Before Christmas I found a couple of old books amongst my Grandmothers belongings. Written in latin and greek, and so obviously old I found them quite intriguing. A curator at the British Library was able to tell me more about them. It's quite extraordinary how much can be known about something so old.
This is what she wrote:
Thank you for your enquiry which has been forwarded to the German section since one of the book was published in Germany and the other by a German printer in Strassburg (at that time a Free City of the Holy Roman Empire).
The first book is an edition of the Erasmus of Rotterdam's Colloquia. As you probably know, Erasmus was one of the most important humanist schoalrs of the Renaissance. The Colloquia are Latin dialogues intended as models for Latin writing and conversation, devised in the 1490s when Erasmus was working as a tutor in Paris. They were not originally intended for publication, but someone with a copy of the manuscript had it published in 1518, initially without the author's knowledge or permission. It was extremely popular and Erasmus himself was involved in later editions. This one was printed in the southern German city of Ulm in 1712 (demonstrating the long life of the Colloquia). The edition you have is based on an edition made by Petrus Rabus of Rotterdam and first published there in 1693. Rabus included three additional texts by Erasmus: Conflictus Thaliae et Barbarei (The Conflict between [the Muse] Thalia and Barbarism), Apolgia et Utilitas Colloquiorum (Apology and on the Use of Colloquia), and Laus Morias (The Praise of Folly). The last is one of Erasmus's best-known works (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Praise_of_Folly). Your edition was published in the southern German city of Ulm in 1712. The printer was Christian Ulrich Wagner and the publisher was his brother in law Daniel Bartholomaei.
The second book is an edition of the works of Homer, published in Strassburg in 1572. It is in two volumes, the first containing the Iliad and the second the Odyssey. I can't tell from the images you sent whether you have both volumes bound together or only the Iliad; the Odyssey has a separate title page. Both texts have both the original Greek and a Latin translation on the facing page. The edition and notes are by Hubertus Giphanius (or Hubert Giffen), who was Professor of Logic and Ethics at the University of Strassburg from 1570 until 1583 and was responsible for a number of editions of Greek and Latin classical texts; I don't know whether he also provide the Latin translation or used an existing one. The printer was Theodosius Rihel of Strassburg, who regularly printed Giphanius's while Giphanius was Professor at the university there. The handwritten note in your IMG _1092 is in Greek with the Latin heading 'Testimonia Veterum' (the testimony of the ancients) and is a quotation from the Greek writer Aelian which claims that Lycurgus the Spartan brought the poems of Homer from Ionia into Greece (Aelian, Historia Varia, XIII, 13 - http://penelope.uchicago.edu/aelian/varhist13.xhtml).
Along the way I came in contact with the rare book dealer Leo Cadogan who later invited me to participate in an exhibition that'll be taking place in November, Chelsea Antiquarian Book Fair.
It seemed like a great project to collaborate on with Ruth Anthony. So in coming months we'll be finding out more about the Iliad, and then will craft peices that posess some of the qualities of this old book