greek and latin classics vi

Transcription

Blackwell’s Rare Books
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Blackwell’S rare books
GREEK AND
LATIN CLASSICS VI
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Cover illustration: Item 108
1.
Aeschines & Demosthenes. Ο ΚΑΤΑ ΚΤΗΣΙΦΩΝΤΟΣ ΚΑΙ
… Ο ΠΕΡΙ ΣΤΕΦΑΝΟΥ ΛΟΓΟΣ . Interpretationem Latinam,
et vocum difficiliorum explicationem adjecerunt
P. Foulkes, J. Freind, Aedis Christi Alumni. Editio
secunda. Oxford: e typographeo Clarendoniano,
impensis Stephani Fletcher, 1715, three engraved
portraits within pagination, faint toning in places,
embossment of the Earls of Macclesfield to title-page,
pp. [xvi], 151, [1], 182, [18], 8vo, contemporary calf,
boards panelled in blind, unlettered spine, a little bit
worn at extremities, slight cracking to front joint,
bookplate of the library at Shirburn Castle, very good
( ESTC T21158; Dibdin I 487)
£250
The second edition (first 1696), and one of several variant printings – in this one the
Latin translation is at the foot of the Greek text instead of on facing pages. The editors,
John Freind (1675-1728) and Peter Foulkes (1676-1747) were undergraduates at Christ
Church assigned to edit the text by Dean Aldrich; both went on to other careers – Freind a
physician, Foulkes in the clergy – and so never reproduced the success of this popular and
useful edition, which was well-regarded for its notes.
2.
Aeschylus. Tragoediae VII. [Geneva:] Henrici Stephani. 1557, FIRST COMPLETE EDITION ,
the EDITIO PRINCEPS of the ‘Agamemnon’, some toning and spotting, lower cornertip
of first few leaves worn (esp. title), title a little creased from bookplate on verso, pp.
[viii], 395, [3], 4to., contemporary calf, expertly rebacked preserving old label and
endpapers, corners repaired, bookplate and stamp of Trinity College Cambridge
(‘sold’), good (Schreiber 145; Dibdin I 237; Moss I 8; Adams A266)
£1,800
The fourth printed edition of Aeschlyus, the first produced by the Estiennes, and the
first to print the complete text of the Agamemnon, of which only a small fraction had
previously been printed due to a lacuna in the most important manuscript, the 11thcentury Medicean codex. The editor, Pietro Vettori (‘Victorius’), both restored the missing
verses and improved the text of the scholia using a 14th-century codex, and for the first
time he distinguishes the Agamemnon from the Choirephoi, since all previous editors had
considered the fragments part of the following play. The book is printed with the Henry
Estienne’s usual elegance, using two sizes of the grecs du roi. ‘An excellent and beautiful
edition...it is a much more valuable impression than either of its precursors...this edition is
rare and dear’ (Dibdin). ‘Notwithstanding the great merits of this edition’ and the profuse
praise already recorded, Moss still felt that ‘it meets not with the attention it deserves’.
3.
Aeschylus. Tragoediae VII. In quibus praeter infinita mena sublata, carminum
omnium ratio hactenus ignorata, nunc primum proditur; opera Gulielmi Canteri.
Antwerp: Ex officina Christophori Plantini, 1580, FIRST CANTER EDITION , a
dampmark stretching from upper margin and sometimes fore-edge, some spotting,
bound a little tightly but unlike many copies not trimmed close at other margins,
pp. 355, [9], 16mo, late nineteenth-century vellum boards, spine with three raised
bands, red morocco lettering piece, soiled, bookplate and release stamp of Harvard
College Library Herbert Weir Smyth gift, good (Adams A270; Dibdin I 238)
£950
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blackwell’S rare books
The posthumously-published first edition of Aeschylus edited by the short-lived Willem
Canter (1542-1575), whose understanding of metre far surpassed his contemporaries’
– his Euripides was the first attempt to separate the strophe and antistrophe, on which
grounds he was able to substantially correct the text. Similarly, this is ‘an elegant and
correct edition... the text is frequently corrected and the metre restored by the editor, who
also recovered part of the prologue of the Choephori from the Frogs of Aristophanes. On
the whole, this edition is very valuable, and a creditable monument of the learning and
acuteness of Canter’ (Dibdin).
This copy was in the library of Herbert Weir Smyth (1857-1937), the American Hellenist
and one of the select classicists whose most notable work (his Greek Grammar) can
by cited simply by surname – ‘Smyth’ being still in print and frequently used as the
authoritative grammar for students today. His family donated his library to Harvard,
where he had studied and later been Eliot Professor of Greek, but this volume was later
released from their collections (presumably as a duplicate).
4.
Aeschylus. ΠΡΟΜΗΘΕΥΣ ΔΕΣΜΩΤΗΣ . Cum variis lectionibus,
Stanleiana versione, et notulis ex Garbitii aliorumque
Commentariis; quibus suas adjecit, in usum Studiosae
Juventutis, T. Morell. Editio altera recognita. Eton: Apud
M. Pote, et E. Williams, 1798, some spotting, occasional
pencil annotation, pp. [ii], vi, [2], 78, [2, blank], 47, [1],
8vo, original blue paper boards, sometime later backed
with brown paper, title in ink to front board, along with
the ownership stamp of George A. Birse (several times) of
King’s College Aberdeen (his inscription also on the flyleaf,
dated 1899), marked and rubbed, further ownership
inscription of H. Skinner of Wadham College, 1799, to
flyleaf, good ( ESTC N29519)
£500
A rare Eton printing of Morell’s edition of Prometheus Vinctus (the second such
recorded – although the 1767 London first Morell edition was co-published by J. Pote,
among others). Thomas Morell (1703-1784) was born in Eton and studied there before
matriculating at Cambridge, remaining connected to the school although ‘he was –
unjustly, according to contemporaries – denied his hope of a fellowship’ ( ODNB ). There
were probably other Eton printings of his Aeschylus (along with his other classical
editions), but as schoolbooks produced directly for student use virtually all copies will
have been read to death. This printing, of which this copy shows distinct marks of study,
has only one location listed in ESTC (Library Company of Philadelphia) while the only
other recorded Eton printing (1781, J. Pote) is listed in Eton College Library only.
5.
2
Aesop. The Fables of Æsop, and others, with Designs on Wood by Thamas Bewick.
Newcastle: Printed by E. Walker, for T. Bewick and Son, 1818, FIRST EDITION of
Bewick’s Aesop, a Royal Paper copy, with his thumb-mark receipt tipped in before
the title (but sometime folded and with an offset of an oval portrait at the top),
occasional minor spotting, pp. xxiv, 376, large 8vo, original boards, rebacked, short
split a foot of upper joint, corners slightly worn, good (Tattersfield TB 1.35)
£850
GREEK AND LATIN CLASSICS
Bewick was not happy with the printing of the blocks, and blamed the pressmen, but
Tattersfield argues that the likely culprit was the weather. June 1818, when the book
was printed, was unusually hot and this would have had a deleterious effect both on the
paper, which needed to be dampish, and the ink. The thumb-mark receipt is no part of the
book’s make-up, but is nice to have.
6.
Anacreon. Teij odae. Ab Henrico Stephano luce & Latinate nunc primum donate.
Paris: Apud Henricum Stephanum. 1554, EDITIO PRINCEPS , browned in places, Henri
Estienne’s name censored on title with early ink, pp. [viii], 110, [2], 8vo, modern
quarter vellum with pasteboard boards, backstrip plain, small booklabel of Elizabeth
Armstrong, good (Adams A1001; Renouard 115.1; Schweiger 139; Dibdin I 258;
Moss I 41)
£1,200
The first printed edition of the ‘Anacreontea’, a collection of odes now known to be in
the style of, rather than by, Anacreon (whose own poems survive only in fragments).
This was the first book published by Henri Estienne (the younger) under his own name,
and it ‘virtually caused a poetic revolution, not only in France, but also in Italy and
Germany’ (Schreiber), inspiring Ronsard and innumerable other poets to imitate and
adopt Anacreontic metres and themes. The poems in the collection, though not actually
by Anacreon, do date from the late antique and Byzantine periods, which complicated
the argument over their authenticity: early arguments were made that the poems were
modern imitations, and these were correctly ignored. Only in the nineteenth century were
they accurately dated and reascribed to anonymous imitators.
It is elegantly printed (probably by Morel, since Henri was at this time only 26 and did not
have a press), using all three sizes of the Grecs du Roi. ‘A beautiful and rare edition.... I will
not pretend to give its present price’ (Dibdin). This copy belonged to Elizabeth Armstrong,
author of a biography of the elder Robert Estienne, father of Henri and Robert.
7.
Anacreon. Odaria, ad textus Barnesiani fidem emendata. Accedunt variae lectiones
cura Eduardi Forster. Sumptibus Editoris excudebant Gul. Bulmer et soc., 1802,
20 engraved vignette head- and tail-pieces, faintly toned, pp. [iv], 130, 8vo,
contemporary straight-grained navy blue morocco, boards bordered with a double
gilt fillet enclosing a blind decorative roll, spine divided by raised bands between
double gilt fillets, second compartment gilt-lettered direct, the rest decorated in
blind, pink endpapers, spine sunned, extremities a little rubbed, very good £120
A luxurious production, on good thick paper. Edward Forster (1769-1828), writer and
translator from French, ‘also published an edition of Anacreon, for which the printer,
William Bulmer, produced a fine Greek type; the title-plate and vignette illustrations were
by Forster’s wife’ ( ODNB ), Lavinia, daugher of the sculptor Thomas Banks. No expense
appears to have been spared (or no society connection left undrawn upon); according to
the V&A catalogue the engraving itself was done by F. Bartolozzi.
8.
Archimedes. De iis quae vehuntur in aqua libri duo. [bound with:] Commandino
(Federico) Liber de centro gravitatis solidorum. Bologna: Alexander Benacius.
1565, FIRST EDITIONS , two works in one vol., fine large historiated woodcut initials,
3
numerous geometrical diagrams in text, ff. [iv], 43; [iv], 47, [1], 4to, contemporary
limp vellum, later black morocco spine label (‘Mathem/Tracts’), Bute book-plate
inside front cover, early listing of the contents in manuscript opposite title, very good
(I. Adams A 1533; Riccardi I 42:5. II. Adams C 2467; Riccardi I 361:4)
£4,800
Scarce in a contemporary binding. First edition of Archimedes’ two great books on
hydrostatics, on which all subsequent study of the subject was founded. It was edited by
Federico Commandino, and here bound with one of Commandino’s very few original
scientific works, an elaborated system of theorems and proofs to determine the centre
of gravity of solid bodies of all shapes and sizes. Archimedes’ work is in the first critical
printed translation, based on the Latin translation of Moerbeke, the first book only having
been previously published by Tartaglia in an uncritical Latin edition of 1543.
9.
Aristophanes. Le Comedie de’l Facetis. Simo Aristofane,
tradutte di Greco in lingua commune d’Italia, per Bartolomio
& Pietro Rostini di Prat’Alboino. Venice: Appresso Vicenzo
Vaugris, 1545, FIRST EDITION , some light foxing and a few
tiny dampmarks to early leaves, ff. 304, 8vo, eighteenthcentury vellum boards, spine lettered in gilt within a yellow
dyed compartment, marbled endpapers, a little bit soiled,
bookplate of Bernardine Murphy, very good ( CNCE 2862;
Adams A1721)
£900
The first edition of Aristophanes in Italian, and in fact the first
full translation into any modern language – previous printings
had only been in Greek and the Latin translation, including the
first complete set of Latin translations by Andreas Divus in 1538. Due to the difficulty
of Aristophanes’ language, scholarship proceeded slowly and this translation was an
important resource along with the editions of the major scholars – Richard Porson owned
a copy along with Divus’s translation and the Greek texts of Gelen and Scaliger.
‘What is really striking is that all eleven Aristophanic comedies were translated into
Italian as early as 1545 by two members of the Rositini family, Bartolomeo and Pietro...
this can be explained in light of the influence on the Italian Renaissance humanists of
the Aristotelian canon (i.e. Aristophanes was seen as the canonical example of ancient
Greek comedy). The humanists were apparently bent on discovering the Aristophanic
‘genius’ for themselves and on making it accessible to the reading public. Surely, the
intellectual, cultural, and socio-economical climate of Renaissance Italy, (and especially
Venice) was ripe enough for the emergence of such a stellar achievement in translation’
(Giannopoulou in Hall & Wrigley’s Aristophanes in Performance, p. 310).
10.
4
Aristophanes. Comoediae undecim Graecè & Latinè, cum indice paroemiarum
selectiorum, et emendationibus virorum doctorum, praecipuè Josephi Scaligeri ...
Leiden: Apud Ioannem Maire. 1625, wood engraved publisher’s oval device, small
dampmark to upper inside corner of first 20 leaves, just a little minor spotting
elsewhere, pp.[xxiv], 935, [1], 56, 24mo, contemporary vellum boards, spine lettered
in ink, yapp edges, soiled, front flyleaf excised, ownership inscription of Reinerus
Verboldt to title-page and rear flyleaf, good £450
The second edition of Scaliger’s Aristophanes – the first had appeared the previous
year, and this printing is largely identical apart from the date on the title-page and
the incorporation of the Aristophanic fragments, edited by Willem Canter (which
nonetheless have their own title-page and pagination, and were also issued separately). It
is properly a variorum, although Scaliger does contribute some original notes.
11.
Aristophanes. Comoediae undecim Graece et Latine, ut et fragmenta earum
quae amissae sunt. [Editio novissima.] Amsterdam: Apud Joannem Ravesteinium,
1670, additional engraved title-page, lightly toned, a thin dampmark to fore-edge,
tiny wormhole in lower margin of a few leaves, pp. [xxiv], 1087, [3], 60, 24mo,
contemporary vellum boards, spine lettered in ink, a bit ruckled and soiled, two
front endpapers sometime glued together (obscuring an eighteenth-century ink
note) and since partly separated and partly torn, later ownership inscriptions to front
£400
pastedown, good (Dibdin I 299)
Lempriere calls it one of the best editions of Aristophanes; it is based on Scaliger’s 1625
text but with additional notes and some of the Latin translations refreshed. It may in fact
have been reset from a copy of the 1625, since the plays themselves are nearly a page-forpage reprint with the extra notes added on at the end.
12.
Ausonius. Opera, Iacobus Tollius, M.D. recensuit.
Amsterdam: Apud Ioannem Blaeu, 1671, engraved
half-title, a few minor spots, one leaf with blank foreedge uneven from a paper flaw, generally quite crisp
and clean, pp. [xxxiv], 822, [78], 8vo, contemporary
calf, boards bordered with a double gilt fillet, spine
gilt in compartments, red morocco lettering piece,
edges red, a little darkening and crackling to edges
of giltwork on spine, armorial bookplate to front
pastedown, very good (Dibdin I 346)
£350
The second Tollius variorum of Ausonius, containing
notes by Scaliger, Scriverius, Gronovius, and Graevius,
among others. The binding is unusually elaborate for what
was a scholarly text, more often found in plain vellum.
13.
Caesar (Julius) Quae extant omnia, Italica Versione e Ms. Codice ad hodiernum
Stylum accomodata; ... auxit Hermolaus Albritius. [Venice: Societatis Albritianae,
1737,] engraved frontispiece, folding map, and 5 plates (of which two are folding)
plus engravings in the text area, a few leaves with marginal dampmarks, some
foxing and fingersoiling (heaver in one or two places), one leaf with a chip from
blank margin, a bit of spotting, pp. [ii], 76, 686, [2], xxxx, 4to, contemporary
vellum boards, brown morocco lettering piece to spine, souiled and a bit scratched,
the vellum covering worn in places (particularly a patch at front joint and another
at fore-edge of rear board, bookplates of Carrington and David Garrick to front
pastedown, good £950
5
Item 13
An unusual edition of Caesar, containing the Latin text, a slightly modified reprinting of
Baldelli’s 1575 Italian translation with corrections by the architect Andrea Palladio, and
frequent engraved illustrations mostly adapted from Clarke’s enormous 1712 folio edition
(which were themselves in part based on the engravings in Baldelli’s original). The claims
of the title-page are somewhat overblown, leading to assertions of fraud – the Italian text
is purportedly from a ‘manuscript’ and it has been ‘accomodated to modern style’, while
in fact only a few words have been changed. This copy bears the bookplates of the actor
David Garrick and of his nephew Carrington Garrick, but they are not stuck in very well
and could plausibly be later additions.
14.
Callimachus. Hymni, Epigrammata, et Fragmenta ex recensione Theodori
J.G.F. Graevii cum eiusdem animadversionibus. Accedunt...commentarius, et
annotationes...Ezechiels Spanhemii. [Two volumes.] Utrecht: Apud Franciscum
Halmam, Guilielmum vande Water. 1697, engraved half-title in vol. i and 6 further
engraved plates, browned and foxed in places as usual, binder’s instruction leaf
discarded, pp. [xxx], 496, [138]; [xvi], 758, [62], 8vo., later vellum, spines lettered
in ink, the first vol. with a stamped monogram ‘JW’ on spine, second vol. a bit more
yellowed and with a small patch of damage to spine, marbled endpapers, edges red,
good (Dibdin I 368-9; Schweiger I 75; Moss I 249; Ebert/Browne 3344; Graesse II 17;
Brunet I 1480)
£400
The text of Callimachus edited by Theodore Graevius, finished after his death by
his father Johann Georg, with the substantial commentary of Ezechiel Spanheim. At
Graevius’s request Richard Bentley contributed as well, providing some 420 fragments,
more than doubling the number so far printed, as well as some notes and a fresh recension
of the epigrams from a manuscript. Jebb notes that Bentley is even here setting a new
standard of scholarship, with this being ‘the first pattern of thorough treatment and the
first model of critical method’ in handling fragments ( Bentley, p. 34).
6
15.
Callimachus. Hymni et epigrammata: quibus accesserunt Theognidis carmina: nec
non epigrammata centum septuaginta sex ex anthologia Graeca... [edited by Thomas
Bentley]. Impensis Gul. Thurlbourne, 1741, some light soiling, title-page a bit spotted
and with an early ownership inscription rubbed out and the resulting abrasion
covered by a pasted slip, one leaf of preface partly sprung, but generally quite bright
and fresh inside, pp. xviii, 243, [1], 53, [1], 8vo, contemporary calf, boards bordered
in blind, spine gilt in compartments, red morocco lettering piece, scratched and
marked, small hole at foot of spine, flyleaves excised, bookplate of David Durell of
Pembroke College, good ( ESTC T145198)
£200
The first edition of Callimachus edited by Thomas Bentley, nephew of the great Richard
Bentley – whose promise as a classical scholar in his own right was much obstructed
by ill health, although he did manage to collate a number of important manuscripts in
Europe for various editors. ‘In 1741 he published his handsome edition of the hymns of
Callimachus... which was for some time mistakenly ascribed to his uncle’ ( ODNB ). This
copy belonged to David Durell (1728-1775) during his time at Pembroke College, Oxford,
after which he became Principal of Hertford and then Vice-Chancellor of the University.
16.
Cebes. Tabula. Nova versione, in Puerorum usus,
Donata, et selectioribus Criticorum Notis illustrata.
Accedit quoque elegantissima Ludovici Odaxii
Versio...Opera Thomas Johnson. Impensis Authoris,
1720, first and last pages slightly dusty, a little faint
toning, embossment of the Earls of Macclesfield
to title-page, one name in the preface corrected in
early ink, pp. [4], ii, [6], 179, [25], 8vo, slightly later
sprinkled calf, boards bordered with a decorative
blind roll within a double gilt fillet, spine divided
by raised bands, red morocco lettering piece, other
compartments with gilt acorn tools in quarters
within gilt dentelle borders, small paper shelfmark
labels at head and foot, bookplate of the South
Library of Shirburn Castle, joints a little rubbed,
very good ( ESTC T144292)
£600
A very nice copy of an unusual and beautifully-produced edition of the Tabula or Pinax
attributed to Cebes the Theban. It was published at his own expense by a classical scholar
named Thomas Johnson – not the classical scholar of that name (d. 1746) known for his
editions of Sophocles, nor the other classical scholar of that name (1702-1737) who was
then about to enter Magdalene College. The editor of this volume must have had some
means but appears to be otherwise entirely unknown.
17.
Cicero. Rhetoricum ad C. Herennium lib IIII. M. Tul. Ciceronis, De inventione
lib II. Topica ad Trebatium lib. I. Oratoriae partitiones lib. I. Variae lectiones ad
calcem reiectae. Paris: Apud Simonem Colinaeum, 1545, title-page slightly dusty
and with two tiny chips to fore-edge, final two blank leaves discarded, ff. 218,
[4], 16mo, seventeenth-century dark orange calf, boards bordered with a double
7
gilt dentelle roll, spine divided by raised bands, second and third compartments
gilt-lettered direct, the rest bordered with a triple gilt fillet and decorated with star
and circle tools, with a central gilt crown above a saltire made of smaller tools, gilt
bundtpapier endpapers, edges gilt, spine gently sunned, the merest touch of rubbing
to extremities, shelfmarks in an old hand on front endpaper struck through, very
good (Schreiber 221; Renouard 403-4)
£700
A luxuriously bound copy of one of Colines’s pocket classics, a collection of rhetorical
treatises attributed to Cicero. The title-page displays the first (and possibly only) use of a
revised version of Colines’s device.
18.
Cicero. De Leg. Lib. III. In eosdem Commentarii, Adr.
