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 editiones principes 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 is 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.
| 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. |
| 1465 | Cicero, De officiis | Mainz | |
| 1469 | Apuleius | Sweynheym and Pannartz | |
| Livy | Rome | Books 1-10, 21-32, 34-39.[1] | |
| Lucan | Sweynheym and Pannartz | ||
| Virgil | Rome | ||
| Caesar, De Bello Gallico | Rome | ||
| Pliny the Elder | Johannes de Spira | ||
| c.1469 | Aulus Gellius | Sweynheym and Pannartz | |
| 1470 | Sallust[2] | ||
| Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum | Rome | Edited by Giannantonio Campano | |
| Terence | |||
| ?1468-1470 | Tacitus | Venice[3] | |
| 1471 | Ovid | ||
| 1471 | Pomponius Mela, De Chorographia libri tres | Milan, Antonius Zarotus[4] | |
| 1472 | Diodorus Siculus | Poggio Bracciolini | partial Latin translation; complete edition 1559[5] |
| Cato Maior, De Agri Cultura | Venice, Nicolaus Jensonus | Edited by Georgius Merula | |
| Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae | |||
| Plautus | |||
| Varro, Rerum Rusticarum libri tres | Venezia Nicolaus Jensonus | Edited by Georgius Merula in the same volume as the above. | |
| 1473 | Lucretius | Brescia | |
| c.1473 | Marcus Manilius, Astronomicon | Regiomontanus | |
| 1474 | Valerius Flaccus | Bologna[6] | |
| Claudian | |||
| 1475 | Historia Augusta | ||
| 1478 | Aulus Cornelius Celsus | ||
| 1482 | Horatius | Firenze | |
| c. 1483 | Tertullian | Complex history[7] | |
| c.1484 | Serenus Sammonicus | Sulpitius Verulanus | |
| 1488 | Avienus | ||
| Homer | Demetrius Chalcondyles | ||
| c.1493 | Hesiod, Works and Days | Demetrius Chalcondyles | |
| 1493 | Isocrates | Demetrius Chalcondyles | |
| 1495-1498 | Aristotle | Aldus Manutius[8] | |
| 1496 | Apollonius of Rhodes | Florence Lorenzo de Alopa | Edition by Ianos Lascaris |
| Lucian | Florence[9] | ||
| 1497 | Terentianus[10] | ||
| 1498 | Aristophanes | Aldine Press | The texts of all comedies of Aristophanes and their scholia were edited by Marcos Musuros |
| 1499 | Alciphron | ||
| Martianus Capella | Vicenza, F. Vitalis Bodianus[11] |
| Date | Author, Work | Printer (or location) | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1502 | Sophocles | ||
| 1503 | Euripides | Aldine Press | |
| 1504 | Quintus Smyrnaeus | Aldus Manutius | |
| 1513 | Lysias | Aldus Manutius | |
| 1513 | Lycophron | Aldus Manutius | |
| 1513 | Plato | Venice, Aldine Press[12] | Edited by Marcos Musuros with in the preface the Ὀδὴ εἰς Πλάτονα, a reinassance elegiacal poem to the philosopher written by Musuros himself. |
| 1515 | Jordanes, Romana | Konrad Peutinger | |
| 1516 | New Testament (Greek) | Desiderius Erasmus, Basel | 2nd ed. 1519, 3rd ed. 1522, see Textus Receptus. |
| 1518 | Aeschylus | Aldine Press | |
| 1520 | Marcus Velleius Paterculus | Beatus Rhenanus[13] | |
| 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. |
| 1525 | Galen | Venice, Aldine[14] | |
| 1526 | Irenaeus | Erasmus, Basel[15] | |
| 1527 | Philo (Latin) | Sichardus | first part published by Iustianus (1520)[16] |
| 1533 | Diogenes Laertius | Basel, Froben | Complete Greek text[17] |
| Euclid, Elements | Simon Grynäus | ||
| 1544 | Sozomen | Robert Estienne | |
| 1544 | Josephus | Hieronymus Froben | Edited by Arnoldus Arlenius; first Greek edition |
| 1549 | Optatus of Milevis | Johannes Cochlaeus, F. Behem[18] | Mainz; 7th book printed 1569[19] |
| 1551 | Appian (Greek)[20] | ||
| 1552 | Philo (Greek) | Turnebus | for works only extant in Latin mss see 1527, works only in Armenian Aucher (1822–26) |
| 1553 | Synesius | Adrianus Turnebus | |
| 1558 | Marcus Aurelius, Meditations | Xylander | |
| 1562 | Sextus Empiricus | Geneva | Latin translation of Sextus's "Outlines", published by Henricus Stephanus, followed by a complete Latin Sextus with Gentian Hervet as translator in 1569.[21] Petrus and Jacobus Chouet published the Greek text for the first time in 1621. |
| Sefer Yetzirah | |||
| 1569 | Nonnus | ||
| 1572 | Plutarch | Henri Estienne[22] | |
| 1575 | Diophantus | Xylander | |
| 1583 | Martyrologium romanum | ||
| 1598 | Longus |
| Date | Author, Work | Printer (or location) | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1615 | Laonicus Chalcondyles | J. B. Baumbach | |
| 1644 | Anglo-Saxon Chronicle | Abraham Wheelocke[23] | |
| 1655 | Theophanes the Confessor | J. Goar[24] | |
| 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.[25] |
| 1849-1875 | Rigveda | Max Müller | |
| 1850 | Hypereides | Churchill Babington | |
| 1897 | Bacchylides | F. G. Kenyon |