Editio princeps

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. 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.

Partial list

  • 1469 Lucan, Sweynheym and Pannartz
  • 1471 Ovid
  • 1472 Diodorus Siculus – Poggio Bracciolini, partial Latin translation
  • c. 1473 Marcus Manilius, Astronomicon – Regiomontanus
  • 1475 Historia Augusta
  • c. 1484 Serenus Sammonicus – Sulpitius Verulanus
  • 1488 Avienus
  • 1488 Homer – Demetrius Chalcondyles
  • c.1493 Hesiod, Works and Days – Demetrius Chalcondyles
  • 1493 Isocrates - Demetrius Chalcondyles
  • 1496 Apollonius of Rhodes
  • 1499 Alciphron
  • 1502 Sophocles
  • 1504 Quintus Smyrnaeus – Aldus Manutius
  • 1513 Lysias – Aldus Manutius
  • 1520 Marcus Velleius Paterculus
  • 1520 Rutilius Claudius Namatianus - J. B. Pius
  • 1520-3 Talmud - Daniel Bomberg
  • 1544 Sozomen - Robert Estienne
  • 1553 Synesius – Adrianus Turnebus
  • 1558 Marcus Aurelius, Meditations – Xylander
  • 1562 Sefer Yetzirah
  • 1569 Nonnus
  • 1575 Diophantus – Xylander
  • 1598 Longus
  • 1615 Laonicus Chalcondyles - J. B. Baumbach
  • 1583 Martyrologium romanum
  • 1661 Hippolytus (writer) on Antichrist – Marquard Gude
  • 1661 Nicephorus Bryennius – Petrus Possinus
  • 1733 Genesius – Stephan Bergler
  • 1850 Hypereides – Churchill Babington
  • 1897 Bacchylides – F. G. Kenyon
  • Rigveda - Max Müller

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