Turnebo auctore. Paris: Ex officina Adr. Turnebi, 1552,
title-page lightly soiled, dampstain to lower margin of
last few gatherings, some other minor spotting, frequent
interlinear and marginal notes in a contemporary
hand, a later inscription (cancelled) at foot of title-page
reading ‘T. Joh.’, pp. [iv], 180, [8], 4to, later calf, recently
rebacked, green morocco lettering piece, hinges relined,
old leather rather scratched but since polished, corners
renewed, thin indentation to rear board, bookplate
of Robert Edward Way and ownership inscription of
John Hume, Bishop of Salisbury (dated 1777) to front
endpapers, good (Adams C1841)
£2,500
The second edition of Cicero’s De Legibus edited by Adrien Turnebé, with his important
and highly-respected commentary on the difficult text – the previous edition being a rare
near-anonymous edition of 1538, printed by Jean Loys de Thielt, where Turnebé’s name
is spelled out in an acrostic in the preface. The text of De Legibus is substantially corrupt
and quite difficult; Francis Barham, in the introduction to his translation (the first into
English, in the 1840s), reports that he was ‘sustained by the Commentary of Turnebus, so
recommended by Scioppius and Casaubon’ (p. 392).
Turnebé ‘proves conclusively that the real sources of Cicero’s De Legibus are not to be
found in Plato’s Republic, as had always been believed, but in earlier unidentified Greek
texts upon which Plato himself depended’ (Lewis, Turnebé, p. 116). But Ramus was not
convinced and ‘as soon as Turnebe had published his brilliant commetnary on the De
Legibus, Ramus wrote on the same subject and arrogantly assailed the future author
of the Adversaria’ (Stevens, ‘Three Unpublished Letters’, Studies in Philology, 1953, p.
130). Turnebé and Ramus went on to spar over Cicero for several years through multiple
publications, including commentaries on other texts and polemical monographs.
A contemporary reader of this copy (the handwriting does not match Ramus’s) has also
thoroughly engaged with the text, adding frequent interlinear notes – some of the clearer
ones appear to be glosses or elaborations on the text (also in Latin) – and only somewhat
less frequently, more substantial marginal commentary. The annotations are always
around Cicero’s text, rather than Turnebé’s annotations, and the reader may not have
agreed with Turnebé’s argument: Plato is cited several times.
8
19.
Cicero. Orationes selectae cum notis. Milan: Apud Franciscum Agnellum
Sculptorem, & Impressorem, 1722, dampstain to upper corner in second half, a
little light spotting, elaborate ink doodles surrounding woodcut device on title-page,
pp. 189, [3], 12mo, contemporary limp vellum, ruckled and soiled, a bit worn at
extremities, no flyleaves, ownership inscription and Latin/Italian verse book-curse of
Franciscus Petrus Cazella, dated 1724, to front pastedown, his name and the book’s
title repeated within further ink doodles on rear pastedown, sound £350
A rare little printing of select orations of Cicero – not in COPAC or Worldcat, and two
copies located by ICCU (Biella, Mantova) – that was evidently cherished by an early owner.
The verse on the front endpaper contains a two-line book curse in Latin (reading roughly
‘whomever with light fingers steals this book, / let him soon expect the suitable furies’)
followed by half a dozen lines in Italian, beginning ‘O book that I loved so much...’.
Item 20
20.
Cicero. Opera Omnia ex recensione Io. Augusti Ernesti cum eiusdem notis et Clave
Ciceroniana. [Eight volumes.] Halle: In Orphanotropheo, 1774- 1777, two engraved
portrait frontispieces in vol. i, poor-quality paper somewhat foxed, pp. lxxxvi,
xvi, 734, [2]; xxii, [2], 847, [1]; [849]-1696; xvi, 510, [2]; viii, [513]-1166, [2]; viii,
736; [737]-1200; xvi, 910, 8vo, contemporary speckled and marbled calf, spines
divided by double gilt fillets, red morocco lettering pieces, fourth compartments gilt
numbered direct, the rest with central flower tools, edges yellow, a mere touch of
rubbing to some extremities, tiny chip from one lettering piece, ownership stamp of
‘Lord Stuart, Ch. Ch.’ to front pastedown, very good (Dibdin I 403)
£800
A remarkably nice copy of the third Ernesti edition of Cicero; the bindings very fresh and
many pages never opened, although the cheap paper of the age has suffered some foxing
nonetheless. ‘Of Ernesti’s own editions, that of 1737... has the greatest merit in point of
type and paper, and is tolerably critical; but the two last (especially the third, in 8 vols. [i.e.
this one]) are more critical and profound...the third edition is more particularly valuable,
as presenting us in each volume with some account of the editions of the various works of
Cicero, and a few additional notes and emendations of the text’ (Dibdin).
9
21.
(Classical Scholarship.) RHODIGINUS (Caelius) Lectionum Antiquarum Libri
Triginta. Recogniti ab Auctore, atque ita locupletati, ut tertia plus parte auctioes
sint redditi... Postrema editio, cui accesserunt Capitum & Rerum indices omnium
locupletissimi. [Frankfurt:] Apud heredes Andreae Wecheli, Claudium Marnium,
& Ioannem Aubrium, 1599, some light foxing, ownership inscription of ‘Fletcher’
to head of title-page and another at the foot (struck through), two more inscriptions
to blank facing title-page (including a misquoted Latin couplet from Justinian, one
name [F. de Perlyn?] struck through, the other dated 1617), pp. [lx], cols. 1430, pp.
[157], folio, early Dutch vellum, boards with a central decorative frame blocked
in blind, spine lettered in ink, a little soiled, two small gouges to rear board, good
(Adams R454; Willems ‘Bibliotheca Fletcheriana’ p. 185)
£900
An important collection of various material by Caelius Rhodiginus, the Latinized name of
Lodovico Ricchieri (1469-1525). ‘In 1516 Ricchieri published the Antiquarum Lectionum
Libri (Venice: A. Manuzio), a collection of notes on the classics and on general topics in
sixteen books, each with a separate dedication... Erasmus complained that Ricchieri had
borrwed from the Adagia without acknowledgement... [but] as the years passed Erasmus
grew less hostile towards Ricchieri and indeed valued his work’ ( Contemporaries of
Erasmus ). Hallam calls it ‘by far the best and most extensive collection hitherto made
from the stores of antiquity. It is now hardly remembered; but obtained almost universal
praise, even from severe critics, for the deep erudition of its author, who, in a somewhat
rude style, pours forth explanations of obscure and emendations of corrupted passages,
with profuse display of knowledge in the customs and even philosophy of the ancients,
but more especially in medicine and botany’ ( Intro. to the Lit. of Eur. IV.25). A later editor
expanded it from 16 books to 30, as here, and new editions continued to appear for some
time afterwards. This copy’s provenance includes the Scottish patriot and bibliophile
Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun (1655-1716), with his characteristic signature ‘Fletcher’ on the
title-pages.
22.
Cornelius Nepos. Excellentium Imperatorum Vitae.
Editio tertia. Glasgow: Excudebat Andreas Foulis, 1777,
a touch of minor spotting, pp. viii, 315, [1], 12mo,
contemporary biscuit calf, probably Scottish, flat spine
divided by doubled gilt rolls, red morocco lettering
piece in second compartment, the rest with flower and
voluté tools surrounding a bird’s head tool, just slightly
marked, flyleaf loose, bookplates of Catherine Kinnear
and J.L. Weir (with the latter’s inscription to flyleaf dated
1945), very good ( ESTC T83003; Gaskell 626)
£200
A very pleasant copy in a striking and well-preserved
binding.
23.
10
Diodorus Siculus. Historiarum libri aliquot, qui extant, opera & studio Vincentii
Obsopoei in lucem editi. Basel: [n. pr.] 1539, EDITIO PRINCEPS , marginal dampstaining
almost all the way through with attendant softening and fraying to the paper edge at
beginning and end (repaired on the first three leaves), a handful of small wormholes
to initial leaves, often touching a character but without significant loss, all except
two petering out after 20 leaves or so, those two running
to 80 leaves in and briefly joining as a short trail but
staying almost entirely between two lines of text, a bit of
other light soiling, ownership inscription of Mich. Richey
dated 1719 to title-page, substantial annotation to first 16
leaves in his hand (see below), two other names to titlepage sometime scribbled over in red crayon, pp. [xii], 481,
[3, last leaf blank], 4to, contemporary blind-panelled calf
boards and backstrip preserved on a later understructure
of pigskin over wooden boards, retaining the brass
clasps as well (the straps renewed), joints cracked but
strong, label lost from backstrip but the impression of the
lettering clear, extremities rubbed, a few small wormholes
to original leather, sound (Adams D468; Dibdin I 495;
VD16 D1826; USTC 637606)
£1,200
The editio princeps of the original text of Diodorus Siculus, edited by the Reformation
humanist Vincent Obsopoeus (1485-1539). A partial Latin translation (the first 5 books)
had appeared in 1472; this is also only a partial edition (books 16-20) but is the first
printed appearance of any of the original Greek text. The first full printing of the surviving
text was two decades later, by Henri Estienne. As usual for this period the text is simply
the reproduction of one manuscript’s readings, in this case manuscript of 1442, now in
Vienna, which itself is a copy of a circa 1440 manuscript belonging to Pope Nicholas V.
This copy retains most of a striking blind-tooled contemporary binding, with a portrait
roll in the outer-most frame. Nearly two centuries after its original binding it came
into the possession of Michael Richey (1678-1761), professor of History and Greek at
the Hamburg Gymnasium, who has signed the title-page. The first 21 pages of text are
annotated in his hand in Greek and Latin; the annotations continue on pages 22-32 in
what at a casual glance appears to be a different hand but is probably simply Richey’s
cursive. The other two ownership inscriptions on the title-page appear to be later than
Richey’s, but they have been lightly scribbled over with red crayon while his has not; they
read ‘Klopstock’ (not the poet) and ‘D.V. Stale’.
24.
Epictetus. Enchiridion. Curante J.B. Lefebvre de
Villebrune. Paris: Typis Philippi-Dionysii Pierres,
1782, ONE OF A FEW COPIES PRINTED ON VELLUM , some
natural discolouration to the vellum (particularly
the final leaf), pp. [vi], 8, 96, 16mo, contemporary
red straight-grained morocco, boards bordered
with a gilt roll, spine divided by another thin
gilt roll, green morocco lettering piece, other
compartments with central gilt tools, edges gilt,
green watered silk flyleaves and doublures, blue
silk page-marker, preserved in a coordinated red
morocco pull-off case (this with a spot of damage
at base), fine (Van Praet, III.31) £4,000
11
A finely bound example of one of the very few copies printed on vellum of the larger,
annotated issue of Lefebvre de Villebrune’s edition of Epictetus. Determining its exact
limitation (and rarity) is complicated by the printer’s habit of variations – there are two
issues, with and without notes, both printed on vellum and on paper. (Included with
this vellum copy is a paper copy of the printing without notes, pp. 46, in original blue
wrappers, for comparison. The two have identical title-pages but the type is otherwise in
completely different settings.)
ABPC lists a copy sold at Christie’s, 1978, described as ‘One of 12 ptd on vellum’ (making
$1,600), but the limitation and the French title given there suggest that it may actually
have been the French translation issued by Pierres in 1783, which Van Praet says was
produced in a dozen copies. For this edition, Van Praet records both issues and under the
issue without notes concludes that only four copies have ever been sold, while about this
issue with notes he mentions only one (the dedication copy).
There is a vellum copy of the 1783 French translation in the BL (and apparently copies of
both the Greek issues on paper), while another sold at Sotheby’s in 2008, but aside from
the BL’s holdings there appear to be no other copies of any version of the Pierre’s 1782
Enchiridion in the UK. Worldcat locates the issue with notes in Gottingen, Erfurt/Gotha,
and (possibly – no pagination given) Fribourg; the issue without is only slightly more
common. Apart from the dedication copy, then, this may be the only other recorded copy
on vellum.
25.
Euripides. The Plays... Translated into English Rhyming Verse by Gilbert Murray.
2 Vols. Newtown, Powys: Gregynog Press, 1931, 48/475 SETS (of an edition of 500
sets) printed on Batchelor handmade paper, 32 wood-engravings designed by R.A.
Maynard and engraved on the wood by H.W. Bray, title-pages printed in black and
pink, pp. [iv](blanks), xii, 270, [vi](blanks); [iv](blanks), 264, [4](blanks), folio,
original bright clean terracotta bevel-edged canvas, backstrips gilt lettered and
banded, front covers with the press-device gilt blocked at the centres, light free
endpaper browning, untrimmed, very good (Harrop 18)
£400
26.
(Greek and Latin Poetry.) Homerici Centones, [...] Vergiliani Centones. Utrique in
quaedam historiae sacrae capita scripti. Nonni Paraphrasis Evangelii Ioannis, Graece
& Latine. [Paris]: Excud. Henr. Steph. 1578, complete with all blank leaves ([para]4,
b7-8, e7-8), title-page soiled and adhered a bit to flyleaf in the gutter, some soiling
elsewhere (on one leaf affecting a few characters), a few leaves with paper flaws to
blank margins, pp. [viii], 28, [iv], 73, [v], 247, [1], 16mo, contemporary vellum, spine
lettered in ink, yapp edges, darkened and rubbed, ties removed, no pastedowns,
bookplate of Sir John Martin-Harvey on recto of front flyleaf (upside down), sound
(Schreiber 205; Renouard p. 147 #4)
£600
The Estienne edition of the Centones (or centos), both Homeric and Vergilian, together
with Nonnus’s poetic paraphrase of the Gospel of John. Composed sometime in the late
antique period, the centones mash together selected hexameters and half-lines of Homer
and Virgil to create the narrative of the Gospels in the style of ancient epic. Nonnus’s
Paraphrase, the longest part of the volume, is a more direct verse rewriting of the original
text. These texts, thought to have been composed in the late fourth/early fifth century
12
(the Homer by Eudocia and the Virgil by Proba Falconia) were first printed by Aldus
in 1504. The copy of Sir John Martin-Harvey (1863-1944), romantic actor, who was
knighted in 1921.
27.
(Greek and Latin Poetry.) LINWOOD (William, ed.) Anthologia Oxoniensis.
Impensis Longman, Brown, Green, et Longman. 1846, a little minor spotting,
pp. xxi, [3], 306, 8vo, slightly later prize binding of mid-brown calf, spine gilt in
compartments, red morocco lettering picee, boards slightly spotted, the merest
touch of rubbing to extremities, marbled endpapers, edges gilt, prize label of
Stockwell Grammar School dated 1860 to front pastedown, very good £80
Linwood, a precocious scholar whose shabby appearance prevented him from advancing
within the university, ‘became best known as editor and contributor to Anthologia
Oxoniensis (1845), a collection of verse in Greek, Latin, and English which became a
model for subsequent compilations’ ( ODNB ).
28.
(Greek Anthology.) ΑΝΘΟΛΟΓΙΑ ΔΙΑΦΟΡΩΝ... Florilegium diversorum epigrammatum
veterum, in septem libros divisum. [Geneva]: Excudebat Henricus Stephanus.
1566, FIRST ESTIENNE EDITION , title a bit dusty, the occasional spot elsewhere, small
dampmark to bottom margin of first few leaves, some marginal notes and substantial
manuscript notes to final blanks, struck-through ownership inscription to title verso
(‘John Brayne his booke dated the 11th day of June 1674’), pp. [iv], 288, 283-539,
[35], sm. folio, eighteenth-century sprinkled calf, boards with a gilt rope roll border,
expertly rebacked in matching style, backstrip with five raised bands between gilt
rope rolls, red morocco label in second compartment, the rest with central gilt tools,
some scratching to old leather, tidy repairs to edges and corners, two bookplates (one
school library, one armorial), manuscript quotations in Greek (nineteenth-century)
to front endpapers, very good (Schreiber 159; Renouard 126.4; Adams A1187;
Schweiger I 30) £1,500
Estienne, travelling in Italy, discovered several better manuscripts of the Greek
Anthology than had been printed before (a number of editions had appeared since it was
first printed in 1494), and this edition, easily the best to date, was the result. A single
manuscript of an earlier, more complete version was discovered shortly afterwards but
it was not printed in full until the nineteenth century. This copy belonged to John Leith
Ross of Arnage, Aberdeenshire (his bookplate and initials on the title, dated 1825), and
was later in the Aberdeen Grammar School Library. The volume has attracted three sets
of notes – marginal ink notes, possibly by Leith Ross, more recent pencil annotations
(possibly from someone at the School), and sometime in between, the substantial
annotation on the endpapers. The front endpapers show Greek quotations from the
Cephalian version of the anthology, while the rear blanks have a list of the included
authors with brief biographical notes.
29.
(Greek History.) RENNELL (James) The Geographical System of Herodotus,
examined; and Explained, By a comparison with those of other ancient authors,
and with modern geography. Printed by W. Bulmer and Co. 1800, FIRST EDITION ,
frontispiece (foxed) and 11 engraved maps (all but one folding, all lightly foxed),
13
paper evenly toned throughout, a touch of spotting and offsetting from plates in
places, pp. xx, 766, [2], 4to, contemporary dark blue straight-grained morocco,
boards bordered with a triple gilt fillet, spine with five raised bands, compartments
bordered with a triple gilt fillet, second compartment gilt-lettered direct, decorative
gilt rolls at head, foot, and on bands, marbled edges and endpapers, small gilt
armorial stamp (of the Earls of Camden) on boards, a little rubbed at extremities,
spine lightly faded, good ( ESTC T147321)
£750
The first edition of cartographer James Rennell’s laborious first major work of historical
geography. After a naval career and an intense period of mapping work for the East
India Company, Rennell retired (at age 36) to London and turned his interests to the
ancient world. He published books on the topography of Troy, the ground covered by the
expedition of Cyrus, and papers on where Caesar landed in Britain and the best way of
estimating scale from accounts of camel travel, among others. His first such book was this
one, ‘analys[ing] exhaustively the geographical component of apparently unpromising
texts and documents’ ( ODNB ); he did the same for maps of Africa and most of western
Asia. It was immediately popular and a second edition followed in 1830, in part because
the first edition was fetching such high prices.
30.
(Greek History.) SIGONIUS (Carolus) De Rep. Atheniensum
libri III. Eiusdem de Athenien. Lacedaemoniorumq.
temporibus liber propediem edetur. Venice: apud
Vinventium Valgrisium, 1565, lightly toned, a little minor
spotting, ff. 151, [1], 8vo, eighteenth-century mid-brown
sheep (probably German), boards elaborately panelled in
blind in imitation of a sixteenth-century Italian style, spine
also decorated in blind, green shelfmark label at foot, a touch
rubbed, one scrape to forecorner of rear board, German
bookseller’s label to front pastedown, very good (Adams
S1107; CNCE 38231)
£600
The second edition of this significant study on Athenian history, first published in quarto
the previous year. Curiously, the title-page advertises the upcoming publication of a
related work on Athens and Sparta, which in fact had also been published in 1564 and is
not recorded in any later edition in EDIT16 . Carolus Sigonius (or Carlo Sigonio, 15241584) was at this time holder of the chair of eloquence at Padua, having been professor
in Venice; the critical approach he shows here – also notably displayed in his magisterial
editions of Livy – give his work lasting significance as some of the earliest studies of the
ancient world to take chronology seriously.
31.
14
(Greek History.) STANYAN (Temple) The Grecian History. Volume the First.
Containing the Space of about 1684 Years. [All published in this edition.] Printed for
Jacob Tonson, 1707, FIRST EDITION , engraved frontispiece, folding map, and 12 plates,
closed tear to one leaf touching 6 lines of text with no loss, some foxing and toning,
pp. [xxiv], 351, [17], 8vo, contemporary calf, boards ruled with a double gilt fillet,
rubbed, rebacked, corners repaired, good ( ESTC T102862)
£800
The rare first edition of the popular Greek history by Temple Stanyan (1677-1752),
younger brother of the writer and diplomat Abraham Stanyan. This first volume was
produced less than a decade after Stanyan left university, and it was only 32 years later
than the second volume finally appeared, along with the second edition of this first
volume. The two weren’t issued together until the third edition of 1751. Stanyan’s history
served as a model for other studies of the ancient world, and was the standard account of
Greece until Mitford’s larger work at the end of the century. It was translated into French
by Diderot in 1743, and remained in print until the 1780s. ESTC locates only four copies of
this first printing: Aberdeen, BL, Stanford, and Texas.
32.
(Greek Language.) CRUSIUS (Martin) Grammaticae Graecae, cum Latina
congruentis, pars prima [-altera]. [Two volumes bound as one.] Basel: ex Officina
Oporiniana, 1573, a touch of minor spotting, gutter of first title-page recently
reinforced with white tape (covering up an earlier glue mark?), pp. 364, [4], [xvi],
1061, [51], 8vo, contemporary pigskin, boards decorated in blind including
central portraits and Latin mottos (Justice on front, Lucretia on rear), two brass
clasps pigskin thongs (the thongs sometime renewed), soiled, worn at extremities,
pigskin cracking at rear joint, good (Adams C3012, C3013; VD16 C6116/ZV4141,
C6117)
£900
An early edition of this popular parallel grammar of Greek and Latin, compiled by Martin
Crusius (1526-1607) and first published in much smaller form in 1558. It was largely on
the strength of that work that he became professor at Tübingen the following year, but
he did not rest on his laurels and revisions and expansions followed in the 1560s and
70s; this printing is more than 10 times longer than the 1558 work. Crusius’s knowledge
of Greek was unparalleled in his mileau; most unusually for a German scholar of the
period, he was so dedicated to his knowledge of Greek that he avidly studied the modern
language as well as the ancient.
