Classical Literature

London: Rivington et al., 1824. Full calf, 5 inches tall. A delightful little Georgian full calf binding with gilt bands and elaborate gilt panels and an ornate gilt fillet framing 'PRIZE' on the upper board. The armorial bookplate of Thomas Clugas. Engraved frontispiece and title page. Some rubbing to the binding but no splitting or loss. Containing 'A Life of Virgil', 'Pastoral', 'The Georgics', and 'The Aeneid'. Publius Vergilius Maro, known as Virgil in English was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period and this English translation by Dryden is still considered the best.

London: Gulielmus Pickering, 1831. 2 volume set, 4 1/8 inches tall. A wonderful full crushed morocco by Holloway. With raised bands, blind pallets and gilt Aldus leaves in the panels. The boards have a blind panel with gilt Aldus leaves as corner tools. Gilt dentelles and all edges. A delightful small set printed by William Pickering with miniscule type, in the original Greek.

Lipsiae (Liepzig), Sumptibus librariae Hahnianae, 1845. 4 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A handsome and charming binding by Budden of Cambridge with the title labels reading out the author's name. With gilt raised bands, delicate floral gilt tooling to the panels and twin labels. There is a degree of rubbing and scuffing to the shoulders and some foxing but still a solid great looking set. This is the complete section on Aristophanes from a much larger set of ancient Greek poetic works. Included are some the earliest and greatest works of comedy or 'Old Comedy', including 'The Clouds', 'The Wasps', 'The Birds', 'The Frogs' and Lysistra.' In the original Greek.

Edinburgh: Mitchel, Williams & Smith, 1807. 8 volume set, 5 3/4 inches tall. A splendid little set bound in a Regency full 'malachite' calf with gilt bands, contrasting red labels and delicate gilt tooling to the panels. Thee are some creased pages, many folded corners and a couple of scuffs but it is still a delightful little set of Plutarch, the great first century Greek biographer.

London: John Lane at The Bodley Head, 1923. Full morocco, 9 inches tall. A splendid full crushed morocco by Bayntun with gilt raised bands, fine geometric gilt tooling to the panels and boards, gilt dentelles and all edges. The spine is slighted faded to a paler lilac but is still striking. One of a limited deluxe edition of 3000 copies. The original cloth binding is bound in. Extraordinary bold illustrations throughout by Jean de Bosschére. 'The Metamorphoses of Apuleius', a bawdy picaresque novel, also known as 'The Golden Ass', is the only ancient Roman novel in Latin to survive in its entirety.

Paris: Barbou, 1774 & 1777. 2 volumes bound in 1, 6 1/2 inches tall. A delightful French 18th century full morocco, ascribed to Bradel in a pencil note by Robert J. Hayhurst on the first blank with gilt bands, superb and very fine gilt tooling to the panels and boards and contrasting red label. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Engraved frontispiece and decorations. Bookplate. Velleius Paterculus was a Roman historian writing at the time of Christ covering the end of the Trojan wars, the death of Caesar up to the death of Emperor Augustus in AD 14. In the original Latin.

Paris: Barbou, 1769. Full morocco, 6 1/4 inches tall. A very fine and bright full 18th century crushed morocco with gilt raised bands, gilt tooling around a pomegranate device in the panels, gilt twin fillets and corner tools frame the boards, gilt dentelles and all edges. Armorial bookplate of Abbot Jean-Baptiste L'Écuy. Pliny the Younger is mostly remembered for his Epistulae (Letters), of which 247 have survived giving a picture of life in 1st century Rome. The most famous of which describe the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 which his uncle, Pliny the Elder, died and one in which he discusses the official policy concerning Christians. A superb copy in the original Latin.

Oxford: Bliss,1808. 2 volume set, 4 3/4 inches tall. Delightful little set in Regency straight grain morocco with gilt bands, titles and all edges in pristine condition. On the first blank leaf is a neat ink inscription, 'Lawrence Oliphant Octobr. 11th 1816 London.' These superb volumes contain the Victory Odes named after the Olympian, Pythian, Isthmian and Nemean games, in the original Greek. Pindar was one of the great Greek lyrical poets.

Argentoratum (Strasbourg): Johann Georg Treuttel, 1783. 4 volume set, 9 inches tall. A good looking set in quarter calf with vellum tips. Gilt raised bands, elaborate blind tooling to the panels and untrimmed edges. Superficial cracking to the upper joint of the first volume but still solid. Edited by Richard François Philippe Brunck, the great French Classicist. These celebrated plays are in the original Greek.

Londini (London): Apud A. Dulae & Co., 1800. 2 volume set, 11 inches tall. A beautiful and magnificent large-paper edition in full diced calf with gilt raised bands, gilt pallets, dentelles and a gilt roll framing the diced boards. This " is certainly the most beautiful octavo publication of the poet extant... the text is supposed to be faultless. Some few copies are struck off on LARGE PAPER, in imperial octavo, and sell high" (Dibdin). With the leather bookplate of Granville Hastings Wheler of Otterden Place. Embellished with 15 plates by Bartolozzi, James Fittler, J. Neagle, and Sharp, after Gerard and Girode. Exceptionally clean inside and out. In the original Latin.

Göttingen: Ruprecht, 1807. 6 volume set, 7 inches tall. A handsome full vellum with calf labels, some chipped. Foxing. A set of Livy's Histories in the original Latin edited by Georg Alexander Rupert. From an Oxfordshire Country House.

Paris: Joseph Barbou, 1755. 2 volume set, 6 inches tall. A beautiful set bound by White of Pall Mall in pristine condition in full crushed morocco. A flat back with gilt bands and delicate tooling in the style of Derome. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Frontispiece and two folding maps. A truly delightful set in the original Latin. From the library of Charles William Vane (formerly Stewart), third Marquess of Londonderry. Vane served with distinction throughout the Peninsula War. His dashing and dandified portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence is at the National Portrait Gallery. He amassed magnificent libraries in his various Country Houses.

Paris: Saugrin, L'An V. - 1797. 2 volume set, 6 inches tall. An exquisite full straight grain morocco by C. Lewis with twin blind tooled bands, beautiful gilt tooling to the panels, dentelles and all edges. The straight grain of the boards is framed within a frame of gilt and blind tooled fillets. Bookplate. 8 glorious copper engravings by Moreau le Jeune and a frontispiece portrait of La Fontaine after Rigeau. Slight rubbing to the head and tail cap and boards, and slight fading to the spine but a beautiful set of this delightful and scarce work from the original tale by Ovid, retold by La Fontaine.

Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Sumtibus et typis Caroli Tauchnitzii, 1810. 2 volumes bound in 1 complete, 4.75 inches tall. A fine full Regency calf with raised bands, gilt and blind pallets framing the panels, gilt and blind fillets framing the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. The bookplate of the writer Maurice Baring as well as a previous owner's ink name on the first blank. Light foxing. It was published by Carl Tauchnitz (1761-1836), the first German publisher to use stereotyping. A neat little set of these great Tragedies in the original Greek.

London: Harding, Triphook and Lepard, 1825. Full morocco, 6.5 inches tall. A superb Georgian binding with gilt raised bands, label, gilt framed panels and boards, dentelles and all edges. Engraved portrait and title page. Sold at Sotheby's 29th February 1856. Contains all six of Terence's plays, viz. Andria (The Girl from Andros) 166 B.C.; Hecyra (The Mother-in-Law) 165 B.C.; Heauton Timorumenos (The Self-Tormentor) 163 B.C.; Phormio 161 B.C.; Eunuchus 161 B.C.; Adelphoe (The Brothers) 160 B.C.. A fine copy in the original Latin.

Amsterdam: Elzevir ( Apud Ludovicum & Danielem Elzevirios), 1665. 3 volume set, 7.75 inches tall. A wonderful set in a full crushed morocco, unsigned but possibly by Clarke at the beginning of the 19th century. With gilt raised bands, superb gilt floral tooling to the panels. Gilt rolls, fillets and corner tools frame the boards. Fine engraved frontispiece to volume 1. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Sold at Sotheby's in December 1857. A fine set of this work by this great Roman Historian, in the original Latin.

Paris: Joseph Barbou, 1754. Full calf, 6.25 inches tall. A superb early nineteenth century binding possibly by White, with gilt raised bands, delightful dense pomegranate gilt tooling to the panels, double gilt fillet framing the boards, dentelles and all edges gilt. From the Sotheby sale of 29th April 1852. Engraved frontispiece. Phaedrus was a 1st century A.D. Roman fabulist, now known to be the first writer to compile entire books of fables, retelling the tales of Aesop. A wonderful copy in the original Latin.

Amsterdam: Johannis van Someren, 1670. 3 volume set, 7.75 inches tall. A wonderful set in a full crushed morocco, unsigned but possibly by Clarke at the beginning of the 19th century. With raised bands, twin labels and superb gilt floral tooling to the panels. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Armorial bookplate. Fine engraved title pages to the first 2 volumes. In the original Greek. Slightly faded spines but still a splendid set which describes the rise of the Roman Republic to the status of dominance in the ancient Mediterranean world. Famously it includes Polybius's eyewitness account of the Sack of Carthage and Corinth in 146 BC and the Roman annexation of the mainland Greece after the Achaean War.

London: Harding, Mavor & Lepard, 1824. Full morocco, 6.5 inches tall. A splendid Georgian binding with gilt raised bands, a series of pallets framing the panels and elaborate gilt rolls and corner tooling on the boards. All edges gilt. Engraved portrait and title page. Two bookplates. Slight fading to the spine, overall a superb little edition of the works of this great Roman lyric poet. In the original Latin.