1523 1st Edition (Basel)
DECII AUSONII BURDIGALENSIS VIRI CONSULARIS VARIA OPUSCULA DILIGENTER RECOGNITA
A handsome early sixteenth-century Basel printing of Ausonius’ Varia opuscula: a compact Renaissance “collected works” of one of late antiquity’s most engaging Latin poets. The volume opens with Petrus Crinitus’ short life of Ausonius and includes a Scriptorum Ausonii catalogus, then proceeds through epigrams (with Greek present), idylls (including the celebrated Mosella), letters (notably with Paulinus of Nola), and further minor pieces — ending with the Periochae in omnes Homeri Rhapsodias. A fine representative of post-incunable humanist printing from Curio’s Basel press, with an ornamental title border and decorative initials.
By Decimus Magnus Ausonius
Author Bio: Decimus Magnus Ausonius (c. 310–c. 395), poet and rhetorician of Bordeaux, is best known today for the Mosella, a vivid river-poem combining topography, natural history, and cultural landscape — a rare “provincial” classic that still reads with surprising immediacy.
Synopsis: Ausonius sits at the hinge of late Roman culture: a court poet and teacher whose verse moves between learned allusion and everyday observation. This collection preserves the range — from pointed epigram and occasional poetry to the long, rhetorically crafted Mosella, whose set pieces (fish, villas, river traffic, and scenery) became a touchstone for later humanists and classicists. The Basel 1523 Curio printing reflects the continued Renaissance appetite for compact, readable classical editions: portable, typographically elegant, and designed for sustained study.
Format: Vellum, sextodecimo or sixteenmo (16mo 4 × 6 3⁄4 in 102 × 171 mm )
Note: Binding/size selection follows standard bibliographic conventions and is approximate; exact measurements may vary.
Language: Latin / Greek
Published By: Basileae (Basel): apud Valentinum Curionem, Switzerland
Condition Report:
Dust Jacket: No Jacket, Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
Very Good - Later parchment/vellum binding, tight and solid; textblock sound with no loose pages. All edges gilt / gilt fore-edge decoration (as present). Internally: light overall age-toning and slight waterstaining (as expected in a 16th-century volume), with some browning; no significant tears noted. A clean, well-preserved copy overall in honest, age-appropriate condition.
Format: Hardcover, octavo (8vo) (approx. 15.5 × 10.5 cm)
Collation:
[16], 249, [3] pp. (16 pp. prelims; text; 3 pp. at end). Complete with title within ornamental border; decorative initials; Greek passages present within the epigrams.
Language: Latin (with Greek in places)
Please see Photos as part of condition report.
References:
VD16 A 4385.
IA (Index Aureliensis) 110.891.
(Comparable cataloguing: “Basileae: apud Valentinum Curionem, 1523”; format 8vo; pagination as above.)
SKU: BTETM0002441
Shipping Info: Approximate Package Dimensions H: 12.5, L: 30, W: 25 (Units: cm), W: 2Kg
Tracked Shipping, Insurance Coverage as per Customer Request
1523 1st Edition (Basel)
DECII AUSONII BURDIGALENSIS VIRI CONSULARIS VARIA OPUSCULA DILIGENTER RECOGNITA
A handsome early sixteenth-century Basel printing of Ausonius’ Varia opuscula: a compact Renaissance “collected works” of one of late antiquity’s most engaging Latin poets. The volume opens with Petrus Crinitus’ short life of Ausonius and includes a Scriptorum Ausonii catalogus, then proceeds through epigrams (with Greek present), idylls (including the celebrated Mosella), letters (notably with Paulinus of Nola), and further minor pieces — ending with the Periochae in omnes Homeri Rhapsodias. A fine representative of post-incunable humanist printing from Curio’s Basel press, with an ornamental title border and decorative initials.
By Decimus Magnus Ausonius
Author Bio: Decimus Magnus Ausonius (c. 310–c. 395), poet and rhetorician of Bordeaux, is best known today for the Mosella, a vivid river-poem combining topography, natural history, and cultural landscape — a rare “provincial” classic that still reads with surprising immediacy.
Synopsis: Ausonius sits at the hinge of late Roman culture: a court poet and teacher whose verse moves between learned allusion and everyday observation. This collection preserves the range — from pointed epigram and occasional poetry to the long, rhetorically crafted Mosella, whose set pieces (fish, villas, river traffic, and scenery) became a touchstone for later humanists and classicists. The Basel 1523 Curio printing reflects the continued Renaissance appetite for compact, readable classical editions: portable, typographically elegant, and designed for sustained study.
Format: Vellum, sextodecimo or sixteenmo (16mo 4 × 6 3⁄4 in 102 × 171 mm )
Note: Binding/size selection follows standard bibliographic conventions and is approximate; exact measurements may vary.
Language: Latin / Greek
Published By: Basileae (Basel): apud Valentinum Curionem, Switzerland
Condition Report:
Dust Jacket: No Jacket, Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
Very Good - Later parchment/vellum binding, tight and solid; textblock sound with no loose pages. All edges gilt / gilt fore-edge decoration (as present). Internally: light overall age-toning and slight waterstaining (as expected in a 16th-century volume), with some browning; no significant tears noted. A clean, well-preserved copy overall in honest, age-appropriate condition.
Format: Hardcover, octavo (8vo) (approx. 15.5 × 10.5 cm)
Collation:
[16], 249, [3] pp. (16 pp. prelims; text; 3 pp. at end). Complete with title within ornamental border; decorative initials; Greek passages present within the epigrams.
Language: Latin (with Greek in places)
Please see Photos as part of condition report.
References:
VD16 A 4385.
IA (Index Aureliensis) 110.891.
(Comparable cataloguing: “Basileae: apud Valentinum Curionem, 1523”; format 8vo; pagination as above.)
SKU: BTETM0002441
Shipping Info: Approximate Package Dimensions H: 12.5, L: 30, W: 25 (Units: cm), W: 2Kg
Tracked Shipping, Insurance Coverage as per Customer Request
Image 1 of 22
Image 2 of 22
Image 3 of 22
Image 4 of 22
Image 5 of 22
Image 6 of 22
Image 7 of 22
Image 8 of 22
Image 9 of 22
Image 11 of 22
Image 12 of 22
Image 13 of 22
Image 14 of 22
Image 15 of 22
Image 16 of 22
Image 17 of 22
Image 18 of 22
Image 19 of 22
Image 20 of 22
Image 21 of 22
Image 22 of 22