33.
(Greek Language.) ESTIENNE (Henri) Thesaurus
Graecae Linguae. [Five vols. bound as four.]
Excudebat Henr. Stephanus, 1572, FIRST EDITION ,
with corrected signature sequence in vol. i, but
with the title-page matching the first issue, small
wormhole in bottom margin of last eighth of
vol. iii, with some old repairs, a thin dampmark
to upper margin across most of the set, some
foxing and spotting, two library stamps (one
cancelled) to title-pages, along with an old gift
inscription, two blank leaves discarded but the
rest present (the last with an old paper repair to
corner), pp. 20, xx, cols. xxiii, 1946; [iv], xii,
1700; 1793, [10], 834; 1746, [6], 212, folio, late
eighteenth-century marbled calf, spines divided
by decorative gilt rolls, green and red morocco
lettering pieces, other compartments with corner
sprays, central decorative stamps, and small
15
circles all gilt, marbled endpapers, a little rubbed and scratched, touches of wear
to spine ends and corners, good (Adams S1790/S1791; Schreiber 181; Renouard p.
£4,000
135)
The first edition of Henri Estienne’s ‘greatest achievement’, his ‘magnum opus’, ‘a high
point in the annals of European scholarship’ (Schreiber), a truly monumental work of
dedicated labour and great expense; it famously bankrupted Henri and yet it ‘remains to
this day the essential tool for the study of Greek, since there still exists no substitute for
it’ (Schreiber). Almost single-handedly Estienne created this pioneering and enormous
dictionary, arranged by etymological root instead of strictly alphabetically, with citations
for every word. It took at least ten years just to print, but the size and expense meant
few scholars could afford it anyway – with sales further hampered by one of Estienne’s
compositors plagiarising the contents for a much cheaper and smaller piracy. In addition,
heavy scholarly use of those copies that were sold means that it is quite scarce in fine
condition; this imposing set, although not in its first binding, is still notable for the lack of
substantial repair work or damage to the text.
A full bibliographical analysis has not been done, but Schreiber conjectures three
separate issues – the first as he describes, with two later issues with different collations
and title-pages in the first volume; Adams also records two variants, with varying
collations and title-pages. The title-page in this copy clearly matches the first issue
given in each bibliography, but the collation aligns with the second variant given by
Adams, where the signature sequence at the end of the first volume is corrected and
regularised.
34.
(Greek Language.) Graecae Grammaticae Rudimenta. In
usum Regiae Scholae Etoniensis. Editio nova, recognita
et aucta. Eton: Typis J. Pote, 1768, engraved table on
verso of final text leaf, advertisement leaf present at
end, 3 additional plates not called for also bound in (a
tree of the Greek verb and two tables of verb endings),
some spotting, frequent annotations in an early hand
(see below) in margins and on a couple of smaller blank
leaves bound in, pp. 201, [1], 2, 8vo, contemporary calf,
worn at edges, crudely rebacked (but preserving original
endpapers), ownership inscription of Roger Clayton,
R.S.S. (dated 1769) to front pastedown, a few other
notes to initial binder’s blanks, good ( ESTC T164679:
Cambridge, KCL , Rylands, & Yale)
£650
A scarce printing of this standard school grammar, and a particularly interesting copy
due to the substantial annotation by an early owner, Roger Clayton (presumably a student
at Eton, but we have not been able to firmly identify him). Starting with the title-page, to
which he has added a list of Greek punctuation, and continuing through every section
of the book, Clayton annotates in Greek, Latin, and English – sometimes translating the
Latin of the book, other times adding clarification, additional information, or references
to other works. He follows discussion on the Greek consonants with phonological
notes (identifying different sounds as being produced with the lips, palate, or tongue),
appends the presumed original regular forms of irregular verbs to the list of those, refers
16
to examples of different meanings of prepositions in that section, and in several places
strikes through or corrects the original text. The neatness of the handwriting and the
advanced level of some of the notes may suggest that Clayton was not in fact a school
pupil, but in any case he was certainly studious.
35.
(Greek Language.) ROBERTI (Antonius) Clavis Homerica. Reserants Significationes,
Etymologias, Derivationes, Compositiones, & Dialectors omnium vocabulorum,
quae in viginti quatuor libris Iliadis Homeri (necnon fere Odysseae) continentur... in
gratiam studiosae Juventutis. Sumptibus Andreae Crook, 1673, some light spotting,
intermittent browning growing more noticeable at the end, title-page a little shorter
at lower margin, blindstamp of the Earls of Macclesfield, pp. [iv], 470, [86], 48, 8vo,
contemporary calf, ruled in blind, rubbed and marked, front joint cracking, flyleaf
partially excised, bookplate of Shirburn Castle, good ( ESTC R16662)
£400
The fourth recorded surviving London printing of this standard reference. Little is
known about the compiler, Antonius Roberti, and less about the editor, George Perkins
(both have their dates given as ‘active 17th cent.’), but the work proved enduring, being
reprinted in the UK throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Latin, joined
latterly by English translations as well. It takes the form of a useful line-by-line glossary
for the Iliad, also giving the dictionary forms of the words and etymological notes.
The earliest edition in ESTC is 1638, which describes itself as ‘editio secunda’ (there is also
a Douai edition of 1636, presumably the first); a London ‘tertia’ followed in 1647 and then
a ‘quarta’ in 1656; this edition, the next in line, marks the point at which the publishers
gave up on numbering them, being the ‘editio ultima’. ESTC records this edition in the BL,
Trinity Cambridge, Nottingham, the Huntington, the Clark at UCLA , and Illinois only.
36.
(Greek Poetry.) THEOGNIS , et al. Collection des
Moralistes Anciens, dédiée au Roi. Paris: Chez Didot
l’aîné, 1783, a touch of minor spotting, pp. 219, [1], 12mo,
contemporary crushed green morocco by Derome le
jeune, with his label dated 1785, boards bordered with
a triple gilt fillet, spine divided by dotted rolls between
fillets, second compartment gilt-lettered direct, the rest
with small central circle tools, marbled endpapers, edges
gilt, old scratch to front board, modern booklabel with
initials KLW to front pastedown, very good £400
A finely printed and finely bound collection of French
translations from Theognis, Phocylides, Pythagoras, and
other Greek sources of ‘sententiae’.
37.
(Greek Poetry.) Vetustissimorum Poetarum, Hesiodi. Theocriti. Theognidis. Moschi.
Musaei. Bionis. Phocylidis. & aliorum, opera Georgica. Bucolica. Gnomica. Omnia
notis suo loco necessariis illustrata, & indicibus locupletata. Paris: Apud Ioannem
Libert, 1628, ownership inscription on title-page of John Nicholas of Queen’s
College, Oxford, dated 1641 (repeated on rear flyleaf with date 1639), general title17
page damaged at gutter from the cracked hinge and just starting to loosen, pp. 4, 191,
[1], 350, [2], 353-417 (recte 431), [1], 268, [4], 8vo, contemporary English (probably
Oxford) calf, spine with four raised bands between double blind fillets, boards also
bordered with a double blind fillet, edges red, a bit marked, spine ends worn, some
surface loss to leather on front board, joints cracking a little but strong, bookplate
of Colonel Sir Charles J. J. Hamilton, Baronet, to front flyleaf and his stamp to rear
flyleaf, good £1,500
A rare edition of Hesiod, Theocritus, Bion, Moschus,
and the other more minor Greek lyric and bucolic poets;
Harwood calls it ‘a scarce and dear book’. The individual
parts (Hesiod; Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus; and the
rest) all have their own pagination and separate titlepages, dated 1627; Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus are
further subdivided by a title-page before the latter two,
although the pagination is continuous across them.
COPAC locates copies in the BL, Christ Church Oxford,
Cambridge, and National Trust (Wimpole Hall).
The hatching at the spine ends on this copy suggests that
it could be an Oxford binding, a case made stronger by
the early ownership inscriptions of John Nicholas of
Queen’s College. Nicholas (1624-1704) was the eldest son
of Sir Edward Nicholas (also a Queen’s man), Secretary of State to Charles I and Charles
II. In 1644, shortly after finishing his studies at Queen’s, John Nicholas was sent to France
to await his father (and later, the rest of the royalists in exile). There he was secretary
to Edward Hyde, Earl Clarendon, whom he helped with the writing of his history, and
also keeper of the King’s ciphers; he was knighted in the Restoration Honours. Upon Sir
Edward’s death Sir John inherited his father’s properties, of course, but also his Latin,
French, and legal books and manuscripts – with the English books divided amongst his
brothers.
38.
Hesiod. Opera Omnia. [Parma:] Ex regio Parmensi Typographio [Bodoni] 1785,
half-title discarded, engraved portrait medallions on each of the two title-pages,
sections in Greek, italic, and Roman types, a touch of light foxing to a few leaves,
some leaves untrimmed at bottom edge, pp. 16, [ii], 110, [ii], xxxv, [3], 248, large
4to, early nineteenth-century dark blue straight-grained morocco by C. Hering,
boards bordered with a gilt fillet, spine divided by doubled raised bands with gilt
fillets on either side, second compartment gilt-lettered direct, brown chalked
endpapers with decorative gilt roll borders, hinges lined with morocco, edges gilt,
joints and corners a bit rubbed, bookplate of the Viscount Granville, very good
(Brooks 290; Dibdin II 38)
£1,800
The first paginated section contains the Greek text of Hesiod, the second a dedication
to Ferdinand of Austria in a calligraphic italic type, and the third a Latin translation by
Bernardo Zamagna. All three parts are printed with Bodoni’s characteristic elegance.
‘A splendid and correct edition, founded on Le Clerc’s, with some of Graevius’s and that
editor’s notes... There are, according to Renouard, four sorts of paper of this edition: one
of bluish tint, one of fine white, one of strong white, and 25 only of fine, white, LARGE
18
PAPER , like his own’ (Dibdin). Brooks does not mention any paper variation, but we have
seen a copy on thicker, rougher paper that could represent the ‘strong white’ to this copy’s
‘fine white’. The Viscount Granville bookplate indicates that this copy was acquired by
Granville Leveson-Gower, British ambassador to Russia, between being made Viscount
Granville in 1814 and Earl Granville in 1833.
39.
Hesychius of Alexandria. Lexicon cum variis
Doctorum virorum notis vel editis antehac vel
ineditis... Accurante Cornelio Schrevelio. Accessit
Joh. Pricaei index auctorum, qui ab Hesychio
laudantur. Leiden & Rotterdam: Ex Officina
Hackiana, 1668, ownership inscription struck
through at foot of title-page, very faint edgebrowning, pp. [x], 1003, 4to, contemporary vellum
boards, spine lettered in ink, just slightly dusty,
turn-ins lifting, front hinge cracking a bit at titlepage, very good ( STCN PPN 063282208)
£500
The first variorum edition of the dictionary of hard
and obscure Greek words compiled by the 5thcentury AD grammarian Hesychius of Alexandria.
The work, which survives in a single fifteenth-century
manuscript, was first published by Aldus Manutius
in 1513 (with a few reprints following). This edition, at least partly edited by the Dutch
scholar Cornelius Schrevelius (who died seven years before it appeared from the press),
compiles notes from all the major scholars – Scaliger, Saumaise, Gronovius, Le Febvre
– among them, and was for nearly a century the best edition for this important source
on ancient Greek vocabulary. It was of particular significance for Richard Bentley, who
annotated his copy of this edition while searching for words containing the lost digamma,
although in typical style he is critical of the earlier work instead of acknowledging the use
it was to him, writing ‘Hesychius is quite ridiculous. In many Aeolic words, he wrote a
simple [gamma] in place of the Digamma’.
40.
Hippocrates. De Morbis Popularibus liber primus, & tertius. His accomodavit
novem de Febribus commentarios Johannes Freind, M.D... editio secunda. Impensis
Gul. Innys, 1717, some light toning and spotting, ownership inscription of J.
Pitchford to head of title-page, pp. xxv, [i], 116, [2], 152, 8vo, contemporary dark
calf, rubbed, one corner worn, joints just cracking at head, bookplate and ownership
£220
inscription to front endpapers, good ( ESTC N7806)
‘Freind supported the ancients in the ‘battle of the books’ of the 1690s. Yet his
wholehearted defence of Newtonianism indicated that, in natural philosophy, he was
a modern. He attempted to reconcile these apparently conflicting positions in his
1717 edition of books 1 and 3 of the Epidemics of Hippocrates, in Greek with a Latin
translation... Freind accompanied the edition with nine commentaries of his own upon
fevers, in which he argued that modern, Newtonian theory and practice had confirmed
many of the observations of Hippocrates’ ( ODNB ).
19
The Bowyer Ledgers record the printing of 750 copies and the reprinting of the title-page,
with ESTC speculating that this makes this ‘editio secunda’ a second issue of the first
edition. But the comparative rarity of the octavo ‘first’ (5 locations only in ESTC ) and the
existence of a quarto issue of the same year is perhaps a sign that the smaller edition was
always meant to be considered the ‘second edition’, and that the reprinted title-page was a
cancel which some copies escaped.
41.
Homer. Ilias, et veterum in Eam Scholia, quae vulgo appelantur Didymi.
Cambridge: Ex officina Joann. Hayes, 1689, title-page lightly damp-marked and
crinkled (a large bookplate having been removed from the verso), library stamp
of the College of Physicians, just some light spotting elsewhere, pp. [xi (first leaf
blank)], cols. LXXXIV, pp. [3], 776, 4to, contemporary mottled calf, boards
panelled in blind, rebacked (not to style), new endpapers, corners worn, good ( ESTC
R4443; Dibdin II 65)
£700
Although this edition contains the Iliad only (the Odyssey was planned but never
produced) it is a significant edition nonetheless, containing the Greek text with a new
parallel Latin translation and the Greek scholia as footnotes. ‘This is a most excellent
edition, preferable to either of the two preceding, and is now become rather scarce’
(Dibdin). Kuster, in his 1696 Historia critica Homeri, ‘has particular praise for the
Cambridge version of 1689, which added to the Greek a fresh Latin translation and rich
annotation, including many variants and some of the old scholia’ (Levine, Battle of the
Books, p. 151). This fresh Latin translation was a significant step: ‘the line-by-line version
thrown together by Leonzio Pilato in 1369 survived without much change until the
Cambridge edition of 1689’ (Young, The Printed Homer, p. 93). It was influential in its
time, as well, certainly until Barnes’s 1711 edition of both epics: Samuel Johnson owned a
copy of this one, and it is reasonably certain that Dryden worked from it when translating
the first book of the Iliad.
42.
Homer. The Iliad [and the Odyssey] of Homer. Translated
from the Greek by Alexander Pope, Esq. In two volumes.
[Four vols. in total.] Printed for W. Cavil, T. Martin, T. French,
and J. Wren, 1795, imprint on title-pages partly xylographic,
a little minor spotting, pp. 300; 316; 251, [1]; 221, [1], 18mo,
contemporary sheep, spines divided by double gilt fillets, red
and green morocco lettering pieces, a bit worn, a few scrapes
to boards, several joints cracking but strong, one gathering
in vol. iv bound a little proud, front flyleaves excised, early
ownership inscription of M.E. Cousins in places, sound ( ESTC
T154185; T185736)
£400
A matching, worn but unsophisticated little set of scarce printings of Pope’s translation
of Homer. The Iliad is particularly thin on the ground, with ESTC locating only 4 copies
(BL, Liverpool, St Anne’s Oxford, and Sussex). The Odyssey is in the same places (except
Sussex) plus York, the Essex Institute (MA), the Library Company of Philadelphia, and
Queensland.
20
43.
Homer. The Iliad of Homer. Translated from the Greek by Alexander Pope,
Esq. Philadelphia: Printed for J. Crukshank, W. Young, M. Carey, [et al.], 1795,
FIRST AMERICAN EDITION , browned and soiled throughout, a few marginal tears
(once touching a catchword), thin strip torn from head of title-page to remove an
ownership inscription, pp. 484, 8vo, modner quarter calf with marbled boards,
ownership inscription of John Wily (dated 1802) and gift inscription to Sarah S. Kirk
(‘Jun 7 / 96’) to initial blanks, further inscription of M. Parvin to title-page, sound
( ESTC W12843)
£600
The first American edition of Pope’s translation of the Iliad – and in fact the first and only
eighteenth-century American printing of any substantial text of Homer in any language.
When the ‘intellectual interests of the new transatlantic republic became evident, Joseph
Crukshank, a respected Quaker printer of Philadelphia, decided there was a good
market for a locally printed edition of Pope’s Iliad... we do not known the press run for
his Iliad, but it must have sold fairly well’ (‘Homerus Americanus’, in The American Book
Collector, v. 25, p. 128). Although well-represented in American libraries (17 copies in
ESTC ) only one is recorded in the UK, in Liverpool.
44.
Homer. Opera Omnia: ex recensione et cum notis Samuelis Clarkii, S.T.P. Accessit
varietas lectionum MS. Lips. et edd. veterum, cura Jo. Augusti Ernesti: qui et suas
notas adspersit. [Five volumes.] Glasgow: Excudebat Andreas Duncan, 1814, LARGE
PAPER COPY (25.5cm tall), two folding engraved maps (offset onto facing pages), a
touch of light spotting, pp. [iv], xviii, 639. [1]; [iv], ii, 670, [2]; [iv], iii, [i], 603, [1];
[iv], 558, [2]; [iv], ix, [iii], 406, [2], 180, 8vo, contemporary Italian black sheep,
spines divided by a triple gilt fillet between blind rolls, second compartment giltlettered direct, the rest with central blind tools, the name ‘Caissotti’ blocked in gilt
to front boards, rubbed and scratched, gold and green mottled endpapers, edges
untrimmed, good (Dibdin II 59-60)
£800
A ‘beautiful and faithful’ reprint of Ernesti’s edition (1759-64), which had expanded
and completed the work of Samuel Clarke; it further adds Wolf’s ‘Prolegomena to
Homer’, encompassing all the best work in Homeric studies to date. Dibdin speaks of
Ernesti’s achievement: ‘From the authority of Harwood and Harles, and from the general
estimation in which this work is held by learned men, we may justly rank it with the very
best editions of Homer... of the two reprints, that of 1814... is a most beautiful as well as
accurately printed work: and the copies on LARGE PAPER have a magnificent aspect.’
45.
(Homer.) [BRIDGES (Thomas)] A Burlesque Translation of
Homer. Printed for S. Hooper, 1772, engraved frontispiece,
a little light spotting, pp. [ii], iv, 2, [4], 547, [1], 4to,
contemporary sprinkled calf, spine with five raised bands,
red morocco lettering piece, the merest touch of wear to
extremities, pencilled ownership inscription of Douglas
Grant (1947), very good ( ESTC T81528)
£300
The first quarto edition of this parodic translation of the first
twelve books of the Iliad , by Thomas Bridges (fl. 1759-1775). It
was originally published in 1762 under the title Homer travestie
21
and the pseudonym ‘Caustic Barebones’ and was several times reprinted in 12mo before
this much more luxurious production appeared, of which is this a very well-preserved
copy. ‘Our author is of the opinion that the dignity of the Greek language has perverted
the original design of Homer’s Iliad... but he is certain, Homer’s intent was to burlesque
both his Gods, Godesses, and heroes’ (The Publisher to the Reader).
46.
(Homer.) WOOD (Robert) An Essay on the Original Genius and Writings of
Homer: with a Comparative View of the Ancient and Present State of the Troade.
Illustrated with Engravings. Printed by H. Hughs; for T. Payne, 1775, FIRST TRADE
EDITION , engraved portrait frontispiece and four other plates (two folding), toned
and sometimes spotted, the plates a bit more so than the text, half-title discarded,
small dampmarks to upper margin of frontispiece, pp. [iii]-xv, [i], 342, 4to, early
twentieth-century half pebble-grain dark green morocco, marbled boards, the
leather mostly evenly sunned to dark brown, joints and edges rubbed, small crack to
head of rear joint, good ( ESTC T137529)
£450
Initially published privately in an edition of only 7 copies, this is the posthumous first
trade edition of the traveller and scholar Robert Wood’s (1716-1771) important essay on
Homer. ‘Wood’s most influential contribution was his argument in favour of the historical
accuracy of Homer’s works and his observation that the landscape and customs recorded
in the epics were still to be observed in their original settings. This he considered testified
to the poet’s genius in capturing both. He argued strongly in favour of the now generally
accepted theory that Homer’s works were part of an oral tradition’ ( ODNB ).
47.
