Summer Round-Up: June 22

[Laura Gibbs]

Summer Round-Up: June 22. This past week I had a FANTASTIC time looking for Latin Aesop's fables at Google Books and other online resources, in lieu of my usual blogging.

GoogleBooks has now scanned enough books from enough libraries that I have been able to pull together a very respectable online collection that represents all the major collections of Aesop's fables in Latin - ancient verse, medieval verse and prose, Renaissance verse and prose, plus all kinds of interesting modern materials. Using the full view books at GoogleBooks, I have been able to link directly to the page on which each fable appears... and the total is now over FOUR THOUSAND Latin fables, representing variations on approximately 1000 different Aesopic plots (about 600 ancient fable types, plus hundreds of Renaissance and modern contributions to the tradition).

Here is just a simple list of what I've compiled at the Aesopus website, in the hopes that some of these books might be useful to you, too. If you have not yet ventured into the amazing world of GoogleBooks, I recommend it very highly indeed!

Phaedrus. The earliest extant collection of Aesop's fables from the ancient world, comprising slightly over 100 fables.

Avianus. Another very inlfuential early collection of Aesop's fables in verse (approximately 40 fables).

Ademar. An 11th-century collection of appx. 70 fables compiled by Ademar of Chabannes.

Romulus in Prose. I have included these collections edited by Hervieux: Romulus Anglicus (appx. 140 fables), Romulus Ad Rufum (appx. 60 fables), Romulus Vulgaris (appx. 80 fables), Arctopolitanae (appx. 50 fables), Romulus of Marie de France (appx. 20 fables), and Vienna (2 manuscripts, for a total of appx. 130 fables).

Romulus in Meter. Approximately 40 fables in verse (dactylic hexameter).

Romulus in Rhyme. Approximately 50 fables in rhyming verse.

Walter of England. Approximately 60 fables in verse.

Alexander of Neckham. Approximately 40 fables in verse by a late 12th-century English scholar.

Vincent of Beauvais. Appx. 30 fables found in his Speculum historiale (13th century).

Odo of Cheriton. A marvelous collection of appx. 120 fables by a thirteenth-century preacher.

John of Sheppey. A 14th century collection of appx. 70 fables, drawing on both Romulus and Odo.

Speculum Sapientiae. An odd 13th-century work, not Aesopic, with appx. 100 animal "stories."

Dialogus creaturarum. An odd 14th-century work, also not Aesopic, with appx. 100 nature tales.

Steinhowel. The first edition of Aesop printed in book form, including appx. 140 fables.

Baldo. A Renaissance verse collection (15th century?) of appx. 30 fables from eastern sources.

Abstemius. A delightful collection of 100 "original" Renaissance fables which in turn became influential in the later Aesop tradition.

Aesop Phryx (Madrid). A frequently reprinted collection of appx. 350 fables (this particular edition printed at Madrid).

Hieronymus Osius. A large collection of fables in verse (almost 300 of them), including the fables of Abstemius!

Caspar Barth. Approximately 70 fables in verse, written in a variety of meters.

Faernus. A lovely collection of 100 fables in verse by the sixteenth-century Italian poet Gabriele Faerno.

Candidus Pantaleon. Approximately 150 fables in verse, written by the 16th-century poet Candidus Pantaleon.

Marquardus Gudius. A collection of appx. 30 fables in verse by the 17th-century scholar, Marquardus Gudius.

Johann Christ. Approximately 50 fables in verse by this 18th-century scholar.

Desbillons. Massive collection of over 500 verse fables by the 18th-century Jesuit scholar Francis Desbillons.

De Furia. Excellent collection of over 400 Greek fables with Latin translations from the early 19th century.

Jauffret. Appx. 120 of Jauffret's fables (early 19th century) translated into Latin verse.

LaFontaine. A second-year Latin textbook with 50 fables of LaFontaine in Latin prose.

Eton. Marvelous 18th-century edition of appx. 150 Aesop's fables in Latin and Greek prepared for Eton schoolboys.

Clarke's Reader. An 18th-century bilingual edition of the fables for schoolchildren, containing appx. 200 fables.

J&D and Via Latina Readers. These are 19th-century Latin readers for schoolchildren, including appx. 50 fables.

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