In Folio: Rare Volumes in the Stanford University Libraries
August 4 - November 9, 2003

Exhibit List
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	NICHOLAS, OF LYRA, CA. 1270-1349. Postilla super Librum Psalmorum. [Germany, later 15th cent.]. Nicholas of Lyra’s commentary on the Book of Psalms is the only book in manuscript included in this exhibition. The book is written in a Gothic book hand, with a large penwork initial on the first leaf and paragraph marks and underlining in red. Bound in wooden boards, this copy still has the original iron clamp, ring, and chain.
	PLINY, THE ELDER, 23-79. Libros Naturalis Historiae …. Restituit Venetis: Me nuper Spira Ioannes ..., 1469. Pliny’s Natural History was the first scientific book ever printed. A very influential book, it survived in numerous manuscript copies during the Middle Ages, and was printed in some eighteen editions before 1501. This edition, printed by Johannes da Spira, the first printer in Venice, had an estimated printing of only 100 copies.
	SAINT AUGUSTINE, BISHOP OF HIPPO, 354-430. Aurelij Augustini De Ciuitate Dei. Confectum Venetijs: Ab ... Nicolao Ienson, Petro Momenicho principe, anno a natiuitate Domini milesimo quadringe[n]tesimo septuagesimo quinto sexto nonas Octobres [2 Oct. 1475]. De Civitate Dei (The City of God), St. Augustine’s treatise on the relationship between God and the world, was a tremendously influential and oft-cited book in the Middle Ages. This edition was printed by Nicolas Jenson, one of the greatest of all Renaissance printers, known for creating beautiful typefaces that continue to inspire modern revivals.
	EUCLID, FL. CA. 300 B.C. Elementa geometria. [Venice]: Erhardus Ratdolt Augustensis impressor solertissimus Venetiijs impressit, anno salutis M.cccc.lxxxij octauis calen[darum] Iun[ii] [25 May 1482]. Erhard Ratdolt’s Euclid was the first mathematical book ever printed and undoubtedly one of the loveliest books of the Renaissance. The geometric designs used by Ratdolt in this edition were a remarkable innovation. Traditionally described as woodcuts, the designs were actually made in metal, perhaps through the method known as sandcasting.
	HARTMANN SCHEDEL, 1440-1514. Liber Cronicarum. [Nuremberg]: Hunc librum dominus Anthonius Koberger Nuremberge impressit ... consummatu[m] autem duodecima mensis Iulij anno salutis n[ost]r[a]e 1493 [12 July 1493]. The Nuremberg Chronicle stands as one of the grandest and greatest incunabula (books printed before 1501). The most lavishly illustrated book of its day, it contains 1809 prints from 645 woodcuts illustrating the history of the world. It was compiled by Hartmann Schedel and illustrated and engraved by Michael Wohlgemuth, Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, and likely Albrecht Dürer.
	GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO, 1313-1375. Genealogiae Ioannis Boccatii, cum Demonstrationibus in Formis Arborum Designatis …. Venetiis: Ductu & expensis nobilis uiri D. Octauiani Scoti ... finis i[m]positus fuit huic operi per Bonetum Locatellum, M.CCCC.XCIIII septimo Kalendas Martias [23 Feb. 1495]. Although most famous for his Decameron, Boccaccio was also a Dante scholar and the undisputed literary leader of mid-fourteenth century Florence. Genealogia is his most influential scholarly work, an assemblage of classical myths and legends. The passionate defense of poetry in the last two books would later inpire such English poets as Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dryden, Keats, and Tennyson.
	DANTE ALIGHIERI, 1265-1321. Danthe Alighieri fiorentino. Impressa in Venetia: Per Piero de Zuanne di Quarengii da Palazago Bergamasco, del. M.CCCC.LXXXXVII. Adi. XI. octubrio. [11 Oct. 1497]. This Renaissance edition of Dante features the lovely woodcuts of Matteo Capcasa. The volume is testimony to the great marketability of Dante in the late fifteenth century. Although other editions had been published in 1491, 1492, and 1493 with the same woodcuts (and, in the case of 1491 edition, the same text and commentary), there was still sizeable demand in 1497 for luxurious editions such as this one.