Horace. Op[er]a Q. Horatii Flacci Poetae amoenissimi, cum quatuor
commentariis. Acronis. Porphyrionis. Anto. Mancinelli. Iodoci Badii Ascensii
accurate repositis. ... Premisso amplissimo i universum opus indice. Paris: in via
Iacobea ab ipso Ascensio. 1519, one leaf with corner torn away affecting 10 lines
of commentary, small wormhole through first half (often touching a character but
almost never affecting sense), first and last two gatherings fraying and wormed at
edges (with no loss of text), these also browned and stained but the paper elsewhere
clean, title and first two leaves cut slightly shorter during binding, a few early
marginal notes (some cropped), ff. [vi], CCLXXXVIII, folio, modern burgundy
morocco, spine with five raised bands, green lettering pieces in second and fourth
compartments, sound (Renouard p. 509 #5; Adams H865; Neuhaus p.16; Riedel
A7; Mills 88; Dibdin II 93)
£700
The fifth and definitive edition of the works of Horace edited, annotated, and published
by Badius Ascensius; it is his first in the popular tradition of Horace ‘with the four
commentaries’, incorporating the scholia of Acro and Porphyrio as well as the notes of
Mancinelli (which had been in his earlier editions). Badius’s commentary thus replaces
Landino’s in the quaternary canon. It was adopted as a standard text: each of the four
earlier Badius editions had been re-edited and re-set from the previous, sometimes with
new or rewritten prefaces, but after this edition it is this precise text and pagination which
is reproduced exactly, both by Badius (in 1529) and others (e.g. the 1543 Paris edition).
Dibdin calls it a ‘splendid and uncommon edition’.
22
48.
Horace. Q. Horatius Flaccus. Ex fide, atque auctoritate decem librorum
manuscriptorum, opera Dionys. Lambini Monstroliensis emendatus: ab eodemque,
commentariis copiosissimis illustratus, nunc primum in lucem editus. Lyon: Apud
Ioann. Tornaesium, 1561, some toning and foxing, occasional minor staining in
margins, last sequence of gatherings in part 1 (A-S) swapped with last sequence in
part 2 (Aa-Zz) during binding, hence irregular pagination (but contents complete
including blanks), early ink note on verso of front flyleaf, faded library stamp and
early ownership inscription to title, occasional early underlining, pp. [xvi], 368,
377-543, [11], 376, 369-493, [13], 4to, contemporary blind-stamped pigskin, two
brass clasps (broken) and mounts on foreedge, spine with four raised bands, top
compartment lettered in ink, darkened and a touch rubbed at edges, two corners
gently worn, front hinge cracking a little at title, good (Adams H907; Neuhaus p. 37;
Riedel A34; Mills 168, 171)
£1,500
The first Lambin edition of Horace, and an important milestone in the history of that
text. It was the best edition before Bentley’s and has not lost its importance even for
modern readers and editors, due to Lambin’s copious commentary and consultation of
important manuscripts. Lambin demonstrated here a new type of criticism: ‘the readers
he has foremost in mind are not schoolboys...so much as his professional colleagues....
The judicious reading of the text of Horace is the business of Lambin in his general
comments as well as in his discussion of manuscript variants. He elucidates Horace’s
pronouncements on poetry by very exact, very cogent paraphrase which makes fine
distinctions of meaning...’ ( Cambridge Hist. of Lit. Crit. , III, p. 76). Even the typography,
like the editing, ‘marks a new aera’ (Dibdin) – the poems are printed in full and followed
by a commentary arranged by lemma, in place of the medieval tradition of surrounding
small portions of text with commentary; this is also ‘one of the first [editions] to use italics
to differentiate commentary from lemmas, boldface to distinguish the lemma itself ... All
of these changes point to an increased presence of the editor in shaping the text’ (Tribble,
Margins and Marginality, pp. 66-67).
The signatures and two-part arrangement evidently confused the binder of this copy,
since it has been arranged with the last half of the second part at the end of the first, and
vice versa; the signatures thus run through three complete alphabets instead of the first
part ending at S before the second starts again immediately at A.
49.
Horace. Q. Horatius Flaccus, ex fide atque auctoritate decem librorum
manuscriptorum, opera Dionysii Lambini Monstroliensis emendatus: ab eodemque
Commentariis copiosiss. illustratus. His adiecimus Io. Michaelis Bruti in quatuor
libros Carminum, atque in librum Epodon explicationes. [With:] Sermonum Libri
Quattuor, seu, Satyrarum Libri duo. Epistolarum Libri duo. Venice: Apud Paulum
Manutium, Aldi F. 1566, a touch of light browning in places, a few old marginal
manuscript notes, faint dampmark to corner of first 20 leaves, tiny paper flaw in
blank area of title, ff. [viii], 242, [12], [iv], 210, [10], 4to, late eighteenth-century
Italian marbled sheep, spine with three raised bands between gilt rolls, red and green
combined morocco lettering piece, expert substantial repairs to spine and joints,
good ( CNCE 22730; Adams H911; Renouard p. 201 #16; Ahmanson-Murphy 758;
Mills 185 & 186; Riedel A37; Neuhaus p. 40)
£800
23
This is called by Moss ‘the very scarcest of all Lambinus’s editions’ and by Dibdin ‘the
most rare and beautiful’ and is often considered the best to feature Lambin’s notes
(which first appeared in 1561). It was published in two parts: the Odes and Epodes (with
additional notes by Gian Michele Bruto), and the Satires and Epistles, each with their own
title page; the two are not always found bound together like this.
50.
Horace. Q. Horatius Flaccus, ex fide atque auctoritate decem librorum
manuscriptorum, opera Dionysii Lambini Monstroliensis emendatus. Venice: Apud
Paulum Manutium, Aldi F. 1566, some foxing and one or two light stains, ff. [viii],
242, [12], 4to, seventeenth-century vellum boards, spine with four raised bands, red
morocco lettering piece in second compartment, a little darkened, vellum cracking
at front joint, boards slightly bowed, good ( CNCE 22730; Adams H911; Renouard p.
201 #16; Ahmanson-Murphy 758; Mills 185; Riedel A37; Neuhaus p. 40)
£400
This copy is the first part only, but shows no signs of having had an accompanying volume:
the spine label simply reads ‘Horatius’. They may have been issued or sold separately; the
Mills checklist lists the two parts individually with separate holdings.
51.
The invention of scholarly sigla
Horace. Q. Horatius Flaccus, Theod. Pulmanni
Craneburgii opera, ad Mureti, Lambini, aliorumq;
editionem, atque veteres aliquot libros collatus.
Antwerp: Ex officina Christoph. Plantini, 1566, small
hole worn in title-page affecting one letter, edges
trimmed close occasionally touching a sidenote,
intermittent underlining or other marks in early ink,
some minor spotting, pp. 288, [76],
[bound with:]
Juvenal and Persius. Satyrarum Libri V... Satyrarum
Lib. I. Theod. Pulmanni in eosdem Annotationes.
Antwerp: Ex officina Christoph. Plantini, 1566,
edges trimmed close, some minor spotting and the
occasional early ink mark , pp. 202, 16mo, bound
together in later mottled calf, boards with a central
lozenge delineated in blind and dyed a slightly different colour, further blind tooling
to corners and edges, spine divided by blind fillets, small gilt flower tools and red
morocco lettering piece added later, a touch worn and rubbed, front joint cracking at
head, good (I. Adams H912; Mills 181; Neuhaus p. 41. II. Not in Adams.)
£1,500
The second Poelman editions of Horace and Juvenal, bound together. The two are
printings of highly significant but largely overlooked importance in the history of
classical scholarship – not because of the quality of the text, but because of their mode
of presentation and the method of scholarship that they represent. Poelman, a relatively
little-educated merchant and customs officer, was also a collector of manuscripts
and friend of Plantin. His classical editions, beginning with a handful of octavos and
continuing with a more systematic series of sextodecimos, mark a clearly identifiable
turning point between the era of the authoritative celebrity scholar – represented by
24
Erasmus, Budé, and latterly Denis Lambin – whose editions derived authority from their
individual genius, and the modern understanding of collective scholarly work, wherein
the fount of authority is communal effort and the citation of sources.
Perhaps because of Poelman’s lack of formal education, he paid particular attention to
the manuscripts he used, and his prefaces always acknowledge the scholars who lent
him copies; this in itself is a previously unknown level of citational detail. But it was in
these two editions in particular that he went further and single-handedly invented the
modern method of listing and citing manuscript and earlier printed sources using letter
abbreviations, or sigla. In this he was centuries ahead of his time, since this process would
only become the norm in the eighteenth century and would bear its most important fruit
with Lachmann’s innovations in the text of Lucretius in the early nineteenth.
As M.D. Feld describes, ‘this is, according to all available evidence, the first employment
of the sigla in a printed book... Poelman’s originality in this matter can be definitively
established,’ since his earlier editions merely mention the manuscripts in prefaces,
but ‘in his sextodecimo edition of Juvenal and Persius...the manuscript sources appear
in sigla form at the end of the book facing an appended list of variant readings. In his
edition of Horace, which appeared later in 1566, the sigla appears facing the first page
of the text and the variant readings are noted in the margins’ (‘The Early Evolution of
the Authoritative Text’ in Harvard Library Bulletin, Jan. 1978, pp. 105-6). Furthermore,
Poelman here is one of the first editors to have line numbers printed in Arabic numerals
at 5-line intervals in the margin; as a result the printed texts can look shockingly
modern.
It is ironic that Lambin’s 1561 Horace has been known for much longer to have marked
a change in tradition of printing classical authors, in that case between the medieval
and the early modern methods of arranging commentary next to text, since Lambin’s
famous ‘new aera’ (see Item 48) technically only lasted five years. Poelman’s editions,
although not as immediately influential, already discarded Lambin’s early modern
approach in favour of the truly modern layout; apart from sidenotes instead of footnotes,
the arrangement and level of detail in these editions is virtually identical to the Oxford
Classical Texts series. And overall, while Lambin more substantially improved the text,
Poelman set the stage for further developments, and ‘for the first time, the progress of
critical scholarship is schematically represented as the cumulative result of the collective
effort of equals’ (Feld, p. 107).
52.
Horace. [Opera] ex recensione & cum notis atque emendationibus Richardi Bentleii.
Editio altera. Amsterdam: Apud Rod. & Gerh. Wetstenios, 1713, LARGE PAPER COPY
(280 x 225 mm), engraved frontispiece, lightly toned, some dampmarking to outer
edges, occasional spotting, two small holes to blank area of final leaf, the half-title
to section two discarded (as usual when bound in one volume), pp. [xxii], 356, [2],
357-717, [1], 239, [1], 4to, contemporary Cambridge-style panelled calf, somewhat
crudely rebacked, preserving most of original red morocco lettering piece, new
endpapers, scratched and marked, extremities worn, sound (Dibdin II 101-5; Mills
430; Reidel A140; Neuhaus p. 95)
£500
The second Bentley edition of Horace, which rearranges the text and notes to be
more useful to scholars. ‘The Amsterdam editions of 1713 and 1728 are preferable
to the Cambridge one of 1711. The notes and text are in the same page, and they are
25
accompanied by the index of Treter, corrected by Verburgius’ (Didbin). This is one of the
scarce copies on large paper, nearly an inch taller than regular copies. It also has bound in
following p. 356 a bibliographical curiosity, an extra copy of leaf Kkk3 (pp. 441-2) which
is a variant issue to the other copy of that leaf bound in the correct place. The obvious
differences between the two copies of Kkk3 are that the first has no catchword on the
verso and no comma following the footnote catchword on the recto, while the second has
both. The two versions may be connected to the fact that some copies have a singleton
half-title following Kkk3 (absent here).
53.
Horace. Quinti Horatii Flacci Opera. Vol. I [-II]. Prostant apud Gul. Sandby in vico
dicto Fleetstreet. 1749, engraved frontispiece and 34 other plates, printed dedication,
titles printed in red and black with engraved portrait roundels, some foxing and a bit
of soiling, occasional minor dampmarking to blank margins, ownership inscription
(1961) to initial blank, pp. [iv], vi, [4], 156; [ii], 157-396, sm. 8vo, contemporary
vellum boards, spines lettered in ink, soiled, a bit of wear to head of vol. ii, marbled
edges and endpapers, bookplate removed from front pastedown, good ( ESTC N14776;
Neuhaus p. 107; Riedel A178; this version not in Mills)
£220
William Sandby’s elegant illustrated Horace: Sandby printed two editions with the same
plates, one large octavo and an entirely different setting of type for this small octavo.
In this edition the dedication leaf is printed, and the frontispiece depicts a collection
of gods and goddesses. ‘I have always considered this work as a very pleasing and
respectable production, and in point of accuracy preferable to its rival, the edition of
Pine. The plates are numerous, and many of them conceived and executed with great
taste’ (Dibdin).
54.
Horace. Opera, cum variis lectionibus,
notis variorum, et indice locupletissimo.
[Edited by Charles Combe. Two volumes.]
Excudebant Gul. Browne, et Joh. Warren,
1792- 1793, engraved portrait frontispiece
(foxed), title-page toned and showing
some offsetting from frontispiece, a little
light spotting elsewhere, pp. [iv], xlix, [i],
646; [iv], 532, 196, 4to, contemporary
straight-grained red morocco, boards
bordered with a trio of decorative gilt
rolls, spines divided by double raised
bands between and containing gilt fillets,
second compartments gilt-lettered direct, a.e.g., a touch of rubbing to joints, slight
darkening to leather in parts, armorial bookplate of Edward Herbert, Viscount Clive,
£500
very good ( ESTC T46149; Mills 829; Reidel A243)
A very nice copy of the regular-paper issue (often mistaken for large-paper due to
substantial margins – the real large-paper issue is some 7cm taller still) of Combe’s
Horace. The project was originally conceived by the physician Charles Combe (17431817) together with the classical scholar Henry Homer (1752-1791), but the latter died
before it was completed and Combe saw it through alone. The result is a luxurious and
26
well-edited edition, although the proof-reading was not the most careful and Combe was
attacked in print by Homer’s teacher, Samuel Parr, sparking a brief war of words. This
copy belonged to Edward Clive (later Herbert), grandson of Clive of India.
55.
Horace. Quinti Horatii Flacci Opera cum novo commentario ad modum Joannis
Bond. Paris: Ex typographia Firminorum Didot. 1855, full-page engraving following
title, borders throughout printed in red, 2 double-page maps at end, 6 photographic
plates, 11 engraved headpieces, some foxing, pp. [iv], xlvi, [2], 299, [1], 12mo,
twentieth century pebble-grain red morocco, spine with four raised bands, second
compartment gilt-lettered direct, the rest with a gilt fillet border enclosing gilt
corner tools, boards with a wide black border enclosing a gilt fillet enclosing a gilt
frame with corner- and side-pieces, marbled endpapers, all edges untrimmed, small
chip to tail of spine, a touch of rubbing to front joint, very good (This issue not in
Mills)
£225
An intermediate issue of Didot’s pocket Horace, containing the maps and photographic
plates, but with the full-page illustration and the headpieces remaining as engravings
rather than pasted-in photographs. Careful comparison indicates that this must be an
entirely separate issue, rather than a mix of sheets and plates from the normal and deluxe
versions: the pages are ruled in red, like the deluxe issue, but the headpieces are ruled in
black, like the regular issue.
56.
Isocrates. Orationes et epistolae. Cum Latina interpretatione Hier. Wolfii, ab ipso
postremum recognita. [Geneva]: Excudebat Henricus Stephanus. 1593, final blank
discarded, lower blank margin of one index leaf trimmed, light toning and spotting,
a tiny dampmark in margin of first 20 leaves, title a little creased, early ink note
‘Coquet’(?) on title, pp. [xxviii], 427, [1], 131, [1], xxxiiii, [10], 31, [19], folio, later
boards and backstrip removed, exposing sewn bands, preserved in a black cloth
solander case, good (Schreiber 224; Renouard p. 155 no. 1; Dibin II 126)
£600
The last major work completed by Henri Estienne II, and his last folio edition of a classical
text. An ‘important edition’ (Schreiber), it contains the Greek text with a Latin translation
by Hieronymous Wolf, revised by Estienne, who also contributes seven dissertations on
the text. This copy is firmly held together by its sewn bands, but the boards and the leather
spine covering from an earlier binding (probably eighteenth-century) have been removed,
exposing the construction of the binding.
57.
Josephus. Opera. Basel: [Froben,] 1544, EDITIO PRINCEPS , title-page printed in
red and black, three small wormholes at beginning (one quickly shrinking away,
the other two lasting until p. 150 and often touching a letter but rarely affecting
sense), one leaf with a small patch of soiling over one word, a little minor foxing, a
short closed tear and accompanying crease at foot of title-page, several ownership
inscriptions of a Jesuit college in Würzburg (dated 1575), Arabic numerals and a
few short notes added to the table of contents in a later hand, pp. [xii], 967, [1],
folio, contemporary blind-stamped pigskin, brass clasps and cornerpieces, two
nineteenth-century leather lettering-pieces to spine, one defective and the other
27
just chipped, a bit darkened and soiled,
endpapers renewed at the same time as the
lettering-pieces, small chip to head of rear joint,
bookplate of W.T. Monson, good (Adams J352;
Dibdin II 130)
£7,000
An imposing copy of the first printed version
of the original Greek text of Josephus’s works
(which postdates the first Latin appearance of
any of his works by nearly 75 years). The editor,
Arnoldus Arlenius, found a Greek manuscript
while cataloguing the library assembled by Diego
Hurtado de Mendoza, the envoy of Charles V
to Venice, which enabled him to produce this
edition. It prints for the first time in any language
the ‘autobiography’ of Josephus, which does not
survive in the Latin manuscript tradition, and also
includes the Fourth Book of the Maccabees, at the
time attributed to Josephus.
Arlenius was aided in this project by Sigismund Gelen, Froben’s in-house corrector
and editor, and the resulting text remained the standard Greek version well into the
nineteenth century. This copy matches the rarer of the two variants (based on the spelling
of one word in the colophon) given by Adams, who found one copy in Cambridge of this
version against 9 of the other. ‘I wonder that collectors of Greek books do not value this
Editio Princeps of Josephus more: it is one of the noblest and most venerable old books I
ever saw’ (Harwood, quot. by Dibdin).
58.
Juvenal. [Satyrae.] [incipit:] Illustri viro Iohanni Tuccio Pannonico. Georgius Valla
salutem dicit plurimam. Venice: per magistrum Antonium de Strata Cremonensem,
1486, FIRST VALLA EDITION , initial blank discarded, final blank present, occasional
Greek text, capitals picked out in red or blue throughout, the dedicatory letter
and first satire with attractive decorative initials in red and blue, leaf a2 rather
soiled and with a repair to lower corner affecting a couple of letters on the verso,
occasional dustsoiling and some staining elsewhere, a few leaves browned, outer
margin dampmarked in places, a few early manuscript notes to first few leaves, later
ownership inscription (1651) to title, ff. [87], folio, modern dark brown calf with
simple blind rules, unlettered spine with five raised bands, sound ( ISTC ij00655000;
Goff J655; Bod-Inc J321; BMC V 294)
£5,000
‘When Giorgio Valla, the greatest classical scholar in Venice, published his edition of
Juvenal in 1486, it was an event of major importance’ (Anderson, ‘Valla, Juvenal, and
Probus’, Traditio 21, p. 422). Valla did relatively little to improve the text but ‘made
extensive use of a unique manuscript, now lost, which contained a collection of scholia
under the name of Probus... These scholia under the name of Probus derive ultimately
from a late antique commentary of around the end of the fourth century A.D.’ (Parker,
‘Other Remarks on the Other Sulpicia’, Classical World , p. 89). Valla may have thought
that ‘Probus’ was the the famous first-century critic, but it is certain that the text is later –
although it is also certain that Valla did not piece together the commentary himself, as has
also been alleged.
28
Item 58
C.P. Jones has traced some scholia to Suetonius, and among other significant inclusions
is the only surviving fragment of Statius’s ‘De Bello Germanico’ (in the commentary
on Satire IV), and ‘it is now clear that his commentary, which as it came into Valla’s
hands was “mirae brevitatis” and gave out at 8.198, had been used in much the same
state by two readers of Juvenal at Brescia 500 years before. In general, therefore, Valla’s
Probus deserves quite as much respect as the other scholia, the fullest of which occur in
manuscripts only another 150 years older’ (Reeve, ‘The Addressee of Laus Pisonis’, Illinois
Classical Studies IX, p. 43).
The biography of Juvenal also included and attributed to Probus by Valla, while similarly
not ancient, is the best available: ‘the ancient biographies seem worthless and even the
best of these, attributed by Valla in his 1486 edition to ‘Probus’, offers the same kind of
reconstruction from details in the Satires as presented by some recent scholars’ (Braund,
Satires I, p. 15). It is a scarce edition in commerce, with no copies recorded at UK or
American auctions in the last 30 years. Outside of Europe ISTC lists six copies in the UK
(one imperfect) and another six copies in the USA (of which 3 are in Pennsylvania).
59.
Juvenal. Satirae XVI. Ad optimorum exemplarium fidem recensitae... a Georgio
Alex. Ruperti. Secundem editionem Gotingensem. Accedit Index Copiosissimus.
Oxford: Sumtibus J. Cooke et J. Parker, 1808, some foxing, a little pencil marginalia,
pp. [ii], xxxii, 372, [58], 8vo, contemporary biscuilt calf, boards bordered with a
small gilt decorative roll, spine divided by raised bands between double gilt fillets,
blue lettering piece, other compartnents with small central gilt tool, joints cracking
but strong, armorial bookplate of Capel Cure Esqr, good £75
An early reprint of the text of Juvenal with copious notes by the German Lutheran
theologian and scholar Georg Alexander Ruperti (1758-1839), produced in Oxford for the
educational market. This copy is a remarkably good survival for a volume intended to be
used and consequently scarce – COPAC records copies only in Oxford, Cambridge, and the
National Trust.
29
60.
