VIRGILE.

Opera. Strasbourg, Johann Grüninger, 1502. In-folio, brown morocco, multiple cold frames including a large border of foliage, fleuron at the corners, spine decorated, gilt edges (Modern binding). FIRST ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF VIRGIL'S WORKS. From the presses of Johannes Grüninger, whose typographical mark can be found at the end of the volume, this sumptuous edition is one of the masterpieces of Strasbourg printing during the Renaissance. Remarkable illustration, in first edition, composed of more than 200 woodcuts, including one on the title, nearly 40 full-page and one double-page. The latter, very beautiful, shows Achates and Aeneas watching a performance of the Trojan War in a medieval theatre. The engravings were made in Grüninger's workshop. A special feature of this illustration is that the figures are dressed as fifteenth-century German peasants or knights, and the castles and fortresses on the Rhine have replaced the ancient palaces mentioned by Virgil. A somewhat short-margined copy with some running titles and paginations affected. Unwashed, it has a few foxed leaves and a marginal wetness to the last 40 leaves. Tears with small loss of letters to some leaves, title and last leaf doubled. Several wood stains.