Apuleio - Asino aureo libri undecim - 1536

Framework of the work
Rare Parisian sixteenth-century edition of the Metamorphoseos, or De asino aureo, by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis, printed in Paris in 1536 at the workshop of Simon de Colines. The work, known as The Golden Ass, is the only Latin novel to have survived in full from antiquity and one of the foundational texts of classical narrative.

Historical and cultural context of the work
Apuleius’s Metamorphoses enjoyed enormous fortune in the Renaissance thanks to the humanistic rediscovery of the Latin classics. The tale of Lucius’s transformation into a donkey fuses magic, satire, philosophy, and mystic religion, exerting a profound influence on European literature between the 16th and 18th centuries.

Content and structure
The work consists of eleven books and includes the celebrated tale of Cupid and Psyche, among the most influential stories in the Western tradition. The edition features a preface, notes to the individual books, and the author’s life, prepared by Filippo Beroaldo, in addition to a final catalog of difficult vocabulary with exegetical function.

The author
Lucius Apuleius, Platonic philosopher and rhetorician of the 2nd century CE, represents one of the most original figures of late Latin. Filippo Beroaldo, a Bologna humanist of the fifteenth century, contributed decisively to the Renaissance diffusion of the work through his philological commentary.

Edition
Parisiis, ex officina Simonis Colinaei, 1536. Elegant humanistic edition printed in Latin italic type.

Bibliographic description
Author: Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis
Title: L. Apuleii Madaurensis philosophi Platonici Metamorphoseos, sive de asino aureo libri undecim
Editor: Filippo Beroaldo
Place of printing: Paris
Printer: Simon de Colines
Year: 1536
Format: octavo
Language: Latin
Completeness: complete exemplar

Title page and decorative apparatus
Typographic title page in Roman and italic type with indication of the Simon de Colines workshop. Text printed in elegant humanistic italic with a decorated woodcut initial at the beginning of the first book. No illustrative plates present. Of particular interest is a manuscript leaf inserted before the title page, probably from the eighteenth century, containing erudite notes in French concerning demonomania, lycanthropy, and Apuleius’s metamorphosis, with references to Jean Bodin, Augustine, Lucian, Macrobius, and Bayle. An addition that testifies to the learned reception of the work in subsequent centuries.

Binding
Eighteenth-century half-leather binding with marbled boards. Gilt-ruled spine with gilt title. Solid structure with natural signs of use, abrasions, and slight cracks on the spine.

State of preservation
Complete exemplar. Leaves well preserved and fresh, with slight humidity staining, scattered spots, marginal halos, and normal signs of aging. Some minor marginal defects do not compromise legibility. Title page with old ownership notes and handwritten erasures. Overall a genuine and well-preserved exemplar, enriched by the significant preliminary handwritten note.

Aesthetic and scholarly interest
Important sixteenth-century edition of one of the great Latin classics, printed by Simon de Colines, a central figure of French humanist publishing. An exemplar of notable interest for collectors of Latin classics, Renaissance humanism, and the history of early modern books.