princeps of Homer is that of Demetrius Chalcondyles, now thought to be from 1488. The most important texts of classical Greek and Roman authors were for the most part produced in editio princeps in the years on either side of 1500.

The picture is complicated by the possibilities of partial publication, of publication first in translation (for example from Greek to Latin), and of a usage that simply equates with first edition. For a work, such as Piers Plowman, with several strands of manuscript tradition that have diverged, it is a less meaningful concept.

The term has long been extended by scholars to works not part of the Ancient Greek and Latin literatures. It is also used for legal works, and other significant documents.

[edit] Partial list

Date Author, Work Printer (or location) Comment
1455 Bible (Latin) Johannes Gutenberg, Mainz Biblia Sacra Vulgata, 2 editions: 42 line and 36 line, see Gutenberg Bible.
1469 Apuleius Sweynheym and Pannartz
Lucan Sweynheym and Pannartz
Virgil Rome
Caesar, De Bello Gallico Rome
c.1469 Aulus Gellius Sweynheym and Pannartz
1470 Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum Rome Edited by Iohannis Antonius Campanus
1471 Ovid
1471 Pomponius Mela, De Chorographia libri tres Milan, Antonius Zarotus [1]
1472 Diodorus Siculus Poggio Bracciolini partial Latin translation
Cato Maior, De Agri Cultura Venezia Nicolaus Jensonus Edited by Georgius Merula
Varro, Rerum Rusticarum libri tres Venezia Nicolaus Jensonus Edited by Georgius Merula in the same volume as the above.
c.1473 Marcus Manilius, Astronomicon Regiomontanus
Claudian
1475 Historia Augusta
1478 Aulus Cornelius Celsus
1482 Horatius Firenze
c. 1483 Tertullian Complex history[1]
c.1484 Serenus Sammonicus Sulpitius Verulanus
1488 Avienus
Homer Demetrius Chalcondyles
c.1493 Hesiod, Works and Days Demetrius Chalcondyles
1493 Isocrates Demetrius Chalcondyles
1496 Apollonius of Rhodes
1499 Alciphron
1499 Martianus Capella Vicenza
1502 Sophocles
1504 Quintus Smyrnaeus Aldus Manutius
1513 Lysias Aldus Manutius
1513 Lycophron Aldus Manutius
1515 Jordanes, Romana Konrad Peutinger
1516 New Testament (Greek) Desiderius Erasmus, Basel 2nd ed. 1519, 3rd ed. 1522, see Textus Receptus.
1520 Marcus Velleius Paterculus
1520 Rutilius Claudius Namatianus J. B. Pius
1520 Septuagint Complutensian Polyglot Bible
1520-3 Talmud Daniel Bomberg, Venice
1524–25 Bible (Hebrew) Daniel Bomberg, Venice Edition included masoretic notes, Aramaic targums and Rashi's commentary, see Mikraot Gedolot.
1526 Irenaeus Erasmus, Basel[2]
1527 Philo (Latin) Sichardus first part published by Iustianus (1520)[3]
1533 Euclid, Elements Simon Grynäus
1544 Sozomen Robert Estienne
1544 Josephus Hieronymus Froben Edited by Arnoldus Arlenius; first Greek edition
1552 Philo (Greek) Turnebus for works only extant in Latin mss see 1527, works only in Armenian Aucher (1822–26)
1549 Optatus of Milevis Johannes Cochlaeus, F. Behem [2] Mainz; 7th book printed 1569 [3]
1553 Synesius Adrianus Turnebus
1558 Marcus Aurelius, Meditations Xylander
1562 Sefer Yetzirah
1569 Nonnus
1575 Diophantus Xylander
1583 Martyrologium romanum
1598 Longus
1615 Laonicus Chalcondyles J. B. Baumbach
1644 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Abraham Wheelocke[4]
1655 Theophanes the Confessor J. Goar[5]
1661 Hippolytus, Antichrist Marquard Gude
1733 Genesius Stephan Bergler
1750 Chariton Pierre Mortier
1841 Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Trattato di Architectura Carlo Promis Promis, however, published only six of the seven books. The last book which deals with all kinds of mechanical devices was omitted and subsequently escaped the notice of historians of technology for the next hundred years.[6]
1850 Hypereides Churchill Babington
1897 Bacchylides F. G. Kenyon
Rigveda Max Müller

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Tertullian : Early Printed Editions, Translations and Studies
  2. ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, page 620 (v. 2)
  3. ^ David T. Runia, Philo in Early Christian Literature: A Survey
  4. ^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - LoveToKnow 1911
  5. ^ CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Theophanes
  6. ^ Ladislao Reti, “Francesco di Giorgio Martini's Treatise on Engineering and Its Plagiarists”, Technology and Culture, Vol. 4, No. 3. (Summer, 1963), pp. 287-298 (288)