| Record ID | cp011653 |
| Voet reference number | 1214 |
| Museum Plantin-Moretus | |
| Author | Arnoldus FREITAGIUS (FRITACHIUS; FREITAG) |
| Title page transcription | MYTHOLOGIA ‖ ETHICA, ‖ Engraved title-page:] † HOC EST □ Moralis philosophiae per fa= ‖ bulas brutis attributas, tra= ‖ ditæ, amoenissimum viridari= ‖ um: In quo humanȩ vitȩ la= ‖ byrintho demonstrato, virtu= ‖ tis semita pulcherri= ‖ mis prȩceptis, veluti ‖ Thesei filo docet'. ‖ Artificiosissis. nobilissimorum sculptorū ‖ iconib' ab Arnoldo Freitagio Em= ‖ bricensi, latiné explicatis, ȩri incisum. ‖ [printed typographically underneath:] ANTVERPIÆ, ‖ Philippo Gallæo Christophorus Plantinus excudebat. ‖ M.D.LXXIX. |
| Collation | 8⁰ (193 × 155): *⁴, A-P⁸, Q⁶; pages [1-8], 1-251, [252] |
| Fingerprint | 157904 - # a1 *2 rad : # a2 *3 x$hi - # b1 A5 .$4,$ : # b2 R3 $ben |
| Number of sheets | 33.50 |
| Pages | [1]: Title [2]: Blank [3-8]: Clarissimis…viris Abrahamo Ortelio Hispaniarum regis geographo, et Andreae Ximenio Lusitano, Arnoldus Freitaghius S.D. (Antwerp, 5 June 1579; words in greek type) [8]: In Zoilum (six lines Latin poem; italic type) [1]: Hexastichon libri ad lectorem 2-251: Text (on even pages text in italic type, parts in roman type; on uneven pages illustration with headline in roman type and quotation from Bible in italic type) [252]: Blank |
| Edition information | |
| Illustrations | Engravings: 1) Title-page, 122 × 114 2) 125 illustrations, 95 × 112. For more details see in Notes |
| Copies | Museum Plantin-Moretus- A 385British Library LondonBibliothèque nationale de France |
| Bibliographical references | Ruelens-de Backer, pages 202-203 (1579, no. 9) Praz, M. Seventeenth-Century Imagery, page 341 J. Landwehr, Emblem Books in the Low Countries, 1970, no. 166 A.J.J. Delen, Histoire de la gravure dans les anciens Pays-Bas et dans les provinces belges II. Le XVIe siècle Les graveurs-illustrateurs, 1934, pages 140-141.Cockx-Indestege, E. Belgica typographica 5820 |
| Online bibliographical references | STCV c:stcv:12927248USTC 401816 |
| Note 1 | Collection of 125 fables, with on the even pages the text, on the uneven pages the accompanying illustration, with above a caption and underneath a quotation from the Bible. |
| Note 2 | In the dedicatory the author explains that, at the urging of Ortelius and Ximenes, he adapted in Latin a collection of fables, themselves some years ago translated from Dutch into French ('Eapropter optimi viri, cum hic fabularum non Aesopicarum modo, sed quorumcumque quae hactenus haberi potuere, libellus non ita multo ante a Belgico [= Dutch] in Gallicum idioma vernaculo utrisque carmine translatus sit, vestro hortatu…eum Latio [= for Latino] donandum censui…'), in order to assure them a wider distribution. Freitagius is referring here to De warachtighe fabulen der dieren [The real fables of the animals] by Edward de Dene, published at Bruges, Pieter de Clerck, 1567, and illustrated with 107 engravings and a frontispiece by the Bruges artist Marcus Gheeraerts. A French edition of de Dene's fables is not known, but Freitagius is perhaps referring to a French version which did not appear in print. |
| Note 3 | Freitagius not only followed largely his Dutch model, but the plates themselves were in fact the ones used in the 1567 Bruges-publication, with 18 additional illustrations (cf. Delen, Les graveurs-illustrateurs, pages 140-141). In 1571 Jan Moretus noted 'Adi 23e Junii. Item les cinq florins mis en compte receus de Plantin il les a comptés à Bruges à la femme des fables: 5 florins Carolus guilders' (Arch. 29, folio 39). Delen, op. cit., page 141, supposes that this entry refers to a transaction connected with the sale of the plates. It may be doubted, however, that buying Gheeraerts's engravings was the affair of Plantin. Freitagius's work is nowhere mentioned in his catalogues (not listed in M 296 and M 164), the plates never appear in the inventories of the Officina Plantiniana, whilst in the printer's address it is clearly stated that Plantin was in fact working for Philip Galle. To all probability, the publication was at the initiative (and at the costs) of Galle, who bought the plates, had the additional illustrations made in his studio (or, perhaps, as suggested by Delen, commissioned Gheeraerts to do the job), and printed them on his intaglio-presses. Plantin's contribution was limited to printing the typographical texts for the account of his colleague. |
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