editio princeps

English

Etymology

From New Latin ēditiō prīnceps (“first edition”), 1800s.

Noun

editio princeps (plural editiones principes)

1. (humanities, printing) The first printed edition of a work previously only published in manuscript form.
   • 1903, Mabel Osgood Wright, People of the Whirlpool‎^[1]:

     A caller interrupted me yesterday, a most persistent fellow and a dangerous one to the purse of the tyro collector of Americana, though not to me. He was a man of some pretence to classic education, and superficially versed in lore of title, date, and editio princeps.

   • 2004, Thomas Fisch, editor, Primary Readings on the Eucharist, Liturgical Press, →ISBN, footnote, page 34:

     The extract from the Missal of Constance, which was printed before the editio princeps […] does not contain the formulae for Advent, Sundays after Epiphany, Lent and the Sundays after Easter and Pentecost; […]

   • 2007, Terence Bailey, Alma Colk Santosuosso, editors, Music in Medieval Europe […] , Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., →ISBN, page 199:

     If the editio princeps was an attempt to create an authoritative version of the pontifical, such was not yet attainable.

Translations

first printed edition of a work previously only published as manuscript

• Dutch: eerste druk m
• Finnish: ensipainos
• French: édition originale (fr) f
• German: Erstdruck (de) m
• Greek: πρώτη έκδοση n (próti ékdosi)
• Polish: editio princeps (pl) n, pierwodruk m

See also

• incunabulum
• translatio princeps (“first translation”)

Further reading

• editio princeps on Wikipedia.Wikipedia