Juvenal & Persius. Iu. Iuvenalis una Cum Au. Persio Nuper Recogniti. Florence: per
Haeredes Philippi Iuntae, 1519, somewhat foxed and spotted, some dampmarking
and dustsoiling in margins, frequent early manicles and underlining in yellow and
brown ink (some text capitals also coloured in), two leaves signed ‘F.A.C.N.’ at
foot, end of preface signed ‘Melchior Magius Romae Anno 1690’, early ownership
inscription (partly crossed through) and stamp of Repton School Library on title,
small armorial stamp on last leaf, one leaf with a closed vertical cut in the centre (no
loss), ff. 80, 16mo, later vellum boards, a bit ruckled and soiled, text-block cracked
in a few places, endpapers sometime renewed, bookplate of L.A. Burd, sound ( CNCE
28747; Adams J774)
£500
The second Giunta edition of Juvenal, following one of 1513 (Dibdin lists a 1507 Giunta,
evidently a ghost, since none of his sources have actually seen it and it is not recorded in
EDIT16 ). In an unusual touch, the preliminary letter from the editor in the 1513 edition
has been replaced in this printing by an epistle ‘from the poet to the reader’, the conceit of
which is that Juvenal himself has come up from the underworld to give his thanks to the
printer for the efforts made in printing his works.
61.
Juvenal & Persius. Satyrarum libri V... Satyrarum liber I. Theod. Pulmanni in
eosdem Annotationes. Antwerp: Ex officina Christophori Plantini, 1565, FIRST
PULMANN EDITION , some foxing, a small marginal dampmark to 15 leaves, one page
with a faint but substantial splashmark, early ownership inscriptions of Marcus
and Gio: Carlo Maciagas to title-page and facing blank, pp. 160, 8vo, contemporary
vellum, sometime restitched and endpapers renewed with old paper, spine lettered in
ink, somewhat soiled, good (Ruelens & De Backer 1565.23; Dibdin II 153)
£900
Another classical text edited by Poelman for Plantin. This Juvenal was followed by
a second edition in 1566 in 16mo, which Ruelens & De Backer conjecture was an
expurgated version for schools (but see Item 51 for more on Poelman and that edition).
Moss calls this edition ‘greatly superior’ and notes that it has Hadrianus Junius’s notes
printed in the margins. The result is probably the best text to precede the discovery of the
Montpellier manuscript, first used by Pithou in his 1585 edition.
62.
Juvenal & Persius. Giuvenale, e Persio Spiegati Con la dovuta Modestia in Versi
Volgari. Ed illustrati con varie Annotazioni dal conte Cammillo Silvestri da Rovigo.
Padua: Nella Stamperia del Seminario, 1711, 5 engraved plates (3 folding), woodcut
diagrams and illustrations within the text, some light spotting, pp. 910, [2], 4to,
contemporary vellum, red morocco lettering piece to spine, a little bit soiled, front
joint cracking and sometime neatly strengthened with glue (the flyleaf pasted down
in the same process), headband partly loose, institutional bookplate, very good
(Morgan 622)
£200
The first edition of this translation of Juvenal and Persius into Italian by Camillo Silvestri
(1645-1719), with the translation on facing pages to the original text, and comprehensive
notes and diagrams.
30
63.
Juvenal & Persius. Satyrae. Cu[m] annotationibus Th. Farnabii. Padua: Typis
Seminarii, apud Io. Manfré, 1705/1719, engraved title-page, a little faint spotting,
pp. 252, 12mo, contemporary rough vellum, spine lettered in ink, a bit darkened
and marked, bookplate removed from front pastedown, small area of glue residue to
spine, good (Morgan, Persius, 322 & 313)
£200
Thomas Farnaby’s edition of Juvenal was first published in 1612 and is here pleasantly
reprinted. ‘The title page is emblematically engraved in a different style from that of the
usual Farnaby editions, and the variant readings of Pithou are added at the end of each
satire of Juvenal’ (Morgan). The engraved title-page is dated 1705, but this is the second
issue where the letterpress separate title-page to the Persius section is dated 1719 (and has
its own Morgan number).
64.
(Latin Anthology.) Anthologia Latina. Edidit
Franciscus St. John Thackeray, A.M. Bell et Daldy,
1865, FIRST EDITION , PRESENTATION COPY, paper
lightly toned throughout, a few fox-spots to first
and last leaves, pp. viii, [ii], 386, [2], small 8vo,
contemporary dark brown morocco by Holloway,
boards bordered with a double gilt fillet, spine
divided by raised bands with gilt fillet borders to
compartments, second compartment gilt-lettered
direct, the rest with central fleuron tools and fleurde-lis cornerpieces, turn-ins decoratively gilt,
a.e.g., marbled endpapers, bookplate of William
Thirlwall Bayne, near fine £200
Inscribed by the editor on the blank endpaper,
‘William Thirlwall Bayne, from F. St John Thackerary,
March 30, 1865’. The recipient was a lawyer and book
collector.
65.
(Latin Language.) Gradus ad Parnassum: sive, Noveus Synonymorum, Epithetorum,
Parasium Poeticarum, ac versuum Thesaurus. Ab uno e Societate Jesu [i.e. Paul Aler].
Editio novissima. Impensis Benj. Tooke, 1687, title-page dustsoiled and with a little
adhesion damage at inner margin (just touching a couple of letters), a few rust-spots
and other soiling elsewhere, several leaves with marginal tears (only once causing
loss, to one word), fore-margin trimmed a bit close in places but always clear of text,
old ownership inscription (illegible) to title-page, pp. 688, 12mo, contemporary dark
calf, boards ruled in blind, leather rubbed and worn, especially at corners and joints,
£750
endpapers excised, joints cracking, sound ( ESTC R177583)
The second recorded surviving English printing of this classic dictionary of poetical Latin.
It went through many incarnations; this version, edited by a German Jesuit named Paul
Aler (1676-1727), was the first to take the title of ‘Gradus ad Parnassum’ but the content
is based on an earlier thesaurus attributed to Pierre Joulet. Aler’s text quickly became a
standard schoolbook and was reprinted continuously into the nineteenth century, when
31
a new version revised by John Carey took over; it was the enormous influence of this work
that led to ‘Gradus’ becoming a synonym for ‘dictionary’ and ‘introductory text’.
The earliest recorded editions are from 1680, one in London and one in Cologne. Aler was
based in Cologne, so it presumably appeared there first, with the London edition copying
it. However, there may have been an agreement between the publishers (Metternich in
Cologne, and Tooke in London), since subsequent editions appear in the two cities at
the same intervals. This 1687 London printing is matched by a Cologne printing of the
same year (in two variant issues) and followed by 1691 and 1698 printings in each city. An
additional 1694 edition is recorded in ESTC but not VD17, but non-survival is just as likely
as non-production for a Cologne printing of that pear. All the early English printings are
rare, with the first recorded in one location only (Magdalene College, Cambridge) and
this second printing in just three: Reigate, NLS , and the Mitchell.
Item 66
66.
A century of Lilys
(Latin Language.) LILY (William) A Short Introduction of Grammar. [With:]
Brevissima institutio seu Ratio grammatices. [A collection of 8 editions. Various
publishers,] 1687- 1786, one edition (1703) interleaved, two (1754 & 1760) somewhat
browned internally, a bit of spotting elsewhere but generally quite fresh, the 1760
edition lacking the second work (‘Brevissima institutio’), 8vo & 12mo, various
bindings, mostly calf (one in original linen), several rebacked, generally a bit rubbed
and marked, good £1,200
A collection of editions of the important Latin grammars published under William Lily’s
name, illustrating their continued use and development across a century from 1687 to
1786. No copies survive from Lily’s lifetime (c.1468-1522), but the various parts gathered
under Lily’s name (one with contributions by Erasmus, another with a substantial part by
32
John Colet) were first known to be published under their modern titles in 1548-9. It was
defined by the English state and church as the only authorised grammar of Latin under
Edward VI and Elizabeth I, retaining this authority until 1758 when it was revised into
‘The Eton Latin Grammar’. ‘However, this further renewed its influence, which extended
into the nineteenth century and beyond... Shakespeare’s characters quote it verbatim...
Ben Jonson adapted it, and Thomas Fuller complained of being beaten because of it, while
in the nineteenth century George Borrow recorded being made to memorize it, Charles
Lamb played with it, and Edgar Allan Poe mentioned Lily’ ( ODNB ).
The ‘Short Introduction’ and the ‘Brevissima institutio’ were almost exclusively issued
together, but are sometimes catalogued separately; other works by Lily (either the ‘Propria
quae maribus’ or ‘Lily’s Rules construed’) are sometimes bound with them. This grouping
comprises editions from 1687 ( ESTC R224159 & R15821), 1703 (N27271 – both works,
recorded in 2 locations only, National Trust & Texas), 1714 (T138905 & T138904), 1728
(N27916, bound with the ‘Propria’, N46125, 3 locations only, none in the UK), 1745
(N37721, 3 locations only, bound with ‘Lily’s Rules’ of 1744, N27278), 1754 (N27282,
four locations only, none in the UK, bound with ‘Lily’s Rules’, T169380), 1760 (T17880,
but lacking the ‘Brevissima’), and 1784 (N46144, two locations only, neither in the UK,
bound with a 1786 ‘Brevissima’ not located in ESTC and a 1786 ‘Propria’ which has two
indistinguishable entries, N37945 and T62233).
67.
(Latin Language.) R AVIZZOTTI (Gaetano) Viridarium Latinum; ou, recuiel des
pensées et bons-mots le plus remarquables, Tirés des plus illustres Orateurs, Poëtes,
et autres Ecrivains, tant Grecs que Latins, traduits en Italien et en François, ... De
l’Imprimerie de W. et C. Spilsbury, Snowhill. 1801, FIRST EDITION , title-page (a cancel)
signed by the author to prevent piracy, poor-quality paper browned and foxed
throughout, pp. [iv], viii, 300, 8vo, contemporary brown cloth, black lettering piece
to spine, cloth slightly bubbled, a touch of wear to extremities, good £400
The scarce first edition of a language textbook containing maxims and epigrams from
ancient authors in Latin, with translations into French and Italian. Gaetano Ravizzotti
was tutor to the children of the second Viscount Palmerston, and in the elder son Henry,
later prime minister, the ‘foundations were laid of excellent French and good Italian’
( ODNB ). Ravizzotti compiled an Italian grammar which saw several editions and was
dedicated to Henry, while this book was dedicated to the younger son William. With
Ravizzotti’s method, ‘the pupil was exercised and taught the rules and distinction of
three languages at once... The Viridarium, after smoothing young Henry Temple’s load
to the fourth form at Harrow, ran to a third edition, and brought the author into great
vogue among the aristocracy as a teacher of languages’ ( Museum & English Journal of
Education, Dec. 1845, p. 335). Despite over 150 subscribers, this first edition is scarce:
BL, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Harvard and San Francisco Public Library only in COPAC and
Worldcat.
68.
(Latin Poetry.) Fragmenta poetarum veterum Latinorum, quorum opera non
extant: Ennii, Accii, Lucilii, Laberii, Pacuvii, Afranii, Naevii, Caecilii, aliorumque
multorum. [Geneva]: Excudebat Henricus Stephanus. 1564, FIRST EDITION , lightly
toned, occasional spotting, pp. 433 [i.e. 432], (Schreiber 152; Renouard 123.6;
Adams P1705)
33
[bound with:]
Sententiae Veterum Poetarum, per Georgium Maiorem in locos communes digestae,
ac tandem post authoris supremam manum, multum auctae ac locupletatae. Antonii
Mancinelli de Poetica virtute libellus. Paris: Ex officina Roberti Stephani typographi
Regii. 1551, slightly trimmed affecting the first character of some sidenotes, lightly
toned and spotted, pp. 240, [8], (Renouard 80.7)
[and:]
Vetustissimorum poetarum opera sententiosa, quae supersunt. Antwerp: Ex officina
Christophori Plantini. 1564, lightly toned and spotted , pp. 70, [2], 8vo, (Ruelens
& de Backer 36.5) later sprinkled calf, spine with five raised bands, red morocco
lettering piece, compartments infilled with elaborate gilt centre- and corner-pieces
and small tools, extremities rubbed and slightly worn, a little cracking to joints
at ends, a Latin couplet repeated in ink on both endpapers (contemporary with
the binding, the text being the final lines of an anonymous poem in the Appendix
Vergiliana), good £950
The first work is the first printing of many of the Latin authors who survive only in fragments,
including Ennius, Lucilius, Caecilius, and Livius Andronicus. Robert Estienne began the
collection, and it was finished and printed after his death by his son Henri. Schreiber states
that it ‘was not adequately supplanted until the 19th century, and is consequently quite rare.’
The second work is one of a few books completed and issued by Charles Estienne after his
brother Robert fled to Geneva, retaining Robert’s imprint which describes him as the King’s
Printer. The text is a collection of quotable lines from Latin poets, based on that originally
assembled in 1534 by Georg Major (1502-1574). The third work is a similar collection,
but in Greek, printed by Plantin; all are scarce, having been intended as pocket readers or
educational texts and consequently almost always heavily used.
69.
(Latin Poetry.) RUGGE (Charles) Verses [and] Declamations & Themes. [Eton and
Oxford,] 1760- 1765, fair copy manuscript in ink on paper, entirely in Latin apart
from a few Greek titles, 177 leaves, paginated from the front [vi, contents], 270,
then from the rear [5, contents then blanks], 60, 60-71, [1], 4to, [with:] 28 sheets of
various sizes loosely inserted, also ink on paper (plus one printed leaf), most in Latin
but a few in English, original vellum boards, ruled in blind, backstrip lettered ‘Musa
Etonenses’, rear cover lettered ‘Charles Rugge, 1760, Declamationum Delectus’,
soiled, short split to rear joint, good £750
A notebook of Latin verses and speeches compiled by Charles Rugge, evidently while at
Eton, together with a small collection of working papers in a wider variety of hands, but
with similar contents, from that period and Rugge’s time at Oxford. The first leaf of the
notebook is a title-page, ‘Verses / Rugge’, with a quotation from the Aeneid (‘Heu pietas,
heu prisces fides’); following it is a contents list and then 129 poems. The list of contents
gives the poems’ ‘Themata’ – these are the usual Eton subjects, mostly classical, including
translations into Latin of Greek verse (particularly choruses from Sophocles), plus Biblical
themes (Dr Heath’s ‘Salus in Gilboa’), but also 6 poems on the death of Frederick, Prince
of Wales. The contents lists at either end also give the ‘authors’ of each piece – apparently
all earlier Eton students – so the notebook seems not to contain any of Rugge’s original
work, instead being a compilation of the ‘Musae Etonenses’ (as per the spine title).
However, it appears to share little if any of its contents with the 1755 collection printed
under that name.
34
Item 69
The other end of the notebook has its own title-page, ‘Declamations & Themes 1760’,
then 18 Latin essays on classical themes, with many of the same authors as the verses.
The inserted loose sheets are much more varied, being written in several hands, but the
majority are similar poems in Rugge’s hand and with his name on them (some working
copies, a few dated between 1763 and 1765), with a few having other names (Harrison,
MacDonald, Bunyon). There are also a couple of household receipts (in English), a poem
(in Latin) by Rugge on the birth of George IV, two on John Burton (a fellow of Eton), a
transcription of the academic satire The Capitade, and a song in English signed ‘Mo:
Rugge’ and annotated ‘My cousin wrote this song for me Nov. 5th 1764, she is very good
natured to me more than my sister a thousand times indeed. I like Cousin Sheppard very
well but does something she shouldn’t sometimes’. The song, like the Capitade, is not
original, both having been printed in the Gentleman’s Magazine in 1750 (the former
under the title ‘A Pastoral Dialogue, sung by Mr Lowe and Mrs Stevenson at Vaux-hall’).
The register of Exeter College, Oxford, records Charles Rugge, son of William, of
Westminster, educated at Eton, who matriculated December 1762 aged 20, received
his BA in 1766, then died young in 1773. The National Archives contain the will of a
Reverend Charles Rugge, dated 8th June 1773, described as a ‘Clerk of Storrington,
Sussex’, which could be the same man.
70.
Livy. Historiarum ab urbe condita, libri, qui extant, XXXV. Cum universae historiae
epitomis. A Carolo Sigonio Emendati. Cuius etiam scholia simul eduntur, quibus
iidem libri, atque epitomae parrim emendantur, partim etiam explanantur. Venice:
35
Apud Paulum Manutium, 1555, title-page creased and pulling loose at foot, lightly
dusty as well, the first 20 or so gatherings evenly browned and a bit spotted from
having been lightly washed in an attempt to remove early marginal notes (these still
mostly legible, albeit cropped), the rest of the book largely quite clean and bright, ff.
[iv], 478, 98, [40], folio, eighteenth-century vellum boards, boards with border and
centre-piece in blind, spine lettered in ink, somewhat dusty and marked, front board
bowing a bit, a small crack to head of front joint, sometime recased with endpapers
renewed, bookplate removed from front pastedown, good (Adams L1342; Renouard
p. 166 # 15; Ahmanson-Murphy 477; Dibdin II 166; CNCE 27997)
£2,000
The first edition of Sigonius’s groundbreaking text of Livy, with copious commentary.
Sigonius (or Carlo Sigonio, c.1524-1584), was professor successively at Venice, Padua,
and Bologna, and this text and his Fasti Consulares (which both appeared in 1555) ‘were
the first in which accurate criticism was applied to the chronology of Roman history’
(Sandys). Rather than merely emend the text here and there based on linguistic grounds,
Sigonius sought to achieve an understanding of the historical content (as well as the
manuscript tradition and language) which would enable correction and commentary;
in this he marks an important early step in the development of the science of chronology
which Scaliger would push forward later in the century.
71.
Livy. Historiarum ab urbe condita, libri, qui extant, XXXV. Cum universae historiae
epitomis. Adiunctis scholiis Caroli Sigonii, quibus iidem libri, atque epitomae partim
emendantur, partim etiam explanantur. Secunda editio. Venice: Apud Paulum
Manutium, 1566, tidy repairs to blank verso of title-page and one or two other leaves,
some staining to title-page and occasionally elsewhere, a few gatherings browned,
occasional marginal notes in an early hand (mostly numerals and manicules), a
few leaves with ink splashes (not obscuring text), an old inscription rubbed out
from margin of title-page, ff. [lii], 399, [1], 107, folio, eighteenth-century Italian
vellum, brown morocco lettering piece to spine, slightly soiled, good (Adams L1344;
Renouard p. 202 #19; Ahmanson-Murphy 769; CNCE 28254)
£1,500
The second edition, a slightly more compact reprint of the 1555 first.
72.
36
Lucian of Samosata. Opera. Cum nova versione
Tiber. Hemsterhusii, & Io. Matthiae Gesneri,
Graecis scholiis, ac notis... [Three vols.]
Amsterdam: sumptibus Jacobi Wetstenii, 1743,
engraved frontispiece in first vol., light toning and
spotting, pp. [x], lxxii, 882; [iv], 934, [2, blank],
935-953, [1]; [iv], 860,
[with:]
Index verborum ac phrasum Luciani, sive
Lexicon Lucianeum, Ad editiones omnes, maxime
novissimam Wetsteniam, concinnatum a Car.
Conr. Reitzio. Utrecht: ex typographia Hermanni
Besseling, 1746, browned in places, pp. [viii], xvi,
500, [4], 4to, uniformly bound in contemporary
marbled sheep, spines with five raised bands, red and green morocco lettering
pieces, other compartments infilled with gilt voluté, flower, and circle tools,
marbled endpapers, edges red, rubbed, some surface damage to leather, good
(Dibdin II 193-4)
£800
The magisterial Hemsterhuys and Reitz edition of Lucian, complete with the separatelypublished index; Gesner’s main responsibility was the Latin translation. ‘This is not only
the most beautiful, but the most accurate and complete edition of Lucian that has ever
been published: the editors were Hemsterhusius, J.M. Gesner, and Reitzius.... The high
character which this edition has long borne in the classical world, makes it unnecessary
to give a minute description of its contents’ (Dibdin). Sandys never mentions it without the
appelation ‘great’, and Anderson’s 1976 study of Lucian calls it ‘still valuable’.
73.
Martial. [Epigrammata.] Venice: In Aedibus Aldi. 1501, some minor spotting, first
two leaves lightly browned, last leaf mounted (the obscured verso blank except for an
old manuscript note just visible through the page), ff. [192], 8vo, eighteenth-century
sponge-painted paper boards (probably Viennese), rubbed and worn at extremities
and joints, backstrip darkened, bookplate of Robert Needham Cust (1821-1909, East
India Company servant and orientalist), preserved in a blue quarter-morocco solander
box, good ( CNCE 36108; Renouard 30.1; Goldsmid 37; Adams M689)
£2,500
The first Aldine edition of Martial, the first of that author in octavo format, and the fourth
book produced by Aldus Manutius in his new pocket series of classical texts in octavo
(his fifth book using italic type). It was reprinted in 1517. This is the true Aldine edition,
with ‘Amphitheatrum’ and ‘seposita’ on the first page of text, rather than one of the early
Lyonnese forgeries identified by Brunet.
Martial followed Virgil, Horace, and Juvenal in Aldus’s revolutionary series of octavo
classics; the new italic typeface allowed a narrower line so that poetry could still fit on
a smaller page, and the ability to easily carry a simple text (sans annotations or critical
exegesis) in a pocket contributed greatly to the intellectual culture of the early sixteenth
century. This copy is a rare survival of unusual (and delicate) painted boards: a veined
ground has had diagonal wavy lines scraped across, and large spots swirled with a sponge,
mostly in red but with faint areas of purple and green.
74.
Martial. Epigrammata cum notis Farnabii et variorum. Geminoque Indice tum
Rerum tum Auctorum, accurante Cornelio Schreveli. Leiden: Apud Franciscum
Hackium, 1661, some light spotting, a few early ink annotations at beginning of text
(all references to other editions or works), pp. [xvi], 794, [46], 8vo, contemporary
vellum boards, spine lettered in ink, slightly soiled, armorial bookplate of Henry
John Wollaston to front pastedown, and gift inscription to initial blank, very good
(Dibdin II 231)
£250
The octavo variorum of Martial, several times reprinted and the basis for the Delphin
edition. This copy was given to John Duke Coleridge (1820-1894), by his father, the judge
John Taylor Coleridge (son of poet S.T.), probably as a school-leaving gift – the inscription
is dated May 1838, the year that J.D. went up to Balliol (and exactly five years after ‘he was
very nearly expelled for an unspeakable offence’, according to the ODNB ). J.D. would go
on to become a judge like his father, and later the first Baron Coleridge.
37
75.
Martial. Epigrammata. Ex museo Petri Scriverii. Ab omni rerum
obscoenitate, verborumque turpitudine vindicata. Venice: Apud
Benedictum Milochum, 1678, one leaf with an original paper flaw
causing loss to half a dozen words, some browning and spotting,
two gatherings with a dampmark to fore-edge, pp. 276, 12mo,
contemporary vellum, spine lettered in ink, a bit ruckled, spine
darkened, sound £250
A rare printing of Martial’s epigrams, as edited by Pieter Schrijver
(1576-1660). No copies are listed in COPAC or Worldcat; the Italian
union catalogue locates only 5 copies, all but one in small regional
libraries.
76.
Minucius Felix. Octavius. Cum integris observationibus Nic. Rigaltii, et selectis
aliorum. Recensuit, suasque notas adjecit Joannes Davisius. Cambridge: Typis
Academicis, impensis Joan. Oweni, 1707, a little minor spotting but generally quite
bright, pp. [xvi], 206, [18], 8vo, contemporary Cambridge-style panelled calf, frame
with cats-paw staining, remnant of paper label to spine, rubbed, a little wear to
endcaps, joints just cracking at ends, good ( ESTC T117533)
£75
The first edition of the early Christian apologist Minucius Felix edited by John Davies,
head of Queens’ College, Cambridge, and a close friend of Richard Bentley. ‘Bentley’s
scholarly influence can be seen in Davies’s correct editions of works by Caesar,
Lactantius, and Minucius Felix’ ( ODNB ). Davies produced another, larger edition in 1712.
77.
Ovid. Heroidum epistolae. Et Auli Sabini responsiones, cum Guidonis Morilonii
Argumentis, ac Scholiis. Venice: Apud Christophorum Gryphium, 1578, some light
spotting and toning, pp. 221, [1], 8vo, contemporary limp vellum, somewhat ruckled
and soiled, one tie (of four) present, very good ( CNCE 35033; not in Adams)
£700
A rare printing of Ovid’s Heroides on their own – a relatively unusual text to find
isolated from his other texts, since it is more often paired with his other ‘Epistolae’.
This is a schoolbook edition, like many that Gryphius produced in the mid-sixteenthcentury, although larger than his more usual sextodecimos. EDIT16 locates only seven
copies of this edition in Italy and there are none in COPAC , with Worldcat adding only
Harvard.
78.
38
Pausanias. An extract out of Pausanias, of the statues, pictures, and temples in
Greece; which were remaining there in his time. [Translated by Uvedale Tomkyns
Price.] Printed for W. Shropshire, 1758, FIRST TRANSLATION INTO ENGLISH , some light
spotting, small repair to title-page verso, pp. [iv], 251, [1, plus 13 leaves of binder’s
blanks], 8vo, contemporary calf, rebacked preserving old lettering piece, old leather
darkened and crackled, corners repaired, bookplate of the Arts & Crafts-movement
illustrator Walter Crane (quoting the famous quatrain from the Rubaiyat), good
( ESTC N51908: BL, Cambridge, Oxford, Soane’s, plus 4 more in the USA )
£1,200
The scarce first translation of any substantial part of Pausanias into English – the first full
translation would follow in 1794. It was published anonymously, but the second edition
of 1780, under a slightly different title but with identical text, gives the translator’s name
and a nineteenth-century owner has added it here. It is often assumed that the translator
named in the 1780 edition is Uvedale Price (1747-1829), the writer and theorist of the
Picturesque, but he would have been 11 at the time of this printing and the actual author
is his grandfather of the same first name. Uvedale Tomkins Price (1685-1764) was, as
his grandson wrote, ‘like myself, passionately fond of the arts’, and the close intellectual
connections between the two mean that conclusions based on misidentifying the younger
as the elder are not invalidated – e.g. Elsner’s argument the translation is ‘associated
with a fundamental turn in late eighteenth-century British aesthetics to the idea of the
Picturesque as a mediating concept between the Beautiful and the Sublime,’ and ‘that
Price’s anthologizing process of cutting picture-post-card views, as it were, out of the
Greek landscape of Pausanias’ text is one aspect of the intellectual dynamic underlying
the Picturesque’ ( Classical Receptions Journal, 2010, p. 159).
79.
(Pervigilium Veneris.) Traduction en prose et en vers d’une ancienne hymne sur les
fêtes de Vénus, intitulée Pervigilium Veneris. A Londres, et se trouve à Paris, Chez
Barbou, 1766, some dustsoiling and toning, a piece of lower blank corner of final
leaf torn away, slight damage to corner of previous three leaves, pp. 47, [1], 8vo, later
marbled boards, spine and edges rubbed, label chipped, good ( ESTC T126505) £300
A rare printing of the Pervigilium Veneris (or ‘Vigil of Venus’), a late antique poem of
unknown authorship (sometimes attributed to Tiberianus), with accompanying French
translations in both prose and verse, by Henri-Simon-Joseph Ansquer de Ponçol (17301783), who signs the dedication. The imprint mentions London but it is almost certainly
entirely a Parisian production; nonetheless it has an ESTC entry, locating copies in the BL
& Niedersachsische Staatsbibliothek only. COPAC adds Cambridge, and Worldcat the
Biblioteca Nacional de España, NYPL , and Texas A&M.
80.
Pindar. ΟΛΥΜΡΙΑ. ΠΥΘΙΑ. ΝΕΜΕΑ.
ΙΣΘΜΙΑ. Μετὰ ἐξηγήσεως παλαιᾶς πανύ
ὠφελίμου, καὶ σχολίων ὁμοίων. Rome:
per Zachariam Calergi Cretensem,
[1515,] second edition of the text but
the EDITIO PRINCEPS of the scholia, first
leaf of text printed in red and black,
that leaf with two small abrasions and
one vertical hole, the hole also reaching
(though less so) the next leaf, with one
or two letters lost from about 2 dozen
words in total, intermittent dampmark
in lower margin, some soiling and
spotting, foliated in a later hand, early
annotations and manicules to last three
leaves, ff. [240, incl. blanks ι 6 & Θ9],
4to, eighteenth-century calf, spine and
corners skilfully repaired, new labels
39
in impeccable period style, leather a little darkened and marked in places, sound
(Adams P1219; CNCE 23572; Dibdin II 286)
£9,500
The second edition of Pindar (following the 1513 Aldine editio princeps) and the first
book printed in Greek in Rome. Callierges, a Cretan native, printed initially at Venice
but in the early 1510s moved to Rome, probably at the invitation of Pope Leo X, and had a
fount of Greek type cast, producing this book as the first use of it. ‘As a printer of Greek,
the achievements of Callierges are second only to those of Aldus. As an engraver of Greek
type, he is in a class by himself. Only the potent commercial force of the Aldine press and
the magic homogeneity of Griffo’s types have obscured its fame’ (Barker, Aldus Manutius
and the Development of Greek Script and Type, p. 75).
Dibdin calls the Callierges Pindar ‘scarcer and dearer’ than the Aldine, and records that
three of the parts are more accurate. ‘Due to its great merits, the Roman edition became
the textus receptus for three hundred years’ (Fogelmark, ‘The 1515 Kallierges Pindar’, in
Syngcharmata , p. 38). This is Adams’ first listed variant, with gathering β in the earlier
state and no red printing on Α3.
Item 81
81.
Pindar. [Greek title:] Olympia, Pythia, Nemea, Isthmia. [Four volumes bound as
three.] Glasgow: excudebant R. & A. Foulis. 1754-1758, some light spotting, pp. [ii],
158; 186, [6, blanks]; 128, 79, [1], 32mo, contemporary red turkey (possibly a Foulis
binding), boards bordered with a gilt fillet, spines divided by a gilt fillet into five
compartments, the top and bottom blank apart from a dashed roll at the spine ends,
the middle gilt-lettered direct, and the other two with a sunburst gilt tool containing
a four-spoked wheel, marbled endpapers, a touch darkened and rubbed, very good
(Gaskell 274; ESTC T134377)
£600
An attractive miniature (pages 49x72mm) edition of Pindar, one of the Greek miniature
texts printed by the Foulis Press and a forerunner of the famous Diamond Classics that
William Pickering would produce 75 years later. It was originally issued as four separate
volumes across four years and is often found bound this way as three roughly equallysized volumes.
40
Item 82
82.
Plato. ἍΠΑΝΤΑ ΤᾺ ΤΟỸ ΠΛΆΤΩΝΟΣ . Omnia Platonis opera.
[Edited by Aldus Manutius and Marcus Musurus].
[colophon (in vol. ii):] Venice: in aedib. Aldi, et Andreae
soceri, September, 1513, EDITIO PRINCEPS , 2 vols., large
Aldine anchor device on title-page (vol. i) and on verso
of last leaf in vol. ii, Greek text (apart from Aldus’
dedicatory petition, Contents and colophon), titlepage slightly soiled and with a hole at the inner margin
repaired, minor stains on fore-edges, a few wormholes in
blank lower margin of opening leaves of vol. ii, pp. [32,
including the final blank], 502 (lacks the final blank);
439, [1], folio (312 x 198 and and 301 x 200 mm), vol. i
in contemporary English quartered oak boards, resewn
with spine uncovered, modern vellum endleaves, vol. ii
in contemporary German pigskin over wooden boards,
blind-tooled to panel design filled in with ‘laus deo’ and
rosette stamps, brass catches and clasps, top of spine worn, inner hinge broken but
cords intact, good ( CNCE 37450; Adams P1436; Ahmanson-Murphy 114; Renouard
p. 62, No. 4 (‘importante edition, devenue rare et précieuse’); see PMM 27 for the
Latin edition, Florence 1484/5, where the present edition is mentioned)
£75,000
One of the most important productions of the Aldine press, remarkable not only as the
editio princeps of Plato, but also for Aldus’s long and elaborate dedicatory petition to the
new Pope Leo X, ‘one of the most comprehensive statements of the humanist position to
be found outside Erasmus (Lowry, p. 205), which contains inter alia a mention of the New
World, and Musurus’s fine Greek elegaic hymn to Plato.
41
The binding of the first volume of this copy is the subject of a 2-page report by Nicholas
Pickwoad (a printout of which accompanies the volume), which begins: ‘these wooden
boards are rare if not unique evidence of a sixteenth-century English attempt to produce
an alla greca binding.’ The repairs were carried out by James Brockman.
Provenance: the first volume with signature of Thomas Colm of Oxford dated 1573,
seventeenth-century ownership inscription of Hendricus Ffeild, and nineteenth-century
bookplate and stamp of King Edward’s School, Birmingham, plus bookplate of Kenneth
Rapoport; the second volume with early ownership inscriptions of Johannes (or Johann?)
Lang of Erfurt and Philippus Kleissenius, and a few early marginalia. The inscription
‘de bibliotheca Johannis Langi Erphurdiensis’ in Volume 2 is also found in a copy of the
1498 Aldine Aristophanes at the Royal Library in Stockholm, and tentatively ascribed by
Collijn to the Erfurt reform theologian and Greek scholar Johann Lang (circa 1486-1548);
cf. Katalog der Inkunabeln der Kgl. Bibliothek in Stockholm 92. See also Contemporaries
of Erasmus II, 287-88.
83.
Plato. I Dialoghi di Platone intitolati l’Eutifrone, ouero Della santita, l’Apologiae
di Socrate, il Critone, o Di quel che s’ha affare, il Fedone, o Della immortalita
dell’anima. Il Timeo, ouero Della natura. Tradotti di lingua greca in italiana
da m. Sebastiano Erizzo, Venice: presso Giovanni Varisco, e Compagni. 1574,
FIRST ITALIAN EDITION of three dialogues, some light foxing and browning,
small rusthole in final leaf affecting three characters, ff. [xii], 327, [1], 8vo,
contemporary limp vellum, spine lettered vertically in ink, yapp edges, a bit
ruckled, slightly marked, ties removed and front flyleaf lost, good (Adams P1453;
CNCE 40413; Moss II 454)
£1,200
The first translation into Italian (or any modern vernacular) of three of the most important
Platonic dialogues – the Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito; Phaedo and Timaeus had been
published in Italian before, the former by Figliucci in 1544 and the latter by Erizzo in 1557.
This volume also includes a substantial commentary on the Phaedo by Erizzo and shorter
notes on the other dialogues. The focus of the volume is Socrates’s final days, and amongst
these five dialogues are four of the seven that are meant to occur between his accusation
and death (the fifth here is the Timaeus, which follows the Republic and is important in its
own right for its natural philosophy and story of Atlantis). The Euthyphro is a discussion
of piety that takes place during prelimary hearings; the Apology is Socrates’s speech
at his own trial; the Crito discusses justice and injustice in Socrates’s prison cell; and
the Phaedo deals with the afterlife on the day Socrates drinks the hemlock. Sebastian
Erizzo (1525-1585) was a philosopher, author and numismatist, also important for his
Discourse concerning Ancient Medals, which earned him a position as one of the fathers
of numismatics in Italy.
84.
42
Plato. Opera omnia: quae exstant. Marsilio Ficino interprete. [Bound as two vols.]
Frankfurt: Apud Claudium Marnium, 1602, title-page dusty and sometime laid down
on matching paper, last leaf of index similarly laid down, first and last few leaves
in each vol. with corners a little softened by damp and slightly frayed as a result,
twentieth-century underlining and marginal annotations in pencil throughout,
a little worming in lower gutter (well clear of text), pp. 786, 769-1355, [29], folio,
late eighteenth-century calf, red and green morocco lettering pieces, somewhat
scratched, a touch of wear to extremities, spine of vol. ii slightly defective at tail, front
hinge of vol. i cracked after title-page, repair to corner of vol. ii, endpapers renewed,
good (Dibdin II 298)
£600
A substantial edition of Plato, here bound as two volumes to make it easier to handle
and reduce the strain on the bindings. Even so the hinges suffered and required a bit of
attention at some point, but the exterior remains attractive and sturdy. The Greek text
is accompanied by Ficino’s classic Latin translation (first printed 1484), which had been
reprinted nearly twenty times in the sixteenth century alone. ‘In the opinion of John
Fabricius they [this and the 1590 printing] are the best editions of Plato, and preferable to
that of Serranus.... The Frankfort edition follows that at Lyons, though it frequently adopts
the readings of Serranus’s it is called the better edition of the two’ (Dibdin).
This edition may have finally sated some of the demand for Plato that had resulted in so
many sixteenth century editions – while in England, at least, Plato fell somewhat out of
favour until the nineteenth century; the next serious edition was the Bipont, 180 years
later. In the meantime this was the standard edition, from George Chapman studying his
copy while working towards his translation of Homer in the 1610s, to James Stuart Mill’s
father purchasing one 200 years later and using it while teaching his young son to read the
dialogues in Greek.
85.
Plutarch. Les Ouvvres Morales & meslees de Plutarque, Translatees du Grec en
François par Messire Iacques Amyot, à present Euesque d’Auxerre, Conseiller du
Roy en son privé Conseil, & grand Aumosnier de France. Paris: De l’Imprimerie de
Michel de Vascosan, 1572, FIRST EDITION , title creased and slightly frayed at edges, a
short closed tear reinforced with tissue, some light spotting elsewhere, a few sections
toned, ff. [6], 668, [88], folio, eighteenth century calf, scraped and worn at the edges,
rebacked, black morocco lettering piece, hinges relined, bookplate of drama critic
Joseph Knight (1829-1907), sound (Adams P1642)
£2,500
The first edition of Jacques Amyot’s translation of Plutarch’s Moralia , a major influence
on Montaigne. Amyot’s translation of the Lives (1559) is better known, since it was that
version which North turned into the English text that Shakespeare read, but this Morales
is not much less important: it ‘immediately became so popular that it can be said to
constitute “l’un des traits marquants de notre Renaissance” [one of the distinguishing
features of our Renaissance]’ (Banks, Cosmos and Image, p. 74, quoting D’Urfé).
‘The success of Amyot’s efforts was such that his century saw only two other French
translations of any of the Moralia’ ( Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy, p. 86).
‘Certainly a great number of French readers, from the late sixteenth century to the present
day, will have first encountered Plutarch in the Essais’ (Manzini, Stendhal’s Parallel Lives,
p. 28).
Amyot was one of the first translators of the work to extensively use the original Greek
text, and his version was an aid to Philemon Holland in his English version of 1603. But
Montaigne was the most substantial reader and user of Amyot’s Morales : ‘He always
ranked Plutarch’s Moralia higher than his Vitae. In this, he followes the view of his epoch;
Erasmus, Budé, and Rabelais made the same judgement. He plundered it to a much
greater degree than the Vitae during all periods of his work on the Essais’ (Friedrich,
Montaigne, p. 74). Montaigne owed Amyot ‘a debt greater indeed than appears at first
43
sight, for he sometimes incorporated Amyot’s translation with hardly the change of a
word into his own essays, the styles of the two authors blending so harmoniously that it is
impossible to distinguish them’ (Tilley, The Literature of the French Renaissance, p. 161).
86.
Quintilian. Institutionum Oratoriarum libri XII. Diligentius recogniti MDXXII.
Index capitum totius operis. Venice: In aedibus Aldi, et Andreae Soceri. 1521, one
small wormhole in text of first 30 and last 60 leaves (often touching a character but
without loss of legibility), a scattering of other small holes in margins of first and
last 30 leaves, light browning at beginning and end, faint marginal dampmark to
early leaves, some old marginal notes and underlining, inscriptions to title (one
struck through, one – dated 1630 – slightly abraded, the third a nineteenth-century
gift inscription), ff. [iv], 230, 4to, eighteenth-century calf, scratched and marked,
corners worn, sometime serviceably rebacked, backstrip with five raised bands,
red labels in second and last compartments, new endpapers, sound ( CNCE 54149;
Renouard 93 no. 14; Adams Q56; Dibdin II 367)
£550
The second Aldine edition of Quintilian (first 1514), edited by Andreas Navagero. Largely
a reprint of the first, it does add the table of Greek words which had been left untranslated
in the original text. The gift inscription on the title reads ‘A memorial of unchanging
friendship and love from James Heming to the Rev. Dr R. J. Bryce’.
87.
Quintilian. Epitome Fabii Quintiliani nuper summo &
ingenio & diligentia collecta, qua possit studiosa iuve[n]
tus... Authore Iona Philologe [i.e. Johannes Guinterius.]
Paris: apud Simonem Colinaeum, 1531, FIRST EDITION ,
a little minor spotting, early ownership inscription to
foot of title-page (dated 1609 but faded almost beyond
legibility), ff. [viii], 65 (recte 67), [1, blank], 8vo, late
nineteenth-century burgundy straight-grained morocco
by Simier, boards bordered with a gilt fillet enclosing
a blind roll, spine divided by raised bands ruled with
double gilt fillets, second compartment and foot giltlettered direct, the rest with central tools, marbled
endpapers, just a touch rubbed at extremities, very good
(Schreiber 77, Renouard 183; Adams Q71)
£1,500
A very pleasant copy of the first edition of this epitome of Quintilian, compiled as a
textbook on rhetoric by Johannes Guinterius of Andernach (or Johann Winter, 15051574). Guinterius was a medical man – in fact, a royal physician – and the anatomy
professor of Andreas Vesalius. At the time of this production he was studying for his
doctorate in medicine and may have edited it to help finance his degree. It has been
called an important edition of the text: ‘the next editions after that of Badius Ascensius,
that did much for the improvement of the text, were those of Mosellanus, 4to., 1527, and
Colinaeus, 8vo., 1531’ (‘Biographical Notice’ in the Bohn Library Quintilian) – but this
is probably an error for the 1530-31 Badius edition caused by other sources referring
ambiguously to the ‘1531 Paris’ printing. As a schoolbook, though, it was sufficiently
popular to be reprinted in the following decade by Robert Estienne, and is now scarce,
with COPAC locating only the Cambridge copy.
44
88.
Quintilian (pseudo-) Declamationes, quae ex CCCLXXXVIII. supersunt, CXLV. Ex
vetere exemplari restitutae. Calpurnii Flacci excerptae X. Rhetorum minorum LI.
