De rerum natura libri sex (6 Ergebnisse)

Hardcover. Zustand: Fair. Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Reprint. Brown boards, owner's name to flyleaf with date (1930).

8vo., pp.[xlviii], 486, [ii]. Final leaf blank. Woodcut printer's mark "Labori et Constantia" to title, woodcut initials. A few tiny annotations, numbering and underlining, some MS notes to rear endpapers. Printed on thin paper, quite toned and foxed, occasional small inkspots. Contemporary vellum, a little yellowed, slightly dust soiled, still very good. Lots of provenance: 'Samuelis di Salle'(?) in MS to front pastedown, along with some codes; notes in an old hand to both sides of ffep; to another endpaper, 20th-century bookplate of WJF Meiners; notes about Montaigne in French; to another endpaper, 'Roberti Konigsmanni, 1625'; to title-page recto, Joh. Jacobus Saltzmann ('Argent', possibly Strasbourg?), 4th September 1677; to title-page verso, two inscriptions with the surname Hertzoogenrath but illegible first initials, one dated 1756 and the other 1779. Contains: Epicuri De rerum natura epitome: pp. 235-264 (in Greek); Thucydidis Verba e libro II de pestilentia Athen: pp. 265-269 (in Greek); Veterum quorundam de Tito Lucretio testimonia: pp. 270-272; Capita quaedam naturalis philosophiae Epicur. eiusqve etiam partis ex libris M. Ciceronis collecta: pp. 273-298; Ob. Gifanii in T. Lucretium index, seu potius Conlectanea: pp. 299-486. With index. Dibdin thought little indeed of Giffen's efforts as editor: "Lambinus was succeeded by Gifanius, who seems only to have made an injudicious use of his predecessor's commentaries, and by whom he has been accused of stealing the best parts of his edition. Gifanius was more a grammarian than a critic or philologist; and though it would be unfair to judge wholly of his merits from these commentaries, all of which he did not himself publish, yet it cannot be denied that in the text of the poet he has betrayed marks of a great want of taste and erudition. Faber and Havercamp have severely censured him." Adams L1671; BM STC Dutch, 1470-1600, p.126; Dibdin II, p.200-201; Schweiger p.574.

Small 8vo, 123 x 78, pp. [xxiv], 277 [sic, for 287, 288 blank. 289 - 303 variant readings [3044 blank, 3055 - 318 index], woodcut title-page, with scrolls, column, faces within heartshapes, etc., later (probably 18th century) limp vellum, leather label; some small inkstains on early leaves, some very slight worming, front hinge almost completeLY open, with inner spine exposed. The text has been prepared by Adrianus Turnebus (1512 - 1516), and as Wikipedia notes, "At the age of twelve he was sent to Paris to study, and attracted great notice by his remarkable abilities. After having held the post of professor of belles-lettres in the University of Toulouse, in 1547 he returned to Paris as professor (or royal reader) of Greek at the College Royal. In 1562 he exchanged this post for a professorship in Greek philosophy. In 1552 he was entrusted with the printing of the Greek books at the royal press, in which he was assisted by his friend, Guillaume Morel. Joseph Justus Scaliger was his pupil. He died of tuberculosis on 12 June 1565 in Paris. Montaigne wrote that he 'knew more and better, what he knew, than any man in his age or of many ages past.'" The French classical scholar Denis Lambin (Latinized as Dionysius Lambinus) (1520 - 1572) was first professor of Latin at the College de France and later professor of Greek. One of the great scholars of his age, he is noted as an exceptionally skilled textual critic, and many of his readings are retained in modern editions of classical text. His edition of Lucretius was first published in 1563. The printer Philippe Gaultier was active in Paris 1562 - 1569. Although Luctretius' text has been edited, studied, and commented on, I found Stephen Greenblatt's book, The Swerve: How the World became Modern (2011) elegantly and cogently written and a useful reminder that much of what we know and take for granted derived from geniuses like Lucretius. PMM 87 for the first edition of 1563. Gordon 203 for this edition. OCLC locates copies Manchester, Southern California, and Heidelberg. There is also a copy in Paris at the BN. See also Quaritch's 2015 catalogue of books from Cosmo Gordon's library.

