The English translation of the Historia Septem Sapientum tradition was first printed by the London printer Wynkyn de Worde. The earliest surviving copy of this text dates to sometime circa 1506, though scholarship suggests that there may have been an earlier, now lost, text printed by de Worde sometime before 1497 (see Zeldenrust 2026, Gwara 2013). Wynkyn de Worde's text is predated by Richard Pynson's version, produced c. 1493; that text, however, was a continuation of the manuscript tradition and part of the Version A family, rather than a translation of the Historia like de Worde's print, and almost all of the subsequent Seven Sages prints in English, and thus the two represent different versions entirely.
Scholarship has traditionally suggested that the source for Wynkyn de Worde's text was a French print, identifying Pierre le Rouge's 1489 text as the potential source. However, as Lydia Zeldenrust points out in a forthcoming article, there are some divergences between the le Rouge print and Wynkyn de Worde's text (for example, the name of the emperor), and she notes that de Worde's version instead bears closer similiarity to the popular Latin, Dutch, and Low German versions of the Historia.
Language & Composition
Date of Composition
1495 - 1506
Literature & Editions
Modern research literature
Recorded Branch of This Secondary Version
Connected Prints
| | Has Language | Has Location | Has Sort Date Of Print |
|---|
| Here beginneth thystory of the seuen wyse Maysters of Rome conteynyng right faire and ryght ioyous narracio[n]s, and to the reder ryght delectable (incipit). London: William Copland [ca. 1555] | English | | 1555 JL |
| Here begynnèth thystorye of ye .vii. Wyse Maysters of rome conteynynge ryghe fayre & ryghtioyous narrac[i]ons. [et] to ye reder ryght delectable (incipit) [London]: Wynkyn de Worde, [1506] | English | | 1506 JL |
| Roman Stories: or The history of the seven wise masters of Rome […]. New York: printed for Benjamin Gomez, 1795 | English | | 1795 |
| Roman Stories: or, The history of the seven wise masters of Rome […]. London: James Hollis, [1785–1792] | English | | 1785 |
| Roman stories: or, The history of the seven wise masters of Rome […]. Berwick: W. Phorson, 1785 | English | | 1785 |
| Roman stories: or, The history of the seven wise masters of Rome […]. Glasgow: Printed for J. Brown, bookseller, Salt-market, and Alex. Dunlop, bookseller, Trongate, 1772 | English | | 1772 |
| Roman stories: or, The history of the seven wise masters of Rome […]. London: printed for and sold by W. Clements, J. Sadler, and J. Eves, 1792 | English | | 1792 |
| Roman stories: or, the history of the seven wise masters of Rome, containing seven days entertainment … Glasgow: Robert Duncan, 1784 | English | | 1784 |
| Roman stories; or The history of the seven wise masters of Rome […]. London: T. Sabine and Son, [between ca. 1790 and 1810?] | English | | 1790 |
| The Famous history of the seven wise masters of Rome […]. [Edinburgh: Printed and sold opposite the Old Assembly Close, Cowgate, between ca. 1780 and 1800?] | English | | 1780 |
| The History of the Seven Wise Masters of Rome […]. London: Printed by J.W. for George Conyers, 1697 | English | | 1697 |
| The History of the Seven Wise Masters of Rome […]. London: printed for J. Wright, 1677 | English | | 1677 |
| The History of the Seven Wise Masters of Rome […]. London: printed for M. Wotton, and G. Conyers [...], 1687] | English | | 1687 |
| The History of the Seven Wise Masters of Rome […]. [Glasgow: Robert Sanders, 1693] | English | | 1693 |
| The History of the seven wise masters of Rome […]. New York: Printed and sold by John Tiebout, at [Homer’s-Head] 358 Pearl-Street, 1797 | English | | 1797 |
| The History of the seven wise masters of Rome […]. Philadelphia: H[enry] & P[atrick] Rice, 1795; Baltimore: J. Rice & Co., 1795. | English | | 1795 |
| The History of the seven wise masters of Rome […]. [Boston: Printed and sold by J. White, near Charlestown-Bridge, 1794] | English | | 1794 |
| The History of the seven wise masters of Rome […]. [London: Printed and sold by T. Sabine, No. 81, Shoe-Lane, and E. Sibley, bookseller, No. 29, Brick lane, Spital-Fields, 1799?] | English | | 1799 |
| The History of the seven wise masters of Rome […]. [London: Printed for J. Hodges, on London-Bridge, and J. Johnston, in St. Paul’s Church-yard, 1754?] | English | | 1754 |
| The History of the seven wise masters of Rome […]. [Philadelphia: Printed for the booksellers, 1798] | English | | 1798 |
| The History of the seven wise masters of Rome […]. [Worcester: [Isaiah Thomas], 1794] | English | | 1794 |
Pattern of Embedded Stories in This Version