The Book of the Courtier was written, partly at Urbino and partly at Rome, be- tween the years 1508 and 1516, and was first printed at the Aldine Press, Venice, in the month of April, 1528. There have since been published more than one hundred and forty editions, a list of which vill be found at page 417 of this volume. The first Spanish version, by JUAN BOSCAN Almogaver, was issued at Barcelona in 1534; the first French version, by Jacques Colin, was issued at Paris in 1537 ; the first English version, by THOMAS Hoby, was is- sued at London in 1561 ; the first Latin ver- sion, by HIERONYMUS TuRLER, was issued at Wittenberg in 1561 ; the first German ver- sion, by LORENZ Kratzer, was issued at Munich in 1566. The present edition consists of five hundred numbered copies, of which this is No.^<^ ^