	ARISTOPHANES. Aristophanis Comoediae Novem. Venetiis: Apud Aldum, 1498 Idibus Quintilis [15 July 1498]. The first edition of the Greek text of Aristophanes ever printed. Published by Aldus Manutius, it is a model of the beauty and textual accuracy that made Aldus the most celebrated printer of his day. The volume was edited by Marcus Musurus, a Greek scholar closely associated with Aldus, and a member of the Aldine “New Academy,” which promoted Greek studies and scholarship.
	FRANCESCO COLONNA, D. 1527. Hypnerotomachia Poliphili …. Venetiis: In Aedibus Aldi Manutii, accuratissime, mense Decembri M.ID. [Dec. 1499]. The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (The Strife of Love in a Dream), with its virtually unpronounceable title and enigmatic text is one of the most celebrated illustrated books of the Renaissance, a masterpiece of book production with remarkable woodcuts and fine printing. The question of authorship has vexed scholars for years: attribution to Francesco Colonna is based on the acrostic found in the beautiful woodcut capitals that begin each chapter. The book is also notable for being the only illustrated book published by Aldus.
	BALDASSARE CASTIGLIONE, 1478-1529. Il libro del cortegiano. Venetia: Nelle case d'Aldo Romano, & d'Andrea d'Asola, 1528. One of the most influential of all Renaissance books was Castiglione’s The Courtier. Offering a portrait of the model aristocrat, it spawned a long and rich tradition of courtesy books in many countries. The Courtier was hugely successful, translated into many European languages and published in more than 100 editions by the early seventeenth century.
	ANDREAS VESALIUS, 1514-1564. De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem. Basileae: Ex officina Joannis Oporini, 1543. In 1543, Vesalius published De Humani Corporis Fabrica and transformed the practice of medicine in Renaissance Europe. Its splendid illustrations offered unprecedented detail of human anatomy (thanks to his use of human corpses). Generally ascribed to an artist from the Titian school, the illustrations were copied or used in other treatises on anatomy through the end of the eighteenth century.
	JOHN FOXE, 1516-1587. The First [-second] Volume of the Ecclesiasticall History: Contayning the Actes & Monumentes of Thinges Passed in Euery Kinges Time, in This Realme, Especially in the Churche of England …. At London: Printed by Iohn Daye ..., 1576. Popularly known as Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, this history of the persecutions suffered by the Reformers in England is illustrated by memorable woodcuts, many of them grisly portrayals of the sufferings of the martyrs. Its highly graphic quality made it accessible and appealing to the lettered and unlettered alike, and enjoyed remarkable popularity in England. Originally published in 1563, this is one of Foxe’s “corrected” editions.
	ABRAHAM ORTELIUS, 1527-1598. Theatrvm Orbis Terrarvm .... Antuerpiae: Ex Officina Plantiniana, Abrah. Ortelij aere & cura, 1595. Theatrvm Orbis Terrarvm is widely considered the first modern atlas. More a publisher than a cartographer, Ortelius of Antwerp collected maps from all areas the known world and published them in this one magnificent volume. Fueled by expanding travel and exploration in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Ortelius atlas was an instant success, published in some forty editions between 1570 and 1612.
	The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New: Newly Translated out of the Originall Tongues: & with the Former Translations Diligently Compared and Reuised, by His Maiesties Speciall Comandement. Imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, printer to the Kings most Excellent Maiestie, Anno Dom. 1611. Such a lofty undertaking as the first edition of the King James Bible (also known as the Authorized Version) could have been issued only in folio. The translation remains indisputably one of the most remarkable achievements of the English language, enduring as the standard edition in the English Bible for almost 350 years, until the appearance of the Revised Standard Version in the middle of the twentieth century.
	WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, 1564-1616. Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies. London: Printed by Tho. Cotes, for William Aspley, 1632. The first collection of the dramatic works of Shakespeare, known as the First Folio, was published in 1623, after Shakespeare’s death. This, the Second Folio, followed in 1632, testimony to the demand for ever “truer” versions of the plays, a quest which has continued to excite the interest of scholars for more than 300 years. The Second Folio is also notable for the laudatory poem at the beginning of the work: the first appearance in print of a young poet named John Milton.
	BRIAN WALTON, 1600-1661, EDITOR. Biblia Sacra Polyglotta …. Londini: Imprimebat Thomas Roycroft, 1657. The Walton polyglot is considered the greatest, most scholarly of all polyglot Bibles. Curiously, although it was published in the Commonwealth period, this copy of the Walton polyglot includes a dedication to the still-exiled King Charles II. The dedication was not included originally, but at the time of the Restoration, copies yet unsold had their original dedication (to Oliver Cromwell) removed and replaced by one to the king.
