The Classical Tradition
Aulus Gellius. Noctium Atticarum libri xx ... Novo & multo labore exegerunt, perpetuis notis & emendationibus illustraverunt Johannes Fredericus et Jacobus Gronovii. .... Leiden: C. Boutesteyn & J. du Vivié, 1706.
Aesopus; Franciscus-Josephus Desbillons (1711-1789). Francisci-Josephi Desbillons Fabulae Aesopiae ... Paris: Barbou, 1769.
5th edition. 12mo (16cm); xxxvi, 504 pages, and engraved allegorical frontispiece. Printer's device on title page. Woodcut and typographical ornaments. Original French marbled calf gilt, joints cracked and spine ends chipped. All edges gilt. Pages evenly toned, with inobtrusive damp mark in upper margin of frontispiece. Reference: Brunet II, 608. The fine scholarship and pleasing design of Barbou Press editions are insufficiently appreciated. Althought the title page states that this is the fifth Desbillons edition of Aesop, it is in fact the first Barbou printing. $300
Anne Dacier's Sappho
Anacreon; Sappho; Anne Dacier (1651-1720); Tannegui Lefebvre (1615-1672). Les poesies d'Anacreon et de Sapho traduites de grec en françois, avec des remarques.... Nouvelle edition augmentée des notes latines de M. Le Febvre. Amsterdam: Paul Marret, 1699.
12mo (16 cm); [36], 320, [4] pages, including full-page engraved frontispiece depicting the triumph of Bacchus. Title page in red and black, with engraved printer's device. Woodcut and typographic initials and ornaments. Text in Greek and French. Bound in contemporary speckled calf, with gilt-tooled spine in six compartments. Title in gilt-stamped letters on spine. Speckled edges. Upper joint cracked but holding, with some loss at heel; lower joint with milder fissure. Old armorial bookplate and ownership inscriptions in ink on endleaves. Otherwise free of blemishes, bright, sound and entire. French versions of Anacreon and Sappho by Anne Lefebvre, Mme Dacier. Originally published in 1681, this collection was Anne Dacier's first great success, initiating a stellar career that included translations of Callimachus, Aristophanes and Homer. This edition of her Sappho and Anacreon includes commentary by her father, the philologist Tannegui Lefebvre. $325
Signed by Dulac
Apuleius, Lucius. The Marriage of Cupid and Psyche. "Retold" by Walter Pater, illustrated by Edmund Dulac. New York: Huxley House for the Limited Editions Club, 1951.
4to (29 cm); 64 pages including six full-page illustrations by Dulac. Full vellum binding titled in gilt. Vellum-covered slipcase. Edition limited to 1500 copies signed by Edmund Dulac. About fine.
$225
Athenaeus; Issac Casaubon; Jacques Dalechamps. [Deipnosophistae, Greek and Latin.] Athenaiou Deipnosophiston biblia pentekaideka. Athenæi Deipnosophistarvm libri qvindecim. Bound with, Isaaci Casauboni animadversionum in Athenaei Dipnosophistas. Lyon: J. A. Huguetan & M. A. Ravaud, 1657, 1664.
Folio (36cm); two volumes in one; I: [48], 812, [48] pages; II: [8] pages, 998 columns (i.e., 499 pages), [39] pages (without last blank leaf). Title pages printed in red and black. Engraved and woodcut title page vignettes. Woodcut initials and ornaments. Greek text and Latin translation in parallel columns. Bound in speckled calf, ruled in blind, with blind-tooled turn-ins. Leather label on spine hand-tooled in gilt with floral border. Worn, joints cracked but holding, spine worn at crown and tail with some loss, lower board scuffed with some leather lost at corner. Annotations in early hand on blanks. Light scattered foxing at first and last leaves. One bifolium loose (apparently left unsewn in manufacture). References: Hoffmann I, 396 & 398; Schweiger, Greek, 70; Simon, Bibl. Gastronomica, 145. This compendious, encyclopedic work by the Greek-speaking Egyptian Athenaeus (fl. 200) portrays a Roman dinner party attended by the brightest, deepest and most learned thinkers of the early Third Century. The banquet lasts several days in order to allow conversation to take its course. Topics range lightly over law, medicine and literature, but the real subject at hand is food in all its aspects. In a sense, it is the oldest extant text on cooking. The Deipnosophitae ("Scholars at Dinner") is an important source of information on the gastronomic customs of the ancient world. It also quotes fragments of ancient literature which have otherwise been lost. The eminent Huguenot humanist Isaac Casaubon (1559-1614) established the definitive text of Deipnosophistae in 1597, when it was first printed alongside the Latin translation of Jacques Dalechamps. Casaubon's commentary on the work appeared several years later, and was frequently bound together with the bilingual text. The copy offered here is the third and last edition of Casaubon's text and commentary before it was absorbed into Johann Schweighauser's edition of 1801.
