editio princeps

It was printed in the latter year, in the “editio princeps” of the enlarged and rewritten Adagia then issued from Froben’s great printing-works at Basel.

The work has come down to us from a single MS., now in the library at Venice, from which the editio princeps was published.

The editio princeps of Homer, published at Florence in 1488, by Demetrius Chalcondylas, and the Aldine editions of 1504 and 1517, have still some value beyond that of curiosity.

Princeps, prin′seps, n. one who, or that which, is foremost, original, &c.: short for editio princeps, the first edition of a book.

The Editio Princeps, a real first edition of supreme value, appeared from the press of John Fust in 1459.