Heinrich Steinhöwel’s 1477 collection of Aesop’s Fables starts out with a Life of Aesop. Below are illustrations from that section of the book with links to the original scans.
Aesop’s Fables Home Page
Throughout history fables have been a popular method of giving instruction. Fables contain a short narrative that seeks to illustrate a hidden message. Generally, fables use animals or objects as part of the narrative yet the message is designed to apply to humans. By doing this, the fabulist is not perceived as the teacher and this reduces any bias the listeners might have against the person. The most famous fabulist would be Aesop who most date around 620 B.C. Many fables are attributed to Aesop, but it’s unclear how many he actually wrote; indeed, his historical existence as a person is under question. I’ve collected many of them here for your enjoyment. A number of translations were found and the fables collected. Several different translations and interpretations of the same fable may be found on many of the pages here; including, now and again, a simplified version I wrote.
[Read more…] about Aesop’s Fables Home Page