Nunc primum editae. Paris: Apud Mamertum Patissonium Typographum Regium, in
officina Roberti Stephani. 1580, FIRST PRINTING of nine ‘Declamations’, some toning
and spotting, neatly reinforced old tear to blank margin of fourth leaf, frequent old
marginal notes and underlining in last quarter of text (and occasionally elsewhere),
early ownership inscriptions to title (one of a monastery in Rossau, Vienna, dated
1653), pp. [xxviii], 458, [22], 8vo, contemporary limp vellum wrappers using a Hebrew
manuscript (with German printed binder’s waste visible under pastedowns), sometime
(probably seventeenth-century) backed with pigskin, yapp edges, top edge and spine
lettered in ink, old paper label at foot, ties removed, somewhat soiled, a couple of short
splits to edge of vellum, seventeenth-century bookplate (of the Viennese monastery,
with shelfmarks), good (Schreiber 255; Renouard 182 #1; Adams Q49)
£700
The ‘Declamationes’ are attributed in the manuscript tradition to Quintilian, but cannot
be his work. Only 145 of the 388 rhetorical exercises are known to have survived, and
nine of these were discovered by Pierre Pithou, editor of this edition; he prints them
here for the first time, along with the first printing of the ‘Declamationes’ of Calpurnius
Flaccus, as well a new recension of Tacitus’s ‘Dialogus’. This copy belonged to the
‘Bibliotheca Venerab: Conventus Viennensis in Rossaugia Ord: Servorum B.M.V.’,
probably the monastery founded in the 1630s in the Rossau parish of Vienna, whose
important Palladian church survives as the Wiener Servitenkirche (though that building
had just started construction when this volume was acquired).
89.
(Roman History.) GODWYN (Thomas) Romanae Historiae Anthologia... An English
Exposition of the Roman Antiquities wherein many Roman and English offices are
parallel’d, and divers obscure phrases Explained. For the use of Abingdon School.
Newly revised and enlarged by the Authour. Printed by R.W. for Peter Parker, 1661,
foxed and browned in places, ownership inscription of ‘Henry Darley his book Jan:
24th 1679/80’ to title-page, pp. [vi], 270, [20],
[bound with:]
Godwyn (Thomas) Moses and Aaron: Civil and Ecclesiastical Rites, used by the
ancient Hebrews... The Ninth Edition. Printed by S. Griffin for Andrew Cook, 1667,
a few leaves shaved at lower edge (touching catchwords), some browning, one or two
rust-spots, pp. [viii], 264, [10],
[and:]
Rous (Francis) Archaeologiae Atticae Libri Septem, Seven Books of the Attick
Antiquities... The Sixt Edtiion Corrected and Enlarged. Oxford: Printed by William
Hall for John Adams, 1667, some foxing and browning (a few leaves heavily),
marginal dampmark to last few leaves, pp. [xii], 374, [10], 4to, original mid-brown
calf, ruled in blind, marked and a bit scratched, slight rubbing to extremities, square
paper shelfmark label to head of spine, edges red, front flyleaf with numerous ink
sums and ownership inscription of H. Brewster (1781), no pastedowns, front flyleaf
£500
loosening, good ( ESTC R19791; R22732; R6074, Madan R2037)
Three classic school texts of ancient history, bound together, as often. The first two are by
Thomas Godwyn (or Godwin, or Goodwin, 1587-1642), headmaster of Abingdon School,
and were originally published in 1614 and 1625, remaining in print (the former as the only
45
Items 89 & 90
English textbook on the subject) for more than a century. Godwyn was also instrumental
in the founding of Pembroke College, Oxford, by arranging for Thomas Tesdale’s bequest
to be diverted from Balliol (Tesdale’s old college) towards conversion of Broadgates Hall
into a college, and became the first fellow of the new institution.
The third work is by Francis Rous (1580/1-1659), a graduate of Broadgates Hall, and was
similarly popular. It was greatly enlarged in 1649 by the classical scholar Zachary Bogan
of Corpus Christi College, in which form it lasted through the seventeenth century. By
1685 the three works were being issued together under a general title-page, in recognition
of their long association as a complete course of ancient history and its relation to modern
institutions. This copy contains a substantially earlier printing of the first work, even
though there were 1666 and 1668 printings which one might more usually expect to find
in such a volume.
90.
46
(Roman History.) GODWYN (Thomas) Romanae Historiae Anthologia... An English
Exposition of the Roman Antiquities wherein many Roman and English offices are
parallel’d, and divers obscure phrases Explained. For the use of Abingdon School.
Newly revised and enlarged by the Author. Printed by T.J. for Peter Parker, 1668,
some spotting and soiling, two leaves with chips from blank margins, one corner
torn (just touching a sidenote), pp. [vi], 270, [20],
[bound with:]
Godwyn (Thomas) Moses and Aaron: Civil and Ecclesiastical Rites, used by the
ancient Hebrews... The Ninth Edition. Printed by S. Griffin for Andrew Cook, 1667,
a few leaves shaved at lower edge (touching catchwords), some soiling, pp. 20-1 with
two substantial manuscript notes in an early hand , pp. [viii], 264, [10],
[and:]
Rous (Francis) Archaeologiae Atticae Libri Septem, Seven Books of the Attick
Antiquities... The Sixt Edtiion Corrected and Enlarged. Oxford: Printed by William
Hall for John Adams, 1667, index bound at end, three small holes in title-page with
slight loss to woodcut border and two characters of text, one leaf creased, pp. [viii],
374, [14], 4to, original dark calf, ruled in blind, marked and a bit scratched, slight
rubbing to extremities, a chip from tail of spine, two small surface holes in leather
covering of lower board, diamond-shaped paper shelfmark label to head of spine,
front flyleaf with various pen trials and inscriptions crossed through, rear flyleaf
torn, good ( ESTC R22099; R22732; R6074, Madan R2037)
£400
Another copy, this one containing the expected 1668 printing of the first work.
91.
(Roman History.) HOOKE (Nathaniel) The Roman History, from the building
of Rome to the ruin of the Commonwealth. [Four volumes.] Printed by James
Bettenham, [etc.] 1738-1771, engraved frontispiece in each vol., 37 further plates
across the set (of which 20 are folding), title-pages of vols. i and ii in red and black,
some minor spotting, vol. i bound without the advertisement leaf mentioned in ESTC ,
two leaves in vol. ii with closed vertical tears through a few lines of text (no loss),
a touch of minor worming in gutter of vol. ii at end, two cancellanda leaves bound
before the final leaf of vol. ii (pp. 299-300 and pp. 485-6; the cancellans are in their
correct place), pp. [viii], xliv, [2], 607, [1], 52; [viii], xxviii, 560, 54; [iv], vi, 694;
vii, [i], 464, [76], 4to, contemporary mostly uniform sprinkled calf, spines with five
raised bands between double gilt fillets, red morocco lettering pieces, central gilt
tools in other compartments, joints cracked but strong, some spine ends worn, a few
£650
marks to boards, good ( ESTC T71736; T71733; T71734; T71735)
Published over a period of 33 years, this ‘highly regarded study’ ( ODNB ) outlived its
author, who saw only the first two volumes through the press in 1738 and 1745. The third
volume appeared in 1764, a year after his death, and the fourth seven years later, by this
time in the hands of different publishers and printers. As with Gibbon’s Decline and Fall,
the long gaps between volumes and the success of the work meant that the earlier volumes
were reprinted long before the work was complete; the first volume was in its fifth edition
by the time of the fourth volume’s publication. It was still being reprinted well into the
nineteenth century. This set preserves the first edition of each volume in a contemporary
binding; it is possible that each volume was bound individually on release rather than all
at once, since there are slight variations in the tooling and leather (e.g. different blind rolls
on the board edges), but if so the matching is very good and the binder(s) must have had
the same set of tools across the years.
92.
(Roman History.) MACAULAY (Lord Thomas Babington) Lays of Ancient Rome.
With Jury and the Armada. Longmans, Green, and Co. 1897, frontispiece, woodcut
illustrations within text, some foxing throughout, pp. xxxix, 191, 8vo., contemporary
tree calf, boards bordered with a gilt roll, backstrip with five raised bands, green
morocco label in second compartment, the rest with central flower tools within oval
borders and elaborate cornerpieces, marbled edges and endpapers, extremities just a
touch rubbed, very good £120
47
93.
Sallust. Caius Crispus Salustius ab Ascensio familiariter explanatus. Paris: Jean Petit,
1504, FIRST BADIUS EDITION , some light foxing and staining (heavier to title-page), first
leaf of text bound slightly askew and three sidenotes cropped as a result, ff. [iv], clvii,
[1, blank], 4to, eighteenth-century calf, worn and crackled, rebacked (somewhat
crudely), black lettering piece, hinges relined with black cloth tape, bookplates of the
Wigan Public Library, the Rev. T.H. Passmore, Sir Robert Shafto Adair, and Augustus
Frederick, Duke of Sussex, sound £2,000
The first edition of Sallust as edited and annotated by the scholar-printer Josse Badius
Ascensius; Badius would go on to print the text several more times, including with other
people’s notes, but his own remained influential well beyond its date of publication.
This first printing is scarce, as well, with COPAC locating only one copy, in Trinity,
Cambridge. ‘The Familiaris explanatio or Interpretatio on Sallust’s opera was published
by Badius at Paris in 1504 together with his revised version of Pomponius Laetus’ text.
The commentary...probably originated in notes compiled by Badius in the 1490s while
teaching Latin at the school of Henri Valluphin in Lyrons... Like his other commentaires
familiers, it was designed primarily for young students and aimed at explicating the texts
in a simple, straightforward manner – paraphrasing words, explaining rules of grammar,
citing variant readings, pointing out moral lessons, and summarizing events of ancient
history. An introductory essay on the meanings and varieties of history and its uses was
accompanied by twenty precepts on the writing of history (drawn from classical treatises
and the practice of Sallust himself)’ ( Catalogus Translationum et Commentariorum, VIII,
p. 245).
94.
Sallust. Belli Catilinarii et Jugurthini Historiae.
Secundum Exempla Emendatissima. Ayr: Excudebant
J. & P. Wilson, 1808, some leaves lightly toned, prize
inscription to initial blank (to James Farquharson, 1818),
pp. 144, 12mo, contemporary mottled sheep, spine
divided by gilt fillets, red morocco lettering piece, other
compartments with gilt floral tools, boards with central
gilt stamp of the arms of Edinburgh, a bit of insect
damage to arms on rear board and foot of spine, a touch
of wear to headcap, very good £500
A rare little edition of Sallust, produced in Ayr by the
brothers John and Peter Wilson. John is better known as the
first publisher of Robert Burns’ poetry, having printed the
‘Kilmarnock Burns’ in his eponymous hometown in 1786.
The brothers moved to Ayr sometime around 1800 and
prospered there, John becoming a magistrate. This printing
of Sallust is quite rare, with COPAC locating only the NLS copy and Worldcat adding only
the University of South Carolina.
95.
48
Seneca. Seneca’s Morals, by way of Abstract, to which is added a discourse, under
the title of an After-Thought. By Sir Roger L’Estrange, Knight. A New Edition.
Edinburgh: printed for Gilb. Martin and Sons, 1776, small hole in blank area of
half-title, somewhat browned and foxed, old ownership inscriptions of M. Doyle and
Joshua Marsden to half-title and title-page, pp. 356, 8vo, contemporary mottled calf,
crackled and pitted, rebacked, endpapers renewed, sound ( ESTC T134871)
£300
A scarce Scottish printing of L’Estrange’s enormously popular translation of selections
from Seneca’s Epistolae Morales. ESTC records eight books published in Edinburgh for
Gilbert Martin & Sons, all printed in 1776 or 1777 and all scarce; this one in six copies
(3 in the UK: BL, NLS , Bodleian; 3 in the USA : Columbia, Nebraska, Yale).
96.
Seneca. Tragoediae. Florence: studio et impensa Philippi de Giunta, 1506, final blank
discarded, rather foxed in places, some soiling, an intermittent stain in gutter, a
few early ink marks, early ownership inscription to second leaf, ff. [224], 8vo, later
vellum, spine with four raised bands, lettered in ink, somewhat soiled and splayed,
bookplates of Biblioteca Senequiana and the Prince of Liechtenstein, sound ( CNCE
28714; Adams S899)
£750
An important edition in the history of Renaissance readership: Chartier reports that
maxims and sententiae, intended to be copied by readers into their commonplace
books, began to be indicated by helpful printers using ‘commas, inverted commas,
asterisks, pointing fingers in the margin, or the printing of the text of the maxims
and examples in a type different from the one used in the body of the work. The first
example of such a practise for the plays is the edition of Seneca’s tragedies published by
Giunta in Florence in 1506’ ( Publishing Drama in Early Modern Europe , 1999, p. 57).
Ann Moss ( Printed Commonplace-Books and the Structuring of Renaissance Thought ,
1996) suggests it may be the first printed book to have such markers (in this case, within
the text phrases are picked out in capital letters). It was a successful innovation, and
surviving copies seem to have been heavily read; both copies recorded by Adams are
lacking the title-page.
97.
Sophocles. Quae exstant omnia cum veterum grammaticorum scholiis. Superstites
Tragoedias VII. Ad optimorum exemplarium fidem recensuit, versione et notis
illustravit, deperditarum fragmenta collegit Rich. Franc. Phil. Brunck. [Two
volumes.] Strasbourg: Apud Joannem Georgium Treuttel, 1786, FIRST BRUNCK
EDITION , bound without final leaf in vol. ii (blank except for colophon on verso, often
missing), a few minor spots, small early manuscript date to vol. i title, pp. [iv], xii,
358, 240; [iv], 264, 212, 66, [58], 4to, contemporary russia, boards bordered with a
gilt roll with torch tools at corners, spines divided by a double gilt fillet, second and
fourth compartments gilt-lettered direct, the rest with central gilt tool of mask and
instruments, a.e.g., marbled endpapers, front board of vol. i with a prize inscription
lettered direct in gilt and enclosed on top and sides by gilt flower and pearl tools, old
repair to spine ends in a slightly different colour, some cracking to front joint of vol.
i, a few old scratches and marks, bookplate of the author Nevil Shute and lending
label of the Sandford Press to front endpapers, good (Dibdin II 414)
£750
‘The beauty and excellence of this truly critical edition are well known. At the latter end
of the first volume, and at the second part of the second volume, are the Scholia and notes
of the editor: in the third part are the fragments of the lost plays, a “Lexicon Sophocleum,”
and indexes... The popularity of Brunck’s edition was very great; and was exceeded by no
work to which that celebrated name was attached. But the dearness of the quarto edition
49
prevented many from purchasing it...’ (Dibdin). ‘In his recension of Sophocles he opened a
new era by removing from the text the interpolations of Triclinius... Brunck was often led
astray by the temptation to produce conjectures of his own, and by an undue anxiety to
accept the canon propounded by Dawes; nevertheless, he fully earned the credit of having
laid the foundation for a better treatment of the text and metre’ (Sandys). Lloyd-Jones
referred to this as the first important edition of Sophocles since Estienne’s of 1568, and
well into the twentieth century it was being called the vulgate and used as the standard for
line-numbering.
This copy, as described in the gilt inscription on the front board, was presented as a
school prize to one George Bent, who was then leaving Exeter School for the military, by
the veteran alumni. Later it belonged to Nevil Shute Norway, the aeronautical engineer
who became more famous as a novelist under his first two names.
98.
Suetonius. Caesarum XII libri, a mendis ad interpretum sententiam & vetustorum
exemplarium fidem repurgati... Autore F.M. Gallo. Praeterea accesserunt omnes
reliqui Imperatores usque ad Carolum hunc V... item ex Ausonio de Cesaribus
carmina, & unde Caesaris nomen dictum ex Philip. Beroal. Basel: per Henricum
Petrum, 1537, FIRST GALLUS EDITION , a touch of soiling to title-page, institutional
stamp and small paper shelfmark label at foot, earlier inscription at head, pp. [xlviii],
715, [5], 8vo, contemporary wooden boards backed in blind-stamped pigskin, spine
dyed black and with three raised bands, later paper labels in second and fourth
compartments, two clasps (both lost), a little bit rubbed, old inscriptions to front
endpapers (one the purchase note of Jonas Christian Weber), very good (VD16
S10104; Ebert 21911)
£1,200
An attractive and well-preserved copy of this scarce and early edition by F.M. Gallus,
complete with all blanks and the final leaf with the printer’s device (often discarded).
Suetonius’s biographies of the ancient Caesars are followed by about 100 pages of short
biographies of the following emperors, up to the then-ruling Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V. It was reprinted in 1539 and 1553, both at Cologne. COPAC locates one copy,
in the Cathedral Libraries. VD16 lists four (Munich, Erfurt, Göttingen, and Halle), while
Worldcat adds eight more – three in Germany, two in Switzerland, one in Australia, and
two in the USA (Michigan and Franklin & Marshall College). The edition was known to
Ebert, although he notes that it ‘has not yet been accurately enough observed’.
This copy was in the library of the Gymnasium at Münnerstadt for some time, and has
its stamp on the title-page. The school evidently had the practise of loaning books to
teachers, however, as the front flyleaf bears a long inscription noting the book is for the
use of one Nebridius Herbert, who was teacher of rhetoric there in 1764. According to
Gutenäcker’s history of the schools at Münnerstadt Herbert was in the teaching rotation
there between 1759 and 1766 (and often had some of the largest classes). After his term
the book must have passed to another, since the title-page has an ex-libris inscription
dated 1766, also at Münnerstadt.
99.
50
Terence. Comoediae Sex. Ad fidem duodecim amplius Msstorum Codicum, et
pluscularum optimae notae Editionum recensitae, et commentario perpetuo
illustratae. ... Curavit Arn. Henr. Westerhovius. [Two volumes.] The Hague: Apud
Petrum Gosse, 1726, one engraved frontispiece in each volume and one further
engraved portrait, some significant browning in prelims and index, just a few leaves
browned elsewhere, a bit of light spotting, one blank corner trimmed, pp. [x], lxxxix,
[v], 859, [1]; [ii], [861]-1240, 244, [380], 4to, modern period-style vellum, boards
panelled in blind with a central decorative blind-stamped lozenge, unlettered spines
with five raised bands, marbled endpapers, good (Dibdin II 475; Moss II 673) £300
‘This is a sumptuous and valuable edition, but more to be admired for elaborate care
and research’ (Dibdin). ‘A very splendid and valuable edition ... I feel no hesitation in
pronouncing this to be the best edition which has yet been published; it is now scarce’
(Moss). Westerhovius compiled what must be the most comprehensive variorum edition
of Terence ever produced; it averages three lines of text per page and the index alone
stretches nearly 400 pages.
100. Terence. The Comedies of Terence. Translated into Familiar Blank Verse. By George
Colman. Dublin: Printed by Boulter Grierson, 1766, engraved frontispiece (printed
on smaller paper), some light browning, ownership inscription of H. Davies, rector
of Llandegfan (1778) to title-page, pp. lx, 436, 8vo, contemporary calf speckled black
and green, green morocco lettering piece, a touch rubbed at extremities, front joint
just cracking at foot, very good ( ESTC N28149)
£200
The first or second Dublin edition (a two-volume 12mo was published by Elizabeth Watts
in the same year) of Colman’s popular translation of Terence, first published 1765. Boulter
Grierson, the printer, was the second successor of George Grierson, whose scholarly
second wife Constantia had helped him establish a reputation for printing the classics
and gain the position of King’s Printer, which was then passed down through their son
GA Grierson to his half-brother Boulter (and onward through the dynasty well into the
nineteenth century).
101. Theocritus. ΤΑΔΕ ΕΝΕΣΤΙΝ, ΕΝΤΗ ΓΑΡΟΥ ΣΗ ΒΙΒΛΩ…
ẻιδύλλια, ἓξ καὶ τριάκοντα. [Rome: Zacharias
Callierges, 1516,] a little light toning and spotting,.
ff. [88], [116], 8vo, early nineteenth-century midbrown polished calf, spine gilt in compartments,
red morocco lettering piece, edges red, marbled
endpapers, corners slightly worn, joints nearinvisibly strengthened and front flyleaf re-attached,
bookplate of Thomas Gaisford and letter from
Earl Spencer to Gaisford glued to front endpapers,
Gaisford’s ownership inscription and manuscript
table of contents to blank endpapers, good (Adams
T460; Dibdin II 485; CNCE 32693)
£9,500
The first edition of Theocritus to include the scholia
(the fourth edition overall), and also the second book
ever printed in Greek at Rome. Callierges, a Cretan
native, printed initially at Venice but in the early 1510s
moved to Rome, probably at the invitation of Pope
51
Leo X, and had a fount of Greek type cast. With it he printed Pindar in 1515, and then
this edition of Theocritus in January 1516. ‘As a printer of Greek, the achievements of
Callierges are second only to those of Aldus. As an engraver of Greek type, he is in a
class by himself. Only the potent commercial force of the Aldine press and the magic
homogeneity of Griffo’s types have obscured its fame’ (Barker, Aldus Manutius and the
Development of Greek Script and Type, p. 75).
This copy belonged to Thomas Gaisford (1779-1855), Regius Professor of Greek and later
Dean of Christ Church, Oxford. It was given to Gaisford in January 1815 by the collector
George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer – the prime mover in the creation of the Roxburghe
Club – and his letter presenting the volume is tipped in. He writes: ‘Having understood
from Mr Grenville that you are desirous of referring to the edition of Theocritus printeed
by Callierges & having fortunately a duplicate copy of that book by me; I have desired Mr
Bliss who is returning from here to Oxford to take charge of the volume, & beg you would
do me the favour to accept it. The copy was in my original library here & formerly belonged
to Dr George the headmaster of Eton. It is not in very firm preservation, but will I hope be
looked upon by you as a mute testimony of the respect with which I remain, sir, your very
obedient humble servent, Spencer’. Gaisford was then in the process of editing Theocritus
for his collection of Poetae Minores Graeci (1816), in which he also printed the scholia and
added a useful critical apparatus. He presumably arranged for the current binding to fix
the ‘not very firm preservation’ that Spencer describes.
