17. Aesop's Fables; Babrius. Fabulae Aesopeae; Lucius Annaeus Cornutus. De natura deorum; Palaephatus. De incredibilibus; Heraclides. Allegoriae Homericae; Horapollo. Hieroglyphica; Aphthonius. De fabula; Philostratus. De fabula; Hermogenes. De fabula (1505).

2° ; [88], 142 [i.e. 140] p., 172 col., [1] leaf; 262 x 171mm.


All the texts in this curious collection are first editions, except for Aesop's Fables, which had been published previously at least four times. One of the more significant of these first editions is the text of Horapollo, an Egyptian native who wrote a treatise on Egyptian hieroglyphics during the fourth or fifth century A.D. Although he lived long after the last hieroglyphics had been inscribed on the temple walls, Horapollo may have had access to a hieroglyphic list secretly handed down after the writing system was suppressed. Frequently correct in his interpretations of the symbols, Horapollo had a profound influence on Renaissance thinkers, who were greatly interested in the hieroglyphics.



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