This  is  rather  a  splendid  edition,  and  will  be  prized  by  the  curious
on  account  of  its  containing  one  of  the  earliest  impressions  of  the
•  Extravagantes,'  adorned  with  wood-cuts,  which  exhibit  no  very
scrupulous  concealment  of  the  subject  of  the  fables  to  which  they
belong.  The  fictions  of  jEsop  and  Avienus  are  printed  in  verse,  with
a  type  of  larger  dimension  than  the  rest ;  which  resembles  somewhat
that  of  John  Zeiner  at  Ulm.  On  the  reverse  of  the  first  leaf,  we  have
a  whole  length  portrait  of  ^sop,  similar  to  what  the  reader  may  see
in  the  recent  edition  of  our  Typographical  Antiquities,  vol.  i.  p.  209 :
surrounded  by  flowers,  birds,  &c.  and  a  fanciful  border.  The  following
is  a  fac-simile  of  the  head  and  shoulders  of  this  portrait;  which  will  be
found  somewhat  more  delicately  executed  than  the  one  produced  by
Caxton's  press.    It  is  not,  indeed,  divested  of  expression.
ssopys


A  border,  similar  to  the  one  above  mentioned,  surrounds  the  page  on
the  recto  of  the  opposite  leaf.  The  four  books  of  the  Fables  of  ^sop
end  on  the  reverse  of  sign,  k  ii.     On  the  recto  of  sign,  k  iij,  '  Fabule


Rome;  t474.]     AMMIANUS  MARCELLINUS.  247

Esopi  anticjue  extrauagates  dicite  sequutur ;'  with  the  nmning  title
•  Extrauagates: '  as  far  as  sign,  m  i.  Then  the  fables  of  Riniicius:
next,  those  of  Avienus  :  then  '  Fabule  Collecte'  from  Poggio  and  others,
extending  from  m  to  q  viij :  on  the  reverse  of  this  latter,  at  bottom,
the  volume  closes  with

#jni^  tihieri^atuni  fafiularuni*

This  impression  is  of  rather  uncommon  occurrence.  The  present  was  a
•Museum  Duplicate'  copy ;  and  is  elegantly  bound  in  red  morocco.
112.      Ammianus    Marcellinus.      Printed    hy
Sachsel  and  Golsch.    Rome.    1474.    Folio.