102. (Thucydides.) Abstract of the History of Thucydides. [Two volumes.] [no place,
c.1790,] manuscript written primarily on rectos, in English with some Latin and
Greek, in a clear cursive hand with occasional corrections, blanks at the end of each
vol. (a few in vol. i, c.35 in vol. ii), on laid paper with a ‘Maid of Dort’ ‘Pro Patria’
watermark, countermarked ‘GR’ under a crown, ff. [155]; [57], 4to, contemporary
marbled boards backed with vellum, spines lettered in ink, paper rubbed and faded,
good £900
An unpublished and learned abstract of Thucydides’ great historical work by an unknown
English writer at the end of the eighteenth century. The manuscript is in an adult hand and
the writer is has clearly mastered the ancient languages, regularly citing passages in Greek
and occasionally Latin, and has also clearly read widely in the ancient authors, citing
Herodotus, Homer, Strabo, and even the Thucydidean scholia with confidence. However,
no mention is made of any contemporary scholarship or interpretation, the closest being
a single note indicating that the writer has closely compared Valla’s Latin translation (of
the mid-fifteenth century) with the original Greek and two mentions of contemporary
(‘hodie’) place names: ‘Castellammare della Bruca’ (formerly Velia) and ‘The Patrimony of
St Peter’ (containing ancient Caere). In the summary of Book III the writer gives a direct
quotation of a section (III.21) rather than summarising, but this appears to be the writer’s
own translation, since it matches neither Hobbes (1629), Smith (1753), or even Bloomfield
(1829).
Although he wrote in the 5th century BCE , Thucydides could be considered one of the
most important historians of the eighteenth century. He had been mostly neglected
through the Renaissance, despite Machiavelli’s parallels with his work, and it was
Hobbes’ translation that began the restoration of his fortunes in the English-speaking
world. Hobbes’ version was reprinted in 1723, to be followed by Smith’s, and Hume wrote
52
in 1742 that ‘The first page of Thucydides is, in my opinion, the commencement of real
history’. This unknown writer’s close attention to the text is further evidence of the value
placed by eighteenth-century readers on his work.
103. (Thucydides.) Lexicon Thucydidaeum: a dictionary, in Greek and English, of the
words, phrases, and principal idioms, contained in the History of the Peloponnesian
War of Thucydides. Printed for G.B. Whittaker, 1824, some light spotting,
occasional marginal pencil marks and a few terms added in the same hand, pp.
[328], 8vo, contemporary reversed calf, black morocco lettering piece, a little bit
soiled and rubbed, later ownership inscription to front flyleaf, very good £60
A nicely-preserved (and obviously carefully-consulted) copy of first edition (in fact, the
only edition recorded in COPAC ) of this dictionary of Thucydidean language.
104. Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides. The text
according to Bekker’s edition, with some alterations. Illustrated by maps, taken
entirely from actual surveys. With notes, chiefly historical and geographical, by
Thomas Arnold. Oxford: Printed by S. Collingwood, [1830]; 1832; 1835, FIRST
ARNOLD EDITION , 11 engraved maps, half-title of vol. ii (the only one called for)
present, frequent pencilled underlining and marginalia (mostly ticks but some
more substantial notes, some erased), pp. xxxix, [i], 674; xv, [i], 468; xxii, 536, 8vo,
contemporary half navy blue calf, marbled boards, spines with five raised bands,
second and fourth compartments gilt-lettered direct, the rest infilled iwth a pattern
of rolls comprising swashes, leaves, and dots, boards a little scuffed, bookplate of
£350
Henry H. Stuttard over that of Richard Fort, very good An attractive copy of the first edition of Thucydides edited by the schoolmaster Thomas
Arnold, an immediately successful and lasting edition, still in print from the Cambridge
University Press. Arnold freshly collated several important manuscripts, including
an important early version of Book 3 (Laurentian MS C), and added detailed notes on
topography and history.
105. Tryphiodorus. The Destruction of Troy. Being the Sequel of the Iliad. Translated
from the Greek of Tryphiodorus. With Notes. By J. Merrick Scholar of Trinity Coll.
Oxford. Oxford: Printed at the Theatre. [1739,] some light spotting, embossment of
the Earls of Macclesfield to the first few leaves, pp. [xxiv], lxxxviii, 151, [1],
[bound with:]
Tryphiodorus. ΙΛΙΟΥ ΑΛΩΣΙΣ ... cum metrica Nicodemi Frischlini versione, et selectis
virorum doctorum notis: lacunas... explevit, et suas annotationes adjectit. Oxford: e
theatro Sheldoniano,
pp. [viii], 112, 8vo, contemporary panelled calf, spine a bit rubbed, short cracks to
ends of joints, bookplate of Shirburn Castle and ownership inscription of G. Parker,
very good ( ESTC T102771 & T102772; Foxon M193)
£300
The first English translation of this late antique ‘sequel’ to the Iliad , bound with the
first English printing of the original text (with accompanying Latin translation). The
poem begins following Hector’s death and relates the Trojan Horse episode, ending
53
with Neoptolemus sacrificing Polyxena. It was first printed by Aldus Manutius, and the
Latin translation dates to the sixteenth century, with these being its first appearances
in England. Both parts are the production of James Merrick (1720-1769), a precocious
scholar of Trinity College, Oxford. Merrick published his first work (a poem called ‘The
Messiah’) at age 14 and was still an undergraduate when his translation of Tryphiodorus
went through the press ‘preceded by a long and impressive list of subscribers, which
suggests that he was a young man of some renown, even as an undergraduate’ ( ODNB ).
This is a subscriber’s copy, with the ownership inscription of G[eorge] Parker – either the
second Earl of Macclesfield (there is a ‘Right Hon. Ld Parker’ in the subscriber’s list), or
his second son and namesake (‘Hon. George Parker Esq.’), then at Hertford College.
106. Virgil. [Opera] et in eum Commentationes, & Paralipomena Germani Valentis
Guellii, PP. Eiusdem Virgilii Appendix, cum Josephi Scaligeri Commentariiis &
castigationibus. Antwerp: Ex officina Christophori Plantini, 1575, final blank
discarded, dampmark to lower edge throughout (reaching as high as the 6th line
of text from the bottom), two leaves with neat marginal repairs, one leaf evenly
browned, a little other minor spotting, title-page a bit dusty, ownership inscription
on title-page of Paulus Terhaarius of Amsterdam to title-page, as well as inscription
‘Sum Ratalleri’ (see below), pp. [xii], 630, [18], 98, [4], folio, modern half green
morocco by the Cambridge Binding Guild, marbled boards, spine with raised bands
and gilt lettering, sunned, good (Adams V506; Dibdin II 546; Kallendorf ‘Virgil’
LW1575.2; Kallendorf ‘Morgan’ L1575.3; Ruelens & De Backer 1575.19)
£1,250
‘The folio edition of 1575 is magnificent and valuable, containing, for the first time, the
commentaries of Valens, Guellius, and an appendix of the corrections of Joseph Scaliger’
(Dibdin). But there is at least an erroneous comma in Dibdin’s entry, since ‘Valens’ and
‘Guellius’ are both Germain Vaillant de Guélis (1517-1587), chaplain to Catherine de
Medici and later bishop of Orléans, a humanist and poet who was a friends with Scaliger,
Ronsard, and others. ‘His is the first commentary which can be called a modern one’
(Knauer, ‘Vergil and Homer’, in in Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt , II.31.2,
p. 874), a sentiment also expressed by Schneider.
This copy belonged to the book collector Paulus Terhaarius (c.1625-1667) of Amsterdam.
Terhaarius studied at Leiden and within a few years of graduating was well-known to
Boxhorn and Saumaise; he became a professor at Duisburg and frequently travelled
around Europe on book hunts. He died young and his books were sold in 1667; no
copy of the catalogue apparently survives, but he is known to have owned a 1496
Apollonius Rhodius (later in the collection of Henry Drury) and a 1499 Firmicus
Maternus Astronomicon from Longueil’s library now in Corpus Christi, Oxford, among
several other incunabula (see Rhodes, ‘A Dutch seventeenth-century book collector’
in Quaerendo, VI.4). The other ownership inscription on the title-page is plausibly the
Dutch scholar Georgius Ratallerus (or Georg Rataller, 1528-1581).
107. Virgil. The Works of Virgil: Containing his Pastorals, Georgics, and Aeneis.
Translated into English Verse; by Mr. Dryden. Printed for Jacob Tonson, 1697,
FIRST EDITION , FIRST ISSUE (see below), LARGE PAPER COPY (416 x 265 mm), engraved
frontispiece and 102 engraved plates, a light dampmark to fore-edge throughout
with some resultant purple spotting to lower corner, frontispiece and a couple of
54
other plates with short tears and old repairs in that corner, one plate just shaved
at fore-edge, some spotting and soiling, pp. [xlvi], 48, [12], 49-147, [49], 201-640,
folio, eighteenth-century reversed calf, red morocco lettering piece, rubbed, worn at
extremities, front joint cracked, gutter cracking in a few places, sound ( ESTC R26296;
Macdonald 33a; Wise p.66; Kallendorf ‘Virgil’ EW1697.1)
£2,000
The first edition of Dryden’s important translation of Virgil, one of the large-paper copies
printed for subscribers (101 of whom paid 5 guineas to have a plate engraved with their
name, and another 251 paid 2 guineas to appear in the regular subscribers list). This copy
bears no marks of ownership but seems to have been a little damaged by damp early on,
then rebound and had a few minor repairs, so any hints to which subscriber received it
may have been lost then. The plates are reproduced from Ogilby’s 1654 translation, and
are by notable engravers including Wenceslaus Hollar.
ESTC says, citing Wing, ‘Title page is a cancel, reissued from 690 p. edition’. The two
versions have the same number of leaves overall, but one is paginated as here while the
other runs ‘[iv], 96, 95-690’, and is in fact an entirely different setting with different
signatures and the errata corrected. The statement from Wing is thus curious, since
intuitively it would seem more likely that the corrected pagination and errata would mark
a later issue – supported by the fact that the pagination of the second edition of 1698
matches the 690 p. issue. This is further corroborated by Macdonald, who includes an
entry (33b) described as the sheets of the second edition (33c) with the title-page of the
first, and G.R. Noyes, who identified small-paper copies with the corrected pagination
as a covert second edition in 1904, having not seen any examples of the 1698 title-page.
Despite Wing, therefore, the uncorrected errata and pagination (and large paper) must
mark this as the first issue.
108. Virgil. Antiquissimi Virgiliani Codicis Fragmenta et Picturae ex Bibliotheca
Vaticana. Ad priscas Imaginum formas a Petro Sancte Bartholi incisae. Rome: ex
chalcographia R.C.A. Apud Pedem Marmoreum, 1741, engraved title-page (a bit
dusty), 61 further engravings within the letterpress, some spotting and staining
(mostly marginal), a few corners touched by damp, pp. xxii, 225, [1], folio (425 x 295
mm), contemporary half calf, marbled boards, red morocco lettering piece, rubbed,
some wear to extremities (and particularly to the marbled paper), edges untrimmed,
bookplate of William Markham of Becca Lodge, good (Kallendorf ‘Virgil’ LW1741.5;
‘Morgan’ L1741.2)
£1,500
The first printed edition of the ‘Vergilius Vaticanus’, one of the oldest surviving illustrated
manuscripts and one of our earliest sources for the text of the Aeneid. Edited by Giovanni
Bottari, it is a ‘diplomatic’ edition of the text, rather than a facsimile, seeking to reproduce
all of the significant elements of the original text – spelling, punctuation, alterations,
etc. – except for the appearance of the letter forms themselves (while the modern typefacsimile first came into being in the same year, in the form of a Florentine edition of
another early Virgil manuscript). Bottari also prepared a survey of all the manuscripts of
Virgil in the Vatican, included in this edition.
But the most striking features of the book – and of the original manuscript – are the
engravings, reproductions of the illustrations in the original codex as copied by by
Pietro Santi Bartoli (1635-1700). Bartoli had initially been commissioned by Cardinal
55
Item 108
Massimi to make painted copies for an elaborate manuscript reproduction of the original,
although the project was wound up without being finished following Massimi’s death in
1677. Bartoli also produced engravings of his own images (which expand on the originals
slightly, filling in damaged areas), adding half a dozen images from the slightly later
illustrated manuscript known as the Vergilius Romanus, and apparently published at least
a few copies in 1677. His plates were reused for another edition of just the illustrations
in 1725, and then used again for the illustrations in this edition, bringing them to much
wider attention.
109. Virgil. Publii Virgilii Maronis Bucolica et Georgica tabulis Aeneis olim a Johanne
Pine sculptore Regio defuncto illustrata opus paternum in lucem profert Robertus
Edge Pine. [Two volumes bound as one.] [n. pr.,] 1774, 80 plates on 59 sheets
(including two frontispieces, title-pages, and section titles, and 6 engraved
dedications – two of them on the verso of letterpress pages; one plate double-page),
frequent further engravings within the text, advertisement leaf discarded, pp. XV, [I],
49, [6], 52-144, [4], 8vo, contemporary marbled calf, spine divided by a gilt fillet, red
morocco lettering piece, other compartments with central sunburst gilt tools, a bit
rubbed, spine creased, gutters cracking towards the middle of the textblock but the
binding perfectly sound, bookplates of Magdalen College, Oxford and Sir Richard
Paul Jodrell, with an inscription indicating the gift of the volume from the former to
the latter dated 1802, good ( ESTC T139773; Kallendorf L1774)
£800
56
Pine’s Virgil, less well-known and less commonly seen
than his Horace of 1733-7 (but no less elegant), was
begun in 1755 but the project was halted by Pine’s death
when only the Eclogues and Georgics had been illustrated
and issued. In 1774 his son, Robert Edge Pine, a notable
painter in his own right, published this reissue with new
preliminaries. Unlike the Horace, which was wholly
engraved, this combines illustrations with letterpress,
though the engravings are still demonstrations of Pine’s
remarkable skill. The publication was complicated: as
Kallendorf puts it, there are ‘significant variations among
copies in placement of engraved matter and imposition
of letterpress’; in this case the engraved dedication to the
Marchioness of Granby is present on the verso of p. 95,
and the engraved dedication to Robert Lowth, Bishop of
Oxford, is present on the verso of p. 119. ESTC asserts that
the plates in the 1774 reissue have been altered to add
‘Vol. II’, but that has not been done to the plates in this
copy (or in the last copy we handled).
The wording of the inscription in this copy indicates that it was Magdalen College (or
the fellows thereof) who gave this book to ‘R.P. Jodrell’, in 1802, rather than the other
way around. The bookplate is of Sir Richard Paul Jodrell, second baronet (1781-1861), so
it may have been a prize of some sort, since he took his BA there in 1804, having already
been called to the bar the year before. The name in the inscription could also refer to
his father, a playwright and classical scholar, but the elder Jodrell had no connection
to Magdalen College. (There are references to the younger Jodrell instead attending
Magdalen Hall – later renamed Hertford College, replacing the defunct Hertford where
the elder Jodrell had studied – but Alumnae Oxoniensis and the inscription & bookplate
here are clear in their use of ‘College’ instead of ‘Hall’.)
110. Virgil. Bucolica. Georgica, et Æneis. [Two Volumes]. A. Dulau & Co. [Printed by
T. Bensley]. 1800, 15 engravings by Bartolozzi, James Fittler, J. Neagle, and Sharp,
after Gerard and Girodet, the occasional light foxmark, a bit more so to plates, pp.
[iv], 246; [iv], 276, large 8vo, contemporary diced russia, boards bordered with a
gilt roll, spine divided by a decorative gilt roll, second and fifth compartments giltlettered direct, the rest with elaborate gilt tools, extremities a little rubbed, three
small patches of surface abrasion to lower corners of boards, a few marks, armorial
bookplate of Richard Mann, very good ( ESTC T138814; Ebert 23737; Cohen 1019;
Kallendorf ‘Morgan’ L1800.2)
£300
‘The paper and printing [of this edition] are extremely elegant’ (Ebert), and it ‘is certainly
the most beautiful octavo publication of the poet extant [...] the text is supposed to be
faultless’ (Dibdin). The text is of Didot’s edition, published in Paris in 1798.
111. Virgil. Bucolica, Georgica, et Aeneis, ad fide meditionis Chr. Gottl. Heynii, accurate
expressa. [Two vols.] Oxford: Impensis N. Bliss, 1812, foxed in places, pp. [iv], 240;
[iv], 241-558, [2, ads.], 32mo, untrimmed in original terracotta paper boards backed
57
Item 111
in light green paper, printed paper spine labels, backstrips darkened and creased, a
little rubbed, very good £200
A rare survival, especially so in the original binding, of an entry from Bliss’s ‘Small
Classics’ series – advertised under that name at the end of vol. ii, but not as small as
Pickering’s slightly later ‘Diamond Classics’ – which contained pocket editions of Homer
and the Greek tragedians in addition to Latin authors. The spine labels reveal that the two
volumes originally cost 7s 6d. Heyne’s much reprinted text of Virgil had first appeared in
the 1760s. COPAC locates this printing in only two locations, National Trust (Calke Abbey)
and Edinburgh.
112. (Virgil.) Clavis Virgiliana; or a vocabulary of all the words in Virgil’s Bucolics,
Georgics, and Aeneid... compiled out of the best authors on Virgil by several hands,
in a method entirely new. For the use of schools, and the improvement of those
who have made but a small progress in the knowledge of the Latin tongue. Oxford:
printed by W. Baxter, 1824, some light spotting, pp. iv, 308, 8vo, contemporary
straight-grained olive-brown roan, spine divided by wide raised bands with tight
gilt cross-hatching, black morocco lettering piece, other compartments with a scale
pattern in blind, rubbed, front joint cracking but strong, good £75
A scarce printing of this classic school reference, used since at least the 1740s and
frequently reprinted. This printing is located in Glasgow only in COPAC .
113. Virgil. Georgica Publii Virgilii Maronis Hexaglotta. E Typographeo Gulielmi Nicol,
1827, PRESENTATION COPY from the English translator & printer, half-title inscribed
‘For the library of the Royal Institution from William Sotheby, 12 Grosvenor Street,
58
Feby 19, 1833’, a letter from the printer presenting the volume tipped in, text in six
languages, some light dustsoiling, pp. [viii], 563, [1], imperial 4to, contemporary
half purple roan over marbled boards, edges untrimmed, spine divided by triple
gilt fillets, second compartment gilt-lettered direct, rubbed, extremities worn,
front hinge cracking after title, rear flyleaf removed, ‘withdrawn’ stamp to front
pastedown, good (Kallendorf ‘Morgan’ O(ML)1827)
£1,000
Undoubtedly the largest edition of the Georgics ever published. William Sotheby’s English
translation had been first published in 1800 and was warmly reviewed, called ‘the most
perfect translation of a classic poet now extant in our language’ and earning Sotheby
the title of ‘the best translator in Christendom’. This enormous edition, which prints
the Latin, Sotheby’s English, John de Guzman’s Spanish, J.H. Voss’s German, Francesco
Soave’s Italian, and James Delille’s French, was produced at Sotheby’s own expense
(probably in an edition of 250 copies) and he was tireless in promoting it, presenting
copies to heads of state and notable figures around the world. A copy he gave to Coleridge
was then willed by the poet to his daughter on her wedding day; Scott recorded in his
diary in October 1826 that he ‘picked up Sotheby, who endeavoured to saddle me for a
review of his polyglott Virgil. I fear I shall scarce convince him that I know nothing of the
Latin lingo’.
This copy was inscribed (probably by a secretary) and presented to the library of the Royal
Institution just ten months before Sotheby died. ‘In admiring this magnificent folio, we
have to speak of one of the most splendid as well as remarkable specimens of typography
which we ever saw; and altogether as great a literary curiosity as ever issued from the
press’ ( London Literary Gazette, 10th Feb. 1827).
114. Xenophon. The Banquet of Xenophon. Done from the Greek... by James Welwood,
M.D. Glasgow: printed by Robert Urie. 1750, some dustsoiling and light browning,
pp. 170, [6], 8vo, old vellum-tipped boards recently recovered in antique-style
marbled paper and backed in brown morocco, preserving original endpapers, spine
with raised bands and red morocco lettering piece, good ( ESTC N15471)
£175
James Welwood (1652-1727) was a Scottish physician resident in London, where the first
edition of this translation was published in 1710; he also wrote the preface to Rowe’s
Lucan. There were two 1750 Glasgow editions of the text, one by Urie and a larger and less
scarce version printed by the Foulis brothers.
115. Xenophon. De Socrate Commentarii; item Socratis Apologia. In hac editione
emendationes nonullae in ima pagina proponuntur. Glasgow: In aedibus academicis,
excudebant Robertus et Andreas Foulis, 1761, small light dampmark to fore-margin,
one gathering spotted, pp. [iv], 300, 4to, contemporary tree calf, spine gilt, red
morocco lettering piece, headcap worn, slight cracking to front joint, a little rubbing
£250
to extremities and spine gilt, good (Gaskell 400; ESTC T146008)
The luxurious ‘large paper’ quarto issue (the same setting of type was also imposed as an
octavo) of the only Foulis Press edition of Xenophon’s Memorabilia of Socrates.
59
Item 115
60
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