Directorium humanae vite, alias Parabole antiquoru[m] sapientu[m]

Giovanni, da Capua, active 13th century, Prüss, Johann, 1446 or 1447-1510, printer, Bement, Clarence S. (Clarence Sweet), 1843-1923, former owner, Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection (Library of Congress), Otto Vollbehr Collection (Library of Congress) · 1488 · [Strassburg, Johann Prüss, ca. 1488-1493] · 118 pictures

Directorium humanae vitae, also called Parabole antiquorum sapientum, is a fifteenth-century incunable of animal fables printed by Johann Prüss in Strasbourg around 1488, aimed at a scholarly and clerical readership. Its woodcuts show chapter-headed scenes of animals and people in short narrative moments, set above dense Latin columns, which a designer might borrow for compact framed vignettes with a hand-cut, black-line quality.

France · Incunabula · Strasbourg

Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division · No known copyright restrictions · More from this library