	HOMER. Homer His Odysses Translated, Adorn'd with Sculpture, and Illustrated with Annotations, by John Ogilby …. London: Printed by Thomas Roycroft, 1665. John Ogilby’s translation of Homer in rhyming couplets is widely esteemed for its illustrations by Wenceslaus Hollar, one of the finest English illustrators of the seventeenth century. In this book we see an interesting innovation of Ogilby’s that would soon become common practice: each plate is graced with the name and coat of arms of a member of the aristocracy, who paid for the plate in advance of printing, thereby furnishing Ogilby with the capital to publish such a luxurious edition.
	FRANCIS SANDFORD, 1630-1694. The History of the Coronation of the Most High, Most Mighty, and Most Excellent Monarch, James II: by the Grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c., and of His Royal Consort Queen Mary: Solemnized in the Collegiate Church of St. Peter in the City of Westminster, on Thursday the 23 of April, Being the Festival of St. George, in the Year of Our Lord 1685 …. In the Savoy [London]: Printed by Thomas Newcomb, 1687. This is an extravagant book of royal occasion and splendor, commissioned by James II in preparation for his own coronation. The plates are crowded with fascinating detail, featuring participants in full costume in the procession, table settings for the coronation dinner, and a magnificent view of the royal fireworks that marked the event.
	JOHN MILTON, 1608-1674. Paradise Lost. A Poem in Twelve Books …. The Fourth Edition, Adorn'd with Sculptures. London: Printed by Miles Flesher, for Jacob Tonson, 1688. No image of Satan is so well-known or so affecting as the beautiful young angel in the first stages of degeneration portrayed by J.B. Medina in the first illustrated edition of Paradise Lost: the feathery wings ravaged, horns newly-sprouted, hair tangled. It spawned a long and rich tradition of illustrating Milton which would include artists like Sir James Thornhill, Louis Chéron, Francis Hayman, and Henry Fuseli.
	VIRGIL, 70-19 B.C. The Works of Virgil: Containing his Pastorals, Georgics, and Aeneis. Translated into English Verse by Mr. Dryden …. London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, 1697. This large folio edition of Virgil was translated by John Dryden and illustrated with the sumptuous plates created by Wenceslaus Hollar for John Ogilby’s 1654 Virgil. The plates showing the hero Aeneas are particularly interesting. Tonson wanted Dryden to dedicate the book to William III, but Dryden, a Catholic, refused. Tonson, in perhaps a desperate gesture of reconciliation with his king, had the plates retouched, giving Aeneas the familiar hooked nose of William III.
	OVID, 43 B.C.-17 OR 18 A.D. Ovid's Metamorphoses, in Fifteen Books. Translated by the Most Eminent Hands. Adorned with Sculptures. London: Printed for Jacob Tonson at Shakespear's Head, 1717. Ovid’s Metamorphoses enjoyed tremendous popularity during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Translators in this edition include John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Samuel Garth, William Congreve, and John Gay. It was a lavish production, each plate subscribed for by a member of the aristocracy.
	ST. BEDE, THE VENERABLE, 673-735. Historiae Ecclesiasticae Gentis Anglorum …. Cantabrigiae: Typis Academicis, 1722. Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731, is one of the most enduring histories ever written. It influenced scholars in England and on the Continent for hundreds of years and was one of the first histories ever printed (1475). This 1722 edition, published during a great age of Anglo-Saxon scholarship, was the fine work of John Smith, Canon of Durham. The handsome Anglo-Saxon types were cut specifically for the book.
	HOMER. Tes tou Homerou Iliados ho tomos proteros (-deuteros). Glasguae: In Aedibus Academicis, Excudebant Robertus et Andreas Foulis, Academia Typographi, 1756. The Foulis Press of Glasgow long enjoyed a well-deserved reputation for excellence in textual accuracy and typographic beauty. The Foulis Iliad stands as one of the finest printing achievements of the eighteenth century, a landmark in Greek typography and Greek publishing. The handsome type, outstanding for its clarity and elegance, was designed by Alexander Wilson.
	DENIS DIDEROT, 1713-1784, EDITOR. Recueil de planches, sur les sciences, les arts libéraux, et les arts méchaniques avec leur explication .... A Paris: Briasson [et] Le Breton, 1762-72. These plates illustrating the art of printing are from the most famous of all the eighteenth-century encyclopedias, Diderot’s Encyclopédie. The rationalism of the Encyclopédie and its attacks on superstition are a model of eighteenth-century thought, and earned the enmity of many clergy and officials. It was banned by the French Attorney-General and condemned by the Pope in 1759 but pirated editions continued to be printed all across Europe.
