This is the first printed edition of any of the Greek classics, and the third book printed entirely in Greek, or in Greek with a Latin translation; the first being the Grammar of Lascaris, Milan, 1476, and the second the Lexicon of Crastonus not later than 1478.  All three were printed with the same font of Greek type made by, or under the supervision of, Demetrius Damilas, the son of Milanese parents settled in Crete.  Bonus Accursius was rather the publisher than the actual printer, who in the case of the Lascaris was Dionysius Paravisinus, and in the case of the Crastonus and the Aesop, probably the brothers de Honate, who at that date were the possessors of the peculiar roman type used in the Latin translations.  After the Aesop this particular font of Greek type next appeared in the first edition of Homer, printed at Florence in 1488 by Bartolommeo di Libri, and in three of his subsequent books, once at Rome early in the 16th century, after which it disappears altogether.

In the present edition the Fabulae graece number 147, the Fabulae latine 100, the Fabulae selectae 62.  The translator, Rinuccio d’Arezzo, who dedicates his work to Cardinal Antonio Cerdano, tells him in closing that he sends all that have come into his hands, though probably not all that Aesop wrote, since while they stand in alphabetical order, some letters are wanting and others have not their full quota.  Not all copies have all the three parts, nor are they always bound in the same order.  The present copy, though in all respects complete, is bound irregularly, as follows:  1.  Fabulae selectae. 2.  Fabulae graece. 3.  Vita Aesopi graece. 4.  Vita et fabulae latine.  On the verso of the last blank leaf is written in an early hand “olim fuit Reverendissimi m_agistri_ georgii de casali.”

Mr. Wodhull paid “Edwards” for this copy, in 1799, L14.14s.  Bound by Mrs. Weir in green morocco extra, gilt edges.  Leaf 9 x 6 in.

18.  OVIDIUS NASO, PUBLIUS.  Metamorphoses.  Parma, Andreas Portilia, 15
    May, 1480.

Fol. 1, blank, 2^a:  TABVLAE F[upturned A]BVLARVM (sic) OVIDII METAMORPHOSEOS. Fol. 6^a:  Domitius Calderinus Veronensis. [D]E Ouidii uita nihil a nobis i_n_ hoc loco scribe_n_du_m_ est. Fol. 7^a:  P. OVIDII NASONIS SVLMONENSIS METAMORPHOSEOS LIBER PRIMVS. Fol. 187^b, COLOPHON:  FINIS Impressum Parmae Opera Et Impensis Andre_ae_ Portili_ae_ .M.CCCC.LXXX.  Idibus Maiis Ioanne Galeazio Maria Mediolani Illustrissimo Duce Regna_n_te F[oe]liciter. Fol. 188, blank.

Folio.  Sign. a^6, b-q^8, r^{10}, s-y^8, z^6, &^6. 188 unnumbered leaves, the first and last blank, 40 lines to the page, roman letter.  Three- to eight-line spaces, with guide-letters, left for the initials of the fifteen books.  Hain 12160.

First initial of each book supplied in red; heading of each book and each fable underlined in red; initial-strokes in every verse and paragraph-marks in red.  Without the last blank leaf.