Latin

Paris: Didot Junior, Typographiae Fratris Regis, 1788. Tree Calf with morocco spine, 13 1/2 inches tall. A magnificent and most unusual French 18th century binding with a straight grain morocco binding with two green calf labels and wonderful gilt floral tooling. A superb gilt vine roll frames the boards. Lovely printed bookseller's ticket on the paste down end paper. Engraved title page and frontispiece. Pristine condition. In the original Latin. Since its first printing in 1471-2, 'The Imitation of Christ' has remained one of the most enduring and popular of all Christian devotional works.

Amsterdam: sumptibus Jacobi Wetstenii, 1743. 4 volume set, 11.5 inches tall. A magnificently bound set with gilt raised bands and superb gilt tooling to the panels. Simple gilt fillets framing the boards, dentelles and all edges gilt. The index was published in 1746. With the armorial bookplate of Tatton Park. Slightly rubbed but with no loss or splitting. Beautifully printed in Greek and Latin. Dibdin considered this to be the most accurate and most beautiful edition of the works of Lucian, the great satirist and rhetorician.

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.

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.

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.

Amsterdam: Wetsten (& Hermann Besseling), 1743-46. 4 volume set, 11 3/4 inches tall. A very fine mid 18th century goatskin binding with gilt raised bands, exceedingly fine gilt tooled panels and gilt fillets and corner tools framing the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Greek and Latin text, titles in red and black. Engraved frontispiece and plate in the first volume. With the bookplate of the Earls of Egerton of Tatton Park. A little rubbed and some light foxing. An impressive and complete set. Lucian of Samosata was a Greek Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with which he frequently ridiculed superstition, religious practices, and belief in the paranormal. (Wikipedia).

London: Richard Taylor, 1832. Full morocco, 11 inches tall. A superb c.1835 full red morocco with gilt raised bands, ornate floral gilt tooling to the panels and a wide gilt roll and fillets to the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. With this work Lucretius was a great influence on the Augustan poets and on philosophers of the Enlightenment constructing a new Christian humanism. In the original Latin.

Leyden: Elzevir, 1658. Full morocco, 5 1/4 inches tall. A beautiful binding with gilt raised bands, delicate gilt tooling to the panels, triple fillet framing the boards and gilt dentelles and all edges. A tiny ink inscription on the reverse of the free endpaper. With the bookplate of Geoffrey Aspin who attributes the binding to Masson-Debonelle. A superb little Elzevir edition in excellent condition. In Latin.

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.

Delft et Leiden: Beman et Samuel Luchtmans, 1729. Full morocco, 8.5 inches tall. A glorious binding by Clarke & Bedford with gilt raised bands, superb gilt tooling around a pomegranate centre tool, dentelles quadruple gilt fillet framing the boards. All edges gilt over marble. Engraved frontispiece and title page. A superb copy of these dialogues on many and various subjects, hugely influential on Christian Humanists, by the greatest scholar of the northern Renaissance. In the original Latin.

Leyden: Elzevir, 1656. Full morocco, 5 inches tall. A delightful little 18th century French crushed morocco binding with gilt bands, floral gilt tooling to the panels and contrasting green label.. Triple gilt fillets and corner tools frame the boards. With map of Alexander's expedition, engraved title and portrait. This is a lovely little copy of the only known work of Curtius the first century 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.

London: Sherwood, Neeley and Jones, 1812. Full mottled calf by Bayntun, 6 inches tall. With gilt raised bands, twin labels and fine gilt tooling to the panels. A gilt roll frames the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Parallel Latin text and English translation. A superbly bound copy of this scarce title.

Batavorum Lugdunum: Elzevir, 1640. Full crushed morocco, 4.75 inches tall. A delightful little volume in a sumptuous binding with gilt bands and floral tooling to the panels, dentelles, triple gilt fillet to the boards and all edges gilt. With wonderful gilt stamped endpapers. Voluptuous engraved title page. There were two first editions, this being the larger without the dedication from Vossius to Bielke but with summaries of the contents of each book. With the Bookplate of the Hayhurst Collection.

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.

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.

Oxford: Parker, 1852. 2 volume set, 8.75 inches tall. A classic Victorian full calf binding with gilt raised bands, twin labels and delicate gilt tooling to the panels. Neat ink inscription and Bala College ink stamp on the first blank. A fine copy of this scarce work on the first century theologian Saint Ignatius of Antioch. In Latin.

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.