VIRGILE. [Opera]. [Venice, Jacques Le Rouge, January 1475 (1476 n.st.)]. In-folio, red morocco, double gilt fillet, spine decorated, interior Greek, gilt edges (H. Zucker, Phila[delphia]). First edition of Virgil accompanied by a commentary, in this case that of the grammarian Maurus Servius Honoratus, known as Servius, which was an authority for a thousand years, from the 4th century to the Renaissance. The editio princeps of Virgil's works was printed in Rome in 1469 (n.d.) by Pannartz and Sweynheim; the first dated edition is the first printed in Venice the following year. As for the editio princeps of Servius's commentary, it was the first book printed in Florence, in 1471. "This fine edition, the first to contain the famous commentary by Servius Honoratus, is extremely rare" (Monceaux). Brunet and Deschamps cite only the Sykes copy, which is incomplete. A fine impression by an important French printer who settled in Venice in the 15th century. Originally from the diocese of Langres, Jacques Le Rouge (alias Jacobus Rubeus in Latin) settled and printed in Venice from 1471 to 1478 after apparently having worked in Rome. He then left the Serenissima for Piedmont: we find him in Pignerol between 1479 and 1481, then in Milan in 1481, and finally in Embrun in Savoy in 1489-1490. A very fine copy bound by Hyman Zucker in Philadelphia in the early 20th century. From the libraries of Robert R. Dearden, with bookplate, and George McMaster Jones, with bookplate on the second flyleaf. Missing are ff. 235-283, which contain the continuation of the Aeneid by Maffeo Vegio and the colophon (f. 283), as well as the first and last blank leaves (ff. 1 and 284). Virgil's works are, however, quite complete. Tear repaired in margin of first leaf; corner of f. 20/9 missing, ink stains and scattered soiling. ISTC iv00166000 - Cop. 6043 - Reich. 357 - Goff V-166 - BMC V 214 - CIBN V-115 - GW M49800 - Brunet, V, 1273 - Deschamps, II, 910 - Monceaux, Les Le Rouge de Chablis, 1896, I, p. 66, n°10.