Hardcover. Zustand: Very Good. Later edition. 4to. [24], 1-559, [3] pp. Twentieth-century calf (bound in the style of the eighteenth century) with the spine in six compartments, gilt decorations on the spine, a red morocco label lettered in gilt on the spine; all edges stained red. Eighteenth-century marbled endpapers and pastedowns (apparently taken from an earlier binding). With engraved initials and headpieces, title page with an engraved border. Adams 1659. Brunet 196. Gordon 102. With the commentary of Dionysius Lambinus. The first Lambinus edition of Lucretius. A beautiful poem discussing the tenets of Epicureanism, the nature of atoms and natural qualities of substances, love, the mortality of the soul and the death of our universe. A rich discussion of ancient science and metaphysics, and the only known work of the mysterious Roman figure who was admired by Cicero. Lucretius was also a catalyst for the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras. With later annotations in French on the free front paper and on the bottom margin of the title page, a few corners of the leaves have a small chip. The binding is sharp and bright.

vellum. Zustand: Very good. First Edition. "The Nature of Things" (PMM 87)LUCRETIUS, Carus Titus. De Rerum Natura. Libri Sex. A Dionysio Lambino. Monstroliensi litterarum Graecarum in vrbe Lutetia, doctore Regio, locis innumerabilibus ex auctoritate quinque codicum manuscriptorum emendati, atque in antiquum acnatiium statum fere restituti, & pretarea breuibus, & perquam vtilibus commentariis illustrati. Guliemi Rouillij et Philippi G. Rouillij, Paris, 1563. 1 blank leaf + TP + [iii] - [xiv] = "Karolo Valesio Nono" + [xv] - [xvi] = "Dionysius Lambinus" + [xvii] - [xix] = "Idem erudito Lectori" + [xx] = "Avratus in Lucretium" + [xxi] - [xxii] = "Philippus Galterus " + [xxii] - [xxiv] = "errata" + 1 - 559 + 1 blank leaf, Small Quarto. First Lambin Edition. PMM 87Denis Lambin [1520-1572] was a French classical scholar and professor of Latin & Greek. "One of the grandest and most moving poems in the Latin language, Lucretius' work has delighted inquiring minds in every generation. Lambin was ideally fitted for his task. Scholarly and yet passionate, his editorial work is a monument of erudition and vigorous Latinity" (PMM).PRINTING AND THE MIND OF MAN 87CONDITION: Very good in contemporary vellum, hand-lettered spine with shelf number labels to head and tail. Yapp edges. Top edge black. Woodcut border to title. Woodcut initials and head-and tail-pieces. Vellum lightly soiled. Scuffs to rear cover. Newer front free endpaper. Ink ownership inscription to front pastedown. Crack to foot of inner hinge at title and to p 272. Small perforation to title at the date, date almost completely removed. Some damp staining. Pages of one gathering have been printed in the incorrect order (Qqq) but all pages present. Small very minor spots of worming. Housed in custom cream-cloth clamshell with brown leather spine label, gilt stamped lettering. Embossed stamp of the Theological Institute of Connecticut (ca. 1834-1885, now the Hartford Seminary) to title and a few pages at rear, with a small ink number verso the title-page PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.

First Lambin edition, large paper copy, 3 cm larger in both dimensions than copies on regular paper and uniquely, according to Brunet, with contemporary colouring, in a splendid Parisian gold-tooled morocco binding of the period. Brunet writes of "cette première édition estimée du Lucrèce de Lambin" and describes at length this unique copy, on large paper, with contemporary colouring: "Un exemplaire de l'édition de 1563, en Grand Papier (avec les capitales du commencement de chaque livre enluminées), et relié en maroquin olive à compartiments, a été vendu 15 liv. chez M. Dent, qui, selon le Repertorium bibliogr., 246, l'avait payé 40 liv. Jusque-là on ne connaissait point le Grand Papier de cette édition estimée." The French classical scholar and philologist Denys Lambin (1516-1572) was one of the greatest critical editors of his time; his "editorial work expresses a deep sympathy for his subject and the prefaces and notes are a monument of erudition and fine vigorous Latinity" (PMM). The edition was likely initiated by Guillaume Rouillé, the prodigious merchant-publisher of Lyon, and published in short-term partnership with his nephew in Paris, as a means of getting him established there. This is the edition of Lucretius cited in Printing and the Mind of Man, where it is described as "one of the grandest and most moving poems in the Latin language". "Of very few languages can it be said that the first surviving major poem in it is an exposition of a philosophical system of considerable subtlety, but first or last, Lucretius's 'On the Nature of Things' would have been a unique contribution to any literature. In it the atomic theory, the most vivid and tender depictions of nature, and a sense of the beauty and rhythm of words which triumphs over the early unsophisticated form of the Latin Hexameter, all those combine in the most astonishing way to produce one of the grandest and most moving poems in the Latin language." More recently, Lucretius's poem was the subject of The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, a 2011 book by Stephen Greenblatt, which was winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction and 2011 National Book Award for Nonfiction. The pattern of gold-tooling on this sumptuous binding was popular in Paris in the 1560s and 70s and several binders used variations on it, such as the binders who worked for Francis II and Charles IX, and for Thomas Mahieu and others. As styles are easy to copy and similar designs were often embellished with tools belonging to totally separate binders, attribution to a specific binder or atelier is impossible in this case. For example, one of the tools is closely similar to a tool used by Wotton's Binder III, but it is not identical and so this binding cannot be attributed to that workshop. Henry Davis Gift II, 14, illustrates a copy of Pausanias, 1551, bound for Thomas Mahieu with similar but again not identