APULEIUS, LUCIUS & ALCINOUS AND OTHERS, & ALCINOUS.

METAMORPHOSEOS, SIVE LUSUS ASINI LIBRI XI. FLORIDORUM IIII. DE DEO SOCRATIS I. DE PHILOSOPHIA I. ASCLEPIUS TRISMEGISTI DIALOGUS EODEM APULEIO INTERPRETE. EIUSDEM APULEIJ LIBER DE DOGMATIS PLATONICIS. EIUSDEM LIBER DE MUNDO, QUEM MAGNA EX PARTE EX LIB. ARISTOTELIS EIUSDEM ARGUMENTI IN LATINUM TRADUXIT. ... APOLOGIAE II. ALCINOUS, ISAGOGICUS LIBER PLATONICAE PHILOSOPHIAE, GRAECE IMPRESSUS. NAM COMMODIUS VISI SUMUS FACERE, SI HUNC LIBRUM GRAECUM IMPRIMEREMUS, QUAM LATINUM, CUM INEPTA TRALATIONE CUIUSDAM EPISCOPI TTROPIENSIS (SIC) BARBARUS ESSET. (COLOPHON: VENICE, HEIRS OF ALDUS THE ELDER (ANDREA ASULANI & SONS), MAY 1521).

      2 parts in 1 vol. 8vo. Contemporary richly blind ruled full calf with three blind tooled decorated rolls, red speckled edges. Woodcut printer's device on title and verso of last leaf. 266 (i.e. 264), (28) ff. [Collation: a-z8, A-K8 (Rom.), (1-3)8, (4)4 (Arab.)]. First Aldine edition of Apuleius collected works including the Metamorphoses ('The Golden Ass', here on fols. 3-130) and his Platonic texts, edited by Franciscus Asulanus.Lucius Apuleius Platonicus (c. 123/125 - c. 180) was a Romanized Berber, remembered most for his bawdy picaresque Latin novel, the Metamorphoses, otherwise known as The Golden Ass or, in Latin, the Asinus Aureus. It's the only Latin novel to survive in its entirety. The date of composition of the Metamorphoses is uncertain. It has variously been considered by scholars as a youthful work preceding Apuleius' Apology of 158/9 AD, or as the climax of his literary career and perhaps as late as the 170s or 180s. Apuleius adapted the story from a Greek original, possibly by Lucius of Patrae. His other works follow, including a text attributed to Hermes Trismegistus:(f. 2: Letter of the eitor Franciscus Asulanus to Franciscus Rubrius (Francois Lerouge)).- ff. 130v-149: Floridorum libri IV.- ff. 149v-161: De Deo Socratis (On the God of Socrates).- ff. 161v-172: De philosophia liber.- ff. 173-192: the translation into Latin by Apuleius (the text is sometimes also attributed to Asclepius) of the Asclepius attributed to Hermes Trismegistus in the form of a dialogus between Harmes and his pupil Asclepius. The original Greek is lost and partially preserved in Latin. The first part is on the position of man in the universe and his relation to God, the earth and heaven; the second is on good and evil, and the third contains fragments. among others on a bloody prophecy of the end of Roman rule in Egypt and the resurgence of pagan Egyptian power.- ff. 193-200: Vita, instituta, dogmata Platonis (On Plato and his Doctrine).(- f. 201r: Preface by Franciscus Asulanus to the reader).- ff. 201v-214: Liber cui index est cosmographia, sive de mundo ad Faustinaum filium (On the universe).- ff. 215-266 (=264): Apologiae sive defensionis Mageiae apud Claudium.- half title for the work by Alcinouus, printed in Greek. and ff. (2-27). The work of Alcinous is mentioned on the general title-page, but also has its own part-title here. This part begins with a new series of quires, numbered 1-4). It is his handbook of Platonism, an epitome of Middle Platonism with topics ranging from logic to physics to ethics, intended as a manual for teachers, is here entirely printed in Greek. Alcinous was a Middle Platonist philosopher who probably lived in the 2nd century, although nothing is known about his life.(f. 28r: imprint; 28v: printer's device). Good copy in an attractive blind tooled binding.- (Some staining in the beginning, title repaired; former ms. ownership's entries on verso of title and title (erased: 'Paul...'); binding very skilfully rebacked and restored along edges). Renouard p. 91, no. 8; The Aldine Press, Cat. Ahmanson-Murphu coll. UCLA 202; Adams A-1362; ; Dibdin I, p. 284; STC Italian p. 35; Index Aurel. 106.611; Hoffmann I, 109.