Editio princeps Totally Explained

Everything about Editio Princeps totally explained

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. For a work, such as Piers Plowman, with several strands of manuscript tradition that have diverged, it's a less meaningful concept.
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

Date	Author, Work	Printer (or location)	Comment
1455	Bible (Latin)	Johannes Gutenberg, Mainz	Biblia Sacra Vulgata, 2 editions: 42 line and 36 line, see Gutenberg Bible.
1469	Apuleius	Sweynheym and Pannartz
	Lucan	Sweynheym and Pannartz
	Virgil	Rome
	Caesar, De Bello Gallico	Rome
c.1469	Aulus Gellius	Sweynheym and Pannartz
1470	Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum	Rome	Edited by Iohannis Antonius Campanus
1471	Ovid
1471	Pomponius Mela, De Chorographia libri tres	Milan, Antonius Zarotus (External Link)
1472	Diodorus Siculus	Poggio Bracciolini	partial Latin translation
	Cato Maior, De Agri Cultura	Venezia Nicolaus Jensonus	Edited by Georgius Merula
	Varro, Rerum Rusticarum libri tres	Venezia Nicolaus Jensonus	Edited by Georgius Merula in the same volume as the above.
c.1473	Marcus Manilius, Astronomicon	Regiomontanus
	Claudian
1475	Historia Augusta
1478	Aulus Cornelius Celsus
1482	Horatius	Firenze
c. 1483	Tertullian		Complex history
c.1484	Serenus Sammonicus	Sulpitius Verulanus
1488	Avienus
	Homer	Demetrius Chalcondyles
c.1493	Hesiod, Works and Days	Demetrius Chalcondyles
1493	Isocrates	Demetrius Chalcondyles
1496	Apollonius of Rhodes
1499	Alciphron
1499	Martianus Capella	Vicenza
1502	Sophocles
1504	Quintus Smyrnaeus	Aldus Manutius
1513	Lysias	Aldus Manutius
1513	Lycophron	Aldus Manutius
1515	Jordanes, Romana	Konrad Peutinger
1516	New Testament (Greek)	Desiderius Erasmus, Basel	2nd ed. 1519, 3rd ed. 1522, see Textus Receptus.
1520	Marcus Velleius Paterculus
1520	Rutilius Claudius Namatianus	J. B. Pius
1520	Septuagint		Complutensian Polyglot Bible
1520-3	Talmud	Daniel Bomberg, Venice
1524–25	Bible (Hebrew)	Daniel Bomberg, Venice	Edition included masoretic notes, Aramaic targums and Rashi's commentary, see Mikraot Gedolot.
1526	Irenaeus	Erasmus, Basel
1527	Philo (Latin)	Sichardus	first part published by Iustianus (1520)
1533	Euclid, Elements	Simon Grynäus
1544	Sozomen	Robert Estienne
1544	Josephus	Hieronymus Froben	Edited by Arnoldus Arlenius; first Greek edition
1552	Philo (Greek)	Turnebus	for works only extant in Latin mss see 1527, works only in Armenian Aucher (1822–26)
1549	Optatus of Milevis	Johannes Cochlaeus, F. Behem (External Link)	Mainz; 7th book printed 1569 (External Link)
1553	Synesius	Adrianus Turnebus
1558	Marcus Aurelius, Meditations	Xylander
1562	Sefer Yetzirah
1569	Nonnus
1575	Diophantus	Xylander
1583	Martyrologium romanum
1598	Longus
1615	Laonicus Chalcondyles	J. B. Baumbach
1644	Anglo-Saxon Chronicle	Abraham Wheelocke
1655	Theophanes the Confessor	J. Goar
1661	Hippolytus, Antichrist	Marquard Gude
1733	Genesius	Stephan Bergler
1750	Chariton	Pierre Mortier
1841	Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Trattato di Architectura	Carlo Promis	Promis, however, published only six of the seven books. The last book which deals with all kinds of mechanical devices was omitted and subsequently escaped the notice of historians of technology for the next hundred years.
1850	Hypereides	Churchill Babington
1897	Bacchylides	F. G. Kenyon
	Rigveda	Max Müller

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