Apuleio - L'Asino d'Oro - 1598

THE GREAT LATIN NOVEL IN THE RENAISSANCE TRANSLATION BY FIRENZUOLA
Elegant Florentine edition from the late sixteenth century of Apuleius’s masterpiece, one of the most celebrated novels of Classical antiquity and the only Latin novel that has survived almost intact to our time. Universally known as The Golden Ass, the text recounts the adventures of Lucius, accidentally transformed into a donkey and forced to endure a long series of vicissitudes, encounters, dangers, and moral metamorphoses before the final redemption thanks to the intervention of the goddess Isis. Printed in Florence by Filippo Giunti in 1598, this edition presents the famous Italian translation by Agnolo Firenzuola (1493-1543), regarded as one of the most successful achievements of Renaissance vernacular prose. The work occupies a central place in Apuleius’s Italian editorial fortune and contributed decisively to the spread of the novel among the educated public of the modern age. Particularly striking is the preservation in full contemporary parchment with handwritten titles on the spine.

WHY TO BUY
GIOONTINA EDITION OF 1598! An elegant Florentine classic from the late sixteenth century printed by Filippo Giunti.
THE MASTERPIECE OF APULEIUS! The only major Latin novel that survived almost in its entirety, also famous for the tale of Cupid and Psyche.
TRANSLATION BY AGNOLO FIRENZUOLA! One of the most important and refined Renaissance Italian translations of the text.
IN CONTEMPORARY PARCHMENT! A copy still preserved in its evocative antique binding with handwritten titles on the spine.

MARKET VALUE
Sixteenth-century Italian editions of The Golden Ass are sought after by classic collectors and specialists in Renaissance literature and the history of translation. The fortune of the work was wide, but surviving copies of the 16th-century impressions in antique bindings hold particular bibliographic interest. The Florence edition of 1598 also carries the charm of Giunta production and the celebrated translation by Agnolo Firenzuola, which for centuries represented one of the main channels through which the Italian public knew Apuleius’s novel. The presence of contemporary parchment further increases the overall interest of the specimen, which still preserves the appearance of a typical sixteenth-century volume meant for private reading and library use in the modern age.

PHYSICAL / CONDITION
Pages 266, [6]. Printer’s mark on the title page, initials, and woodcut ornaments. Binding loose. Tear in the center of the publisher’s mark on the title page with a small loss. A4 paper with a small restoration at the upper external corner and some small tears along the upper margin with slight loss of text. Gallery of worm at the inner margin of some fascicles, occasionally touching the text but not compromising legibility. Elegant full contemporary parchment with handwritten titles on the spine and signs of wear. As with all antique volumes, slight defects or unmentioned restorations may be present.

FULL TITLES & AUTHORS
Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis.
Dell’asino d’oro.
Traduzione italiana di Agnolo Firenzuola.
In Firenze: per Filippo Giunti, 1598.
Al colophon: In Firenze: per Filippo Giunti, 1598.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Lucius Apuleius, born at Madaura in Roman Africa in the 2nd century C.E., was a Platonic philosopher, orator and Latin writer, as well as one of the most singular figures of imperial-era literary culture. A man of broad education, he studied rhetoric, philosophy, religion and natural sciences, residing in several Mediterranean centers and acquiring a deeply cosmopolitan culture. His fame is chiefly tied to the Metamorphoses, universally known as The Golden Ass, the only Latin novel of antiquity that has survived in almost complete form. The work blends adventure, eroticism, social satire, magic, religion and philosophical reflection in a narrative structure astonishingly modern. At the center is Lucius, a curious young man with a taste for magic who is accidentally turned into a donkey and undergoes a long sequence of adventures before regaining human form thanks to Isis. Within the novel is inserted the famous story of Cupid and Psyche, destined to exert enormous influence on European literature and the visual arts. Apuleius thus occupies a fundamental place in the history of Western narrative, and his novel was rediscovered and intensively read in the Renaissance, becoming a model for the novella, the picaresque novel and fantastical prose of the modern age.

RARITY
Sixteenth-century Italian editions of The Golden Ass are sought by both classical collectors and specialists in Renaissance literature and in the history of translation. The work enjoyed wide editorial fortune, but surviving specimens from the 16th century in antique bindings bear particular bibliographic interest. The Florentine edition of 1598 also carries the charm of Giuntine production and the famous translation by Agnolo Firenzuola, which for centuries represented one of the main avenues through which the Italian public encountered Apuleius’s novel. The presence of contemporary parchment further increases the overall interest of the exemplar, which still preserves the appearance of a typical sixteenth-century book intended for reading and private library use in the modern age.

HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE
The Golden Ass is one of the pivotal texts of Western narrative. Its exceptional status derives not only from being the only Latin novel that has survived almost in its entirety but also from the extraordinary variety of registers, themes and narrative models it contains. The famous tale of Cupid and Psyche, placed at the center of the novel, achieved immense independent fame in literature and European art. More generally, the episodic structure of the tale, the taste for adventure, satirical social commentary, and the transformation of the protagonist exerted a deep influence on Renaissance and Baroque narrative. The translation by Agnolo Firenzuola, in turn, holds notable importance in the history of Italian prose: its elegant and natural style helped integrate the Latin masterpiece into the vernacular literary culture of the Renaissance, promoting its circulation among a broader audience. This Giuntine edition of 1598 thus sits at the intersection of classical tradition, humanistic culture, translation history, and the great Florentine publishing world of the late sixteenth century.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adams, Catalogue of Books Printed on the Continent of Europe, 1501-1600, A-1587.
EDIT16, CNCE 2968.
Brunet, Manuel du libraire et de l’amateur de livres, I, 347.
Lucius Apuleius, Metamorphoseon libri XI, tradizione editoriale rinascimentale.
Agnolo Firenzuola, traduzione italiana dell’Asino d’oro.
Filippo Giunti, Firenze, 1598.