Plutarch, Lives of Illustrious Greeks and Romans, in Latin. Printed in Venice, 1478, by Nicholas Jensson.

Plutarch’s Lives, originally in Greek, were translated individually or in groups by several Italian scholars between c. 1440 and 1460.  The first printed edition (editio princeps) of the complete collection was produced in Rome in 1470.  The one on display is either the first or second reprint of the first edition, and is noteworthy because the printer, Nicholas Jensson, was the first to design and use a ‘roman’ typeface instead of the ‘gothic’ which had been inherited from manuscripts.

From the Library of Christ College, University of Tasmania (uncatalogued).