$1,400
4to (26cm); [34], 903, [63] pages, and full-page copperplate engraved frontispiece of Gellius writing by lamplight in his study. Red and black type on title page. Engraved printer's device. Woodcut head pieces, initials and ornaments. Bound in contemporary stamped vellum with raised bands, titled in ink on spine. Somewhat soiled. Front joint cracked but holding firm. Very occasional light spots or vague discoloration to paper stock. Very good condition overall. Reference: Schweiger, Latin, 379. Aulus Gellius is our only source for thousands of interesting factoids and for citations from lost works. This edition of his Noctes Atticae (Attic Nights) reflects the pinnacle of 17th-century Dutch and German classical scholarship. The text was edited by J.F. Gronov, the Leiden scholar whose skill "marked an epoch," according to Sandys. It was first published in a tiny Elzevier edition. A generation later, Gronov's son Jakob revisited the text, shook it out, improved the notes, added gloss, and republished it in this fine quarto edition with an appropriately dark frontispiece plate. Reference: Brunet, II, 1524.
$400
Catullus; Sextus Propertius; Maximianus; Tibullus; Boethius. Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius, Cor. Galli fragmenta ... [bound with] ...Boethii De consolatione philosophiae... Antwerp: Christoher Plantin, 1560 and 1580. Two titles in one binding, the Boethius preceding the Elegiac poets. 16mo (12 cm); 190 (of 192) pages, [2] 144 leaves. Lacks final blank leaf of Boethius. Title of elegies within elaborate woodcut vine scroll border, with printer's "constantia et labore" vignette; Boethius with printer's compass device on title page. Woodcut initials. Bound in contemporary calf, ruled and tooled in gilt, old shelfmark inked on spine. Title pages somewhat foxed; text generally clean although lightly toned. Small foramen in S1; T1 starting. Contemporary notes on blank verso of final leaf. References: Adams C-1148; Brunet I,1679; Voet, Plantin, 933 (elegies); Voet 738 (Boethius). The collection of elegiac poets was the first title to appear in Plantin's series of pocket editions of classical authors. The elegies attributed to Gallus are in fact by Maximianus, and "Lydia bella puella candida," here attributed to Gallus, is an anonymous medieval poem. The Boethius, edited by Theodor Poelmann, was first published in 1562.
$950
Ennius, Q. Q. Ennii poetae vetustissimi quae supersunt fragmenta. Naples: Orazio Salviani, 1590.
Quarto (23 cm); [8] xvi 505 [44] pages,
including errata. Woodcut device on title page, woodcut initials and
tailpieces. Bound in old limp vellum, remains of old ties on lower flap.
Spine darkened, scattered foxing. Reference: Adams E-184; Brunet II, 986
("Première édition, assez rare.") First Colonna edition and
first separate printing of the surviving writings of Ennius, whom Romans
considered the first great Latin epic poet, and the forerunner of Virgil and
Lucretius.
$2,800
Horatius Flaccus, Q. Satires. Odes et epodes. Epitres: Texte et traduction. Ed. F. Villeneuve. Paris: Societe d'edition "Les belles lettres," 1927-34.
Half morocco, half calf scuffed; original wraps bound in. First printing of this redaction, limited to 200 copies. Original Latin text and French translation on facing pages.
$125
Lucan. The Pharsalia of Lucan by Sir Edward Ridley. London: Arthur L. Humphreys, 1919.
