textual In literary theory, textuality comprises all of the attributes that distinguish the communicative content under analysis as an object of study. It is associated with structuralism and post-structuralism. Explanation Textuality is not just abou ...

and

classical scholarship Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

, the ''editio princeps'' (

plural In many languages, a plural (sometimes list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated as pl., pl, , or ), is one of the values of the grammatical number, grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than ...

: ''editiones principes'') of a work is the first printed edition of the work, that previously had existed only in

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

s. These had to be copied by hand in order to circulate. For example, the ''editio princeps'' of

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

is that of

Demetrius Chalcondyles Demetrios Chalkokondyles ( ), Latinized as Demetrius Chalcocondyles and found variously as Demetricocondyles, Chalcocondylas or Chalcondyles (14239 January 1511), was one of the most eminent Greek scholars in the West. He taught in Italy for ov ...

, now thought to be from 1488. The most important texts of classical Greek and Roman authors were for the most part produced in ''editiones principes'' in the years from 1465 to 1525, following the invention of the

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in whi ...

around 1440.Briggs, Asa & Burke, Peter (2002) ''A Social History of the Media: from Gutenberg to the Internet'', Cambridge: Polity, pp. 15–23, 61–73. In some cases there were possibilities of partial publication, of publication first in translation (for example from Greek to Latin), and of a usage that simply equates with

first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition is all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a book pr ...

. For a work with several strands of manuscript tradition that have diverged, such as ''

Piers Plowman ''Piers Plowman'' (written 1370–86; possibly ) or ''Visio Willelmi de Petro Ploughman'' (''William's Vision of Piers Plowman'') is a Middle English allegorical narrative poem by William Langland. It is written in un-rhymed, alliterative ...

'', ''editio princeps'' is a less meaningful concept. The term has long been extended by scholars to works not part of the Ancient Greek and Latin literatures. It is also used for legal works, and other significant documents. For fuller lists of literature works, see: *

List of editiones principes in Latin In classical scholarship, the ''editio princeps'' (plural: ''editiones principes'') of a work is the first printed edition of the work, that previously had existed only in inscriptions or manuscripts, which could be circulated only after being ...

* List of editiones principes in Greek * List of editiones principes in languages other than Latin or Greek

Notable works

The following is a selection of notable literature works.

References

{{Authority control Book terminology Textual criticism Textual scholarship History of printing