The texts of the orations and "letters" of the great Athenian orator (436–338 B.C.) are printed in double-column format, with the Greek presented in exquisite Greek type in the inner columns and the Latin translation in roman type in the outer ones. A version of the famous Estienne printer's device graces the title-page.

•  Adams O219; Renouard (2nd ed.), Annales de l'imprimerie des Estienne, 155.1; Schreiber, Estienne, 225; Schweiger, Handbuch der classischen Bibliographie, I:181; Dibdin (4th ed.), An Introduction to . . . Greek and Latin Classics, II:126. 18th-century plain calf, recently rebacked; round spine, raised bands accented with gilt ruling. Gilt-tooled center devices in spine compartments. Two gilt-lettered spine labels. Title-page dust-soiled; a library's blind pressure-stamps; properly deaccessioned with no additional stamps. A covetable exemplar. (2129)

In the five-part appendix are the Aristeas de LXX Interpretibus in Greek and Latin, translated into the latter by Matthias Garbatius; Ad Epitomen Aristeæ; a variorum of Book VII of the Jewish War and the Maccabean Rebellion based on the MSS. in the Leipzig collection; a Latin version of the Libelli de Maccabæis by Francisco Combesis; and fragments from the p e r i p a n t a V , ascribed to Josephus, edited by David Hoeschel based upon the work of Stephan le Moyne. Sidenotes refer the reader to important historical details and parallel biblical passages. This edition was compiled from MSS. in the Palatine library and is a revised and improved version of the Geneva edition of 1591.

According to Dibdin, Thomas Ittigus, the editor, was “a man sufficiently conversant in Jewish antiquities, and an able reviewer of the MSS. and previous editions of his author.” As far as Dibdin was concerned, this more than made up for imperfections in type and in paper quality (the paper is strong but inclined to browning). The title-page is handsomely printed in red and black, with engraved printer's device; there is a scattering of ornamental initials and head- and tailpieces.

•  Dibdin, Introduction to the Greek and Latin Classics, II, 131; Schweiger, I, 177.   Full vellum over boards. Round spine with author's name and “Opera” in sepia ink at top. Inked personal ownership inscription on front fly-leaf; rather pleasing old library ownership stamp on verso of title-page. Lower corner of one leaf (H6) torn away without loss of text. Paper inclines to brown, as above, and there is the odd spot or underlining. A substantial, significant volume.  (2135)

•  Willems 1565.   Contemporary vellum, spine with early hand-inked author, title,and publisher; lightly dust-soiled, three corners bumped. A few light smudges towards back of volume, pages otherwise very clean; one leaf torn from upper margin and repaired, affecting a handful of letters, sense unobstructed. Some lower corners nicked.A nice, one might say “classic” little Elzevir.  (27495)

This copy has interesting, early, but now somewhat faded marginalia in a red or sepia ink. The marginalia is scattered and is at times heavy, other times light; in some sections, it is non-existent.

A rare edition: No copy traced via OCLC; VD16 locates only three copies in Europe.

•  VD16 T2056.   Full rich brown calf old style: Round spine with raised bands, accented in gilt rule; author and title lettered on cream-colored spine label; fillets in blind extending onto covers from each band to terminate in trefoils with blind double fillets beyond. Small rent in upper inner area of title-page with a very old and good repair on verso. Library name stamped on lower edge of closed book.  (24808)

Provenance:  19th-century engraved bookplate of Joannes Thomae Aubry, “Doct. Theol. Soc. Sorb., Rector S. Ludovici in insula.”

Binding:  18th-century crushed red morocco, gilt spine extra; triple fillet gilt border on covers; single gilt rule on board edges; gilt dentelles on turn-ins; French combed pattern endpapers. All edges gilt. Green silk placemarker.

•  Not in Schweiger.   Binding as above. A very good copy.  (22246)

apparently the first printing at The Hague of any Latin Classic(s) in their original Latin.

Juvenal was a Roman poet of the early second century A.D. His Satires are a standard of the genre, eloquent, humorous, and rhetorically polished, but revealing a very bitter man. Persius (a.d. 34–62), was a gentler soul than Juvenal, and his poems are more Stoic sermons than satires, preaching a moral life during one of Rome's more corrupt periods and doing so, most remarkably, without a hint of self-righteousness. The two Satyrae are often published together, in contrast and comparison.

This is the first printing at the Hague of this edition with Farnaby's notes, originally printed at London in 1612 and then reprinted in Amsterdam in 1630. The emblematic engraved title-page here was done by A. de Blois; the separate title-page for Persius bears the printer's device.

Provenance:  Front fly-leaf with three generations of early, dated, inked ownership inscriptions: Thomas Mansell, first Baron Mansel (1684); Robert Mansel (sic, 1712); and Thomas Mansell (1730–31).

•  Brunet, III, 631; Graesse, III, 520; Morgan, Bibliography of Persius, 298; Schweiger, I, 511.   Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Front fly-leaf darkened and engraved title a littlevery little tattered at edges, the first with inscriptions “stacked” as above and the second with old repair. Pages gently age-toned and generally clean, with all edges red.  (25952)

•  Schweiger, II, 513; this ed. not in Brunet. Contemporary half vellum over paste paper covers, spine with early inked title; sides and edges lightly scuffed, spine with vellum darkened and chipped. Front pastedown with inked ownership inscription dated 1775, lined through; front free endpaper with 19th-century (?) inked inscription; title-page with early inked inscription reading “Carolus Comes a Wartensleben.” Back free endpaper excised. Title-page torn along inner margin and with short tear from outer edge, just touching one letter. One leaf with small ink blots and several leaves with small nicks to outer edges; scattered light foxing. A few small early inked annotations.

•  Contemporary publisher’s mottled sheep; spine gilt extra. Fine abrasions or chipping to leather, especially to head and foot of spine. Offsetting from turn-ins; lightly foxed throughout. A closed tear without loss in pp. 327–28. All edges marbled.

The text is printed in roman and italic, with side- and shouldernotes; it is decorated with elegant woodcut initials against a floriated background, one factotum, a handful of head- and tailpieces, and a couple of small vignettes. The woodcut printer's device on the title-page has the monogram “AT” beneath a dolphin & anchor combination with the motto festina tarde, reminiscent of the Aldine device.

This edition is not in NUC Pre-1956, and WorldCat locates just one copy in the U.S. (with a variant imprint, “A Cologny”).

Evidence of readership: A short biography of Lipsius in French has been written on the fly-leaves in early ink.

•  Early vellum over flexible boards, somewhat stained and rubbed; evidence of four ties, and ink title to spine. Cropped close with very minor loss to a couple of running headlines and side- or shouldernotes; a few corner-tips torn away and a few stains only; instances variously of slightest perceptible worming and outer margin of pp. 585–98 holed by an insect affecting the sidenotes on those leaves, with lesser evidence of the same gnawing to rear pastedown and back cover.  (29885)

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

The title-page of this volume is printed in red and black; the engraved frontispiece portrait is signed “A.C.F.”

Scarce.  Searches of OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956 find only three U.S. and two overseas locations.

•  Contemporary half mottled sheep with speckled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; sides and edges with a few small scuffs, leather chipped at head of spine and along parts of back joint. Front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription dated 1829 and with stamp (no other markings). Mild browning and spotting, with a few leaves more notably foxed; one leaf with ink stains. Pagination skips from 360 to 369, with text uninterrupted as shown by catchword and signature. A stout, rather handsome volume.