2 vols. 4to (27 cm); 277, 315 pages. Title pages in red and black type. Latin and English on facing pages. Errata tipped in. Quarter cloth over green paper-covered boards, with paper labels. Spines somewhat soiled and sunned, but volumes are firm, sound and entire. The great Silver Latin epic on the Roman civil war between Caesar and Pompey.
$125
Lucan. Pharsalia. Cum supplemento Thomae Maii. Paris: J. Barbou, 1767.
12mo (16 cm); x, 441, [2], [1 blank] pages. Engraved frontispiece by Gravelot of Caesar crossing the Rubicon. Woodcut ornaments. Bound in contemporary tan calf with gilt border; spine tooled in gilt; leather label. Marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. References: Schweiger, 565; Cohen-De Ricci 661. Handsome Barbou edition of the great silver epic on the Roman civil war between Caesar and Pompey. Dante placed Lucan among the five greatest classical poets; Shelley preferred him to Virgil. This edition includes the 1640 "continuation" of the Pharsalia by the English poet Thomas May, and the Civil War fragment by Petronius.
$400
Luzac, Jean. Joannis Luzac Lectiones atticae. De digamia Socratis dissertatio. Leiden: S. et J. Luchtmans, 1809.
4to (28 cm); [2] leaves, [42], 318, [2] pages. Bound in recent quarter cowhide over marbled paper boards in 18th-century style, with raised bands and leather label. Some pages browned. Unopened. See Sandys, II, 461. Professor of Greek at the University of Leiden over a period of 22 years, Luzac was killed in 1807 when a barge full of gunpowder exploded without warning. This treatise "on the adultery of Socrates" marks the advance of classical scholarship into questions of marriage, adultery, and the status of women in the ancient world.
$275
A Map of the World
Macrobius. In somnium Scipionis libri II ; Saturnaliorum libri VII. Nunc denuo recogniti & multis in locis aucti. Lyon: Sebastian Gryphius, 1538.
17 cm; [80], 586, [6 blank] pages. Last leaf (originally with printer's device) replaced with blank. Woodcut world map, 80 x 80 mm, inset within text. Publisher's woodcut device on title page, woodcut initials. 7 diagrams in text. Title and endpapers slightly browned and spotted. Later gilt-and blind-embossed calf, corners worn, upper board gilt-lettered "Newby Hall." Rebacked in 19th century. Spine darkened, joints beginning to crack but holding. Very light dampstain in lower right corner of first quires. References: Adams M-65; Baudrier, VIII, 116. This volume contains the two principle works of the fifth-century Roman writer and philosopher Macrobius. It opens with his Neoplatonist commentary on a fable tucked into Cicero's Republic. The commentary, which is many times longer than the text, examines the enigma of the soul in light of the astronomical and mathematical sciences of the day. Digressions lead to treatments of the music of spheres, and eventually to terrestrial geography and climatology. This edition illustrates the discussion with several diagrams, including a fine global map showing Britain, Spain, Europe, Italy, Armenia, Parthia, Ethiopia, and the Antipodes "unknown to us." The second work is the Saturnalia, a dialogue representing a banquet where several leading Roman intellectuals are present. The discussion ranges from religion and the origin of mythology to criticism of Virgil's works. Edited by the German humanist Arnoldus Vesaliensis (1484-1534). Gryphius published a folio edition in 1526 and an octavo in 1532 with a different, shorter index. Our copy, like the copy in the Library of Congress, is imperfect: the final leaf was replaced (probably in the 18th century) with a blank.
$1800
Nepos, Cornelius. [Lives, English & Latin] Cornelii Nepotis Vitæ excellentium imperatorum: cum versione anglicana . . or, Cornelius Nepos's Lives of the excellent commanders, with an English translation . . by John Clarke …. 15th edition. London: Printed for T. Longman, B. Law, G.G. and J. Robinson, R. Baldwin, F. And C. Rivington, G. and T. Wilkie, and J. Scatcherd, 1797.
8vo (22 cm); x, [11]-280 pages. Woodcut and typographic ornaments. Bound in contemporary full tree calf, tooled in gilt, with leather label. Marbled endpapers. Silk signet. Prize bookplate of the Glasgow Grammar School, signed by James Gibson. Binding somewhat worn, especially at extremities; joints tender, with front joint starting to crack. Young William Lockhart won this copy of Cornelius Nepos as a prize for coming in second in his beginning Latin class in 1796. This was no small feat in a field of 84 contenders. Still, we might suspect a hint of, uh, nepotism in the future laird's victory. Lockhart's father's second wife was the Latin teacher's niece! Good school text with interesting association.
