... De duplici copia, verborum ac rerum commentarij duo, by Erasmus, Desiderius - 1514-1515: Item Epistola ... ad Iacobum Vuymphelingium Selestatinum. Item ... Parabolae, siue similia, e Physicis, pleraque ex Aristotele, & Plinio. [BOUND WITH] Collectanea Adagiorum veterum ... [1515].

Strasbourg: Matthias Schürer, 1514-1515. First edition of some material. Hard Cover. Very Good. Quarto (21 cm), three parts in one volume: I: [6], 73, [6] leaves; II: [56] leaves; III: [4], 57, [7] leaves. Numerous five- and six-line "criblé" woodcut initials on black ground decorated with arabesques and figures, many of them carefully rubricated. Second title page with woodcut architectural border, lightly rubricated. Printer's "usui studiosorum" device on last printed page, rubricated. Bound in contemporary or 17th-century blind-stamped alum tawed pigskin over wooden boards, with a Cardinal's arms gilt on both boards. Clasps and catches preserved, straps renewed. Some small worming at spine ends. First title leaf somewhat toned and soiled. Occasional marginalia in contemporary or early hand. Contemporary ownership inscription on title page. References: VD 16 E-2645 and E-3237; Adams E-318 and E-716; Panzer VI, 68, 340-341; "Early Editions" (Toronto) #369, etc.

Several related works of Erasmus collected in one binding, including the first edition of Parabolae sive similia (a reported 1513 edition of Parabolae was a longstanding bibliographical error), and the first appearance of Erasmus's farewell letter to Jakob Wimpfeling (Epistle 305). In 1509, the year Mattias Schürer completed his apprenticeship and opened his own print shop, he struck an unauthorized edition of Erasmus's Adagia, purloined from the first edition of 1500. Anger on the author's part would have been justified. Yet, in spite of this commercial indiscretion, Erasmus favored Schurer with a warm, supportive, and lasting friendship. In October, 1514, he gave Schürer the manuscript of "Parabolae, sive similia," which Schürer decided to publish in tandem with a reprint of De Copia (although there are copies extant of Parabolae bound alone). It is fitting that Parabolae should be bound with Adagia in this copy, since it expands on the earlier work's idea of compiling classical maxims. Parabolae (that is, The Parables) is a catalogue of didactic similes gleaned from Plutarch, Seneca, and Pliny (who almost never used similes in his own text). The Adagia is also the subject of Erasmus's letter to Wimpfeling, whom he thanks for recommending it for a school text. Schürer's edition of Adagia of 1515 is the first to contain the printer's own "table of proverbs" to function as a key to the collection. In all, Schürer published 57 editions of 15 titles by Erasmus in the five year period from 1514 to 1519, the year he died.