VIRGIL (PUBLIUS VIRGILIUS MARO). 70-19 BCE.

Opera Virgiliana cum decem commentis. [Lyon], [Jean Crespin], 1529.

Opera Virgiliana cum decem commentis. [Lyon], [Jean Crespin], 1529.
2 parts in one volume. Folio (312 x 211 mm). First title printed in red and black within elaborate woodcut border, second title with fleur de lys device, c. 200 woodcut illustrations in text, numerous woodcut criblé historiated and decorative initials. Modern half calf antique, brass clasps. Title with marginal repair and minor loss to border, a few other leaves with marginal repairs, occasionally some light browning and staining.

Later edition. "The block of the woodcut illustrations are 'for Johann Grüninger's Strasbourg Vergil edited by Sebastian Brant and printed in 1502; Grüninger's artist applied to the work a skilled hand and a lively imagination, and the Strasbourg edition is one of the most lavishly illustrated of classical texts. In citing the 1502 edition, A. W. Pollard (Fine books, p. 112) writes, '[Grüninger's] full strength was reserved for the Virgil ... which was superintended by Brant, and is crowded with wonderful pictures, in which on the very eve of the Renaissance Virgil is thoroughly medievalized'" (Mortimer). Adams V-474; Mortimer French 538 (and 537).