	SALLUST, 86-34 B.C. La conjuración de Catilina y la Guerra de Jugurta. Madrid: Joachin Ibarra, 1772. Much has been written about the typographic splendor of Joaquín Ibarra’s Sallust, published during the flowering of Spanish printing in the eighteenth century. Ibarra was one of the finest printers of eighteenth-century Spain and his Sallust was instantly recognized as a magnificent book by his contemporaries. Benjamin Franklin was a great admirer and the celebrated printer Giambattista Bodoni referred to it as “the stupendous Sallust.”
	EDWARD YOUNG, 1683-1765. The Complaint, and the Consolation; or, Night Thoughts. London: Printed by R. Noble for R. Edwards, 1797. Edward Young’s popular poem about death and redemption was the first large-scale commercial commission for William Blake, who created a series of 537 illustrations for this work. The illustrations are strange and inventive and largely allegorical: many were, according to Blake, revealed to him in visions and dreams. Edward Bulwer-Lytton said the designs “balanced between the conception of genius and the ravings of positive insanity.”
	JOHN BOYDELL, 1719-1804. A Collection of Prints, from Pictures Painted for the Purpose of Illustrating the Dramatic Works of Shakspeare, by the Artists of Great-Britain …. London: Pub. by John and Josiah Boydell …; printed by W. Bulmer and Co., 1803. This grand elephant folio is the result of publisher and printseller John Boydell’s grandest project. Boydell commissioned artists such as Sir Joshua Reynolds, Benjamin West, and Henry Fuseli to create paintings representing Shakespeare’s plays, using the new “historical” method promulgated by Reynolds. Engravings based on the paintings were then issued in this elephant folio in 1803.
	JAMES LOGAN, 1794?-1872. The Clans of the Scottish Highlands, Illustrated by Appropriate Figures, Displaying Their Dress, Tartans, Arms, Armorial Insignia, and Social Occupations, .... London: Ackermann & Co., 1845-1847. Logan’s Clans was the first comprehensive illustrated work on the Scottish clans, reflecting the romanticized image of Scotland and the Highlands in England. The work was dedicated to Queen Victoria (whose fondness for things Scottish was well-known). The book was produced by Ackermann and Co., who was justly celebrated for its beautifully illustrated books.
	JAMES GILLRAY, 1756-1815. The Works of James Gillray, from the Original Plates …. London: Printed for Henry G. Bohn, 1847. James Gillray was the most famous caricaturist of his day and an accomplished engraver, influenced by the satirical work of William Hogarth. In an age rich with caricature, Gillray showed a savage wit and a wide knowledge of contemporary society. This collection includes 582 prints of his political and social work, as well as 45 “suppressed” plates of his most risqué, bawdy, and scatological work.
	GEOFFREY CHAUCER, D. 1400. The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Now Newly Imprinted. Hammersmith: William Morris at Kelmscott Press, 1896. William Morris was a passionate bibliophile and a driving force behind the Book Arts Revival of late nineteenth-century Britain. Morris founded the Kelmscott Press to produce books that recalled the beauty of medieval printing. The Kelmscott Chaucer is Morris’ best-known work, considered by many to be among the most beautiful books ever printed. Morris had the exquisite Chaucer font cut for this book and enlisted his friend, Sir Edward Burne-Jones, to design the woodcut illustrations.
	WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, 1564-1616. The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke. Edited by J. Dover Wilson ... from the Text of the Second Quarto Printed in 1604-5 'According to the True and Perfect Coppie'. With Which Are Also Printed the Hamlet Stories from Saxo Grammaticus and Belleforest and English Translations therefrom. Illustrated by Edward Gordon Craig. Weimar: Printed by Count Harry Kessler at the Cranach Press, 1930. The Cranach Press Hamlet stands as one of the finest books ever printed. The beauty of the layout, typography, and paper are in the finest tradition of the Book Arts Revival. The deeply moving woodcuts by Edward Gordon Craig are set amidst the 1604 quarto text of Hamlet and Shakespeare’s probable sources for the play, Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus and Histoires Tragiques by François de Belleforest. Only 322 copies were printed.

 

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