Exemplario contra los Engaños y Peligros del Mundo

Although incomplete, this is the only surviving copy of this incunabula, a book printed before 1501. The Calila e Dimna was published by Pablo Hurus (active 1484–99) in Zaragoza on March 30th, 1493 and is generously adorned with 117 woodcuts. It is a Castilian translation of the Fables of Bidpai, a Sanskrit collection of fables from ancient India originally called the Panchatantra. It is the most frequently translated work from India and now appears in 200 versions and 50+ languages ranging from Indonesian to Icelandic.

The Work of Many Translators

An Arabic translation of the work from ca. 750 by the Persian scholar Abdullah Ibn al-Muqaffa (d. 756/9) titled Kalīla wa Dimna, it is considered to be the first masterpiece of Arabic literary prose, and helped the fables become part of the body of universal literature. It has been translated into numerous languages, including a Hebrew translation by a certain Rabbi Joel from ca. 1200, when the work was also translated into Persian. A Latin translation titled Directorium Humanae Vitae was created from the Hebrew text by Juan de Capua (active 1262–69), an Italian translator and Jewish convert. This version became the source for all subsequent translations into European languages, although a Latin translation had previously been made directly from the authoritative Arabic version at the behest of King Alphonso X of Castile (1221–84) while he was still a prince.