WITH WOODCUTS BY THE MASTER OF THE GRUNINGER WORKSHOP: Opera Vergiliana docte & familiariter exposita: docte guide[m] Bucollica & Georgica a Servio, Donato, Mancinello & Probo nuper addito, cum adnotationib[us] Beroaldinis, Aeneis vero ab ijde[m] pr[a]eter Mancinellum & Probu[m] & ab Augustino Datho in ejus principio, Opusculoru[m] pr[a]eterea q[uae]da[m] ab Domitio Calderino. Familiariter vero o[mn]ia ta[m] opera q[uam] opuscula ab Jodoco Badio Ascencio. by Virgil (Vergilius Maro, Publius; 70-19 BC) - 1517

Lyons: Lyons: Jacques Saçon for Ciriacus Hochperg, 1517. Full leather. Very Good. The Master of the Grüninger Workshop. WITH WOODCUTS FROM THE FIRST EVER ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF WORKS OF VIRGIL. Folio (315 x 215mm); 2 parts in one volume; 216, 342 ff. (ie.432, 684pp). Printed by Jacques Saçon for Ciriacus Hochperg, 20 August 1517 (Part 1) and 2 December 1517 (Part 2). COLLATION: Part I: +1, [lacks +2], +3-+10, a-z8, aa-bb8, cc-cc5 [lacks blank leaf cc6]; Part II: ??8, A-Z8, AA-QQ8, RR-SS6, TT10. Separate title page to each part printed in red and black within the same woodcut border, without blank leaf cc6 and lacking +2 (containing full-page woodcut of Virgil and his muse), otherwise complete. BINDING: Nineteenth-century full crushed brown morocco by Jeremiah Larkins (1833-1907, London fine binder), gilt roll and triple fillet to board margins, board edges gilt, gilt inner dentelles, spine with five raised bands, gilt lettering direct to spine in second and third compartments, remaining compartments and spine bands gilt, binding in fine condition. TEXT: In double columns, typically 71 lines per page, main text and marginal notes in roman type and with black (gothic) letter headlines; a few unobtrusive wormholes (some affecting text), occasional very light staining, cut close at head with a few headlines shaved at end, otherwise fresh and complete. WOODCUTS: Profusely illustrated with 207 woodcuts by the Master of the Grüninger workshop, initially prepared for the Strassburg edition of 1502 edited by Sebastian Brant. By the time Saçon acquired the Grüninger woodcuts they had been used to illustrate Murner's 1515 translation of the Aeneid and some were showing signs of wear, but the renaissance mastery of the cuts is nevertheless clear, set as they are in this editions's fine typography. PROVENANCE: William O'Brien (1832-1899, Irish judge and fine book collector), with his bequest booklabel dated 1899 and his pencil note "Bought from Stibbs, London, £5-12-6". BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: Adams V-468; Baudrier v.12, 291; Brunet V, 1282; Renouard III, 370; USTC 144785. Beautiful example of this stunning and rare edition.