$175
Persius Flaccus, Aulus. The Satires of Persius translated: with notes. By William Drummond, Esq. M. P. London: Printed by W. Bulmer and Co. for J. Wright, 1799.
8vo (22 cm); 3, xlviii, 189 pages. Title page with engraved portrait vignette. Bound in contemporary full birdseye calf decorated in gilt. Marbled endpapers. Binding rather rubbed and worn, cracked at joints but holding. Spine ends perishing. Owner's autograph on title page (Sir Alex Bannerman, 1818), with few ink notes in text in 19th-century hand. Latin and English texts on facing pages.
125
Persius and Juvenal. The satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis, and of Aulus Persius Flaccus. Translated into English verse. By William Gifford, Esq. Third edition. London: Printed for G. and W. Nicol; Cadell and Davies; and R.H. Evans, by W. Bulmer & Co. 1817.
2vols. 8vo (23 cm); lxxxii, 384; 163 pages. Bound in dark green polished half calf over marbled boards, spines tooled in gilt, with leather labels titled in gilt. Marbled edges and endpapers. Mild wear to extremities. Foxing confined to endpapers and adjacent pages. Few pencil marks. A very good copy.
$195
Petrarca, Francesco. ... Epistolarum familiarium libri XIV....
[Lyon]: Apud Samuelem Crispinum, 1601.8vo (17cm); [32], 683 (i.e. 703), [1 blank] pages. Woodcut printer's device on title page; woodcut initials and head pieces. Bound in contemporary or slightly later full limp vellum with recent leather label. (Dampstain through first quire; pages variously toned, with scattered light spots; early owner's autograph on front free endpaper, later owner's heraldic stamp on title page.) References: Graesse, V, 236 ("C'est l'édition la plus complète des Epitres de Petrarca. .; il y a 65 lettres de plus que dans la prem. édition.") This edition was based on a manuscript discovered in the library of one Joannes Chalasius of Nimes, and it includes sixty five letters that appear in print here for the first time. There are several issues of the same edition, differing only in imprint. Some copies bear a Geneva imprint "apud Petrum Rouerianum," and others the Lyon imprint of Samuel Crispin. In this copy, the place of publication is not stated, which puts in the minority of surviving examples. Rare and desirable.
$950
Petrarca, Francesco. On the death of Madonna Laura … rendered into English by Agnes Tobin …. Boston: John W. Luce and Company, 1907.
22 cm; 4 p.l. 127 pages. Photogravure frontispiece of Petrarch's house at Vaucluse. Bound in midnight blue half morocco over blue linen-covered boards, scored in gilt, by Atelier Bindery. Corners and extremities barked slightly. Private library bookplate. Preliminary leaves show faint waffling in lower margin. Very good condition. First American publication, from British sheets, of Agnes Tobin's Edwardian translation of Petrarch's songs.
$125
Petronius Arbiter. The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter, a Roman knight, in prose and verse with the fragments recover'd at Belgrade in the year 1698. Made English by Mr. Wilson of the Middle Temple and several others…. London: privately printed, 1899.
23 cm; 256 pages and photoengraved frontispiece of Trimalchio's Feast. Bound in half green Levant morocco over green cloth-covered boards, scored in gilt, with gilt-paneled spine by Birdsall. Spine faded to brown. Light scattered foxing. Edition limited to 400 copies, reproducing the text of the London, 1708 printing. The Birdsall bindery of Northampton, England, was founded in 1792 and ran continuously until 1961. It was in the top echelon of English binders.
$125
Petronius, Gaius. The Complete Works of Gaius Petronius Done into English by Jack Lindsay with One Hundred Illustrations by Norman Lindsay. New York: Rarity Press, 1932.
25 cm; 151 pages and many vigorous full page illustrations hors texte. Bound in purple cloth. Spine faded. Small spot on spine. Preliminary blank loose. Badly married to another book's slipcase. Bookplates of Canadian bibliophiles A. Stanley Deaver and Lawrence M. Lande.
$30
Petronius. Satyricon. Franklin Center: The Franklin Library, 1980.
23 cm; 235 pages. Bound in full navy leather stamped in gilt; blue moiré endpapers and satin ribbon place marker. All edges brightly gilt. Mint condition. Translated by William Arrowsmith, with the illustrations of Fabrizio Clerici.
$45
Petronius. The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter. Translation ascribed to Oscar Wilde. New York: privately printed, 1930.
24 cm; 236 pages. Black cloth, no dust jacket. Slightly worn at crown. Edition limited to 1200 copies, this copy out of series.
$25
First Pindar in England
Pindar; Nicolas Le Sueur; Richard West; Robert Welsted. [Odes; Title in Greek] Pindari Olympia, Nemea, Pythia, Isthmia, una cum Latina omnium versione carmine lyrico. Oxford: Sheldonian Theatre, 1697.
Folio (35 cm); [36], 497, [91], 77, [3] pages, including engraved monumental portrait by Michael Burghers. Half-page engraved allegorical printer's device on title page also by Burghers. Errata leaf present. Greek and Latin in parallel columns. Bound in 18th-century red straight-grain morocco with gilt cornices, by Hering, with his ticket. All edges gilt. Green silk signet. Binding rubbed at joints and extremities and scuffed on lower board. Minor foxing. Reference: Wing P2245.
The first edition of the first Pindar printed in England. The text was edited by West and Welsted, and translated into Latin by Le Sueur. $1,500
Plato. The Dialogues of Plato translated into English with Analyses and Introductions by B. Jowett. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1924.
Third edition. 5 volumes. 24cm. Bound in maroon cloth. Crown split 1cm on first volume; superficial stain on front board of second volume, else shelf wear only. 1924 impression of the third edition (1892) in very good condition.
$450
Plato. The Apology of Socrates. London: The Scholartis Press, 1929.
Limited. 27cm. Cloth. Very Good / Very Good. Text in Greek and English. Edition limited to 500 copies. Very light foxing on half title. Bookplate of Geroge Gordon Ladds.
$125
Sallust. [Histories.] Caius Crispus Sallustius the Historian Translated into English. To which are prefixed the Life and Character of the Author and His Works. By John Rowe, esq. The second edition, revised and corrected throughout. London: Printed by W. Bowyer for Richard Sare, 1715.
8vo (17 cm); xxiv, 250, [2] pages, including final advertisement leaf. Bound in full paneled calf, tooled in blind. Joints weak and reinforced. Scuffed at edges. Dampstain on front board penetrates noticeably through first quire.
$250
Sallust, Florus, and Velleius Paterculus. Literally translated … by the Rev. John Selby Watson. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1861.
8vo, 559 pages. Half calf over marble-papered boards, with marble endpapers by Robertson of Edinburgh. Handsome, in great condition.
$95
Suetonius Tranquillus, Gaius. The lives of the first twelve Caesars, translated from the Latin … with annotations, and a review of the government and literature of the different periods, by Alexander Thomson, M.D. London: G. G. and J. Robinson, 1796.
8 vo (22 cm): 622 pages. Bound in contemporary tree calf. Marbled endpapers. Light to moderate wear, with leather label recently renewed. Gilding rubbed from spine. Ecclesiastical library book plate and release tag. Bright and clean over all.
$150
Terentius Afer, P. Terence's comedies. Translated into English prose, as near as the propriety of the two languages will admit: together with the original Latin … by S[amuel] Patrick. Dublin: Gilbert and Hodges, M. Keene, J. Fleming, J. Parry, and B. Smith, 1810.
2 vols. 8vo (22 cm); xxxii, 375; 329, [51] pages. English and Latin on facing pages. Modern red half morocco over marbled boards in period style. Paneled spine decorated in gilt, with black leather title pieces. Boards rubbed at edges; scattered foxing, especially at beginning and end. Very good over all. Translation by Samuel Patrick first published in 1745.
$75
Terentius Afer, P. The comedies of Terence, translated into familiar blank verse by George Colman. Dublin: Printed by B. Grierson, 1766.
8vo (21 cm) lx, ii, [4], [7]-436 pages. Lacks frontispiece. Bound in contemporary half calf over marbled boards. Corners worn. According to Adam Clarke, Bibliographical Miscellany (p. 229), "A better translation can scarcely be expected; it is such as Terence deserved, and done by a man of almost equal comic powers with himself."
$50
Terentius Afer, Publius. The comedies of Terence, translated into familiar blank verse. By George Colman. 2d ed. revised and corrected. London: Printed for T. Becket, P. A. De Hondt and R. Baldwin, 1768.
8vo (22 cm); 2 vols. lxxxiii, 332; 394 pages, and 8 folding engraved plates of comic figures and masks. Bound in contemporary full sheep, rubbed, worn at heel and crown, with portion missing from crown of vol. 1. Leather labels renewed. Joints cracked but holding. Hinges repaired with tape. Text very good. " Lowndes IV, 2607; Clarke, 228 ("A better translation can scarcely be expected"); Schweiger 1079. Funnier than modern editions.
$275
Tibullus. A poetical translation of the elegies of Tibullus; and of the poems of Sulpicia. With the original text, and notes critical and explanatory. … By James Grainger, M.D. London : A. Millar, 1759.
8vo (18 cm); 2 vols. xlvi, 165; (2), 263 pages. Latin and English on facing pages. Bound in contemporary full calf. Joints are weak, but the binding is sound and entire. Although this translation won few defenders initially, the 19th-century bibliographer Adam Clarke called it "a work of considerable merit." The text opens with Dr. Grainger’s expansive biographical essay on Tibullus.
$250
A Companion to Classical Reading
Torrentino, Hermano; Girolamo Brusoni. Elucidario poetico. Venice: Iseppo Prodocimo, 1677.
12mo (14cm); 2 volumes in one, [8], 214, [2 blank], 360 pages. Printer's woodcut device on title page. Woodcut initials and head-pieces. Bound in contemporary quarter calf over mottled boards. Cloth signet. Edges worn. Some stains, pages generally toned. This pocket-size Italian encyclopedia of classical literature began life in 1503, in the fullness of the Renaissance, in Latin. It went through many editions and translations, growing in both scope and concision with each incarnation. The entries gloss classical mythology, literature, geography, and historical events with admirable efficiency.
$300
Vergilius Maro, P. The Georgics of Virgil. Translated by William Sotheby. London: Printed for J. Wright, 1800.
viii, [2], 229, [3] pages; 22 cm. Bound in dark green half calf over pebbled boards. Calf rubbed and barked; leather label not present; yet a sound, sturdy reading copy. First edition of Sotheby's translation. Latin and English on facing pages. William Sotheby (1757-1833) was a central figure--socially at least--among England's emerging Romantics. He counted Scott, Coleridge, Byron and Wordsworth among his friends. His translation of Virgil's Georgics was applauded, according the the DNB, as "the most perfect translation of a classic poet now extant in our language" (Jeffries).
$200
Vergilius Maro, Publius. The Aeneid of Virgil translated into English blank verse by Christopher Pearse Cranch. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co. 1872.
25 cm; xviii, 548 pages. Title page printed in red and black. Bound in contemporary half calf over marbled paper-covered boards. Marbled endpapers. Some wear to extremities. Library bookplate and release stamp.
$40
Xenophon. The banquet of Xenophon, done from the Greek … by James Welwood. Glasgow: Robert and Andrew Foulis, 1750.
12 mo (16 cm); 238, [1] pages. Bound in undecorated full calf, worn and scuffed. Front joint reinforced. Front free endpaper lacking. Pages darkened and moderately foxed. Reference: Gaskell, Foulis Press; 175. Translation of the Symposium, with an introductory essay on Socrates dedicated to Lady Jean Douglass.
$175
Xenophon. Anabasis … or, the expedition of Cyrus into Persia, and the retreat of the ten thousand Greeks. Translated into English … by N. S. Smith. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, 1824.
8vo (22 cm); xii, 549 pages, and folding engraved map of Asia Minor. Text in Greek and English. Bound in contemporary half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, rubbed along joints and at corners. Edges marbled. Map moderately foxed, casting offset onto title page. Text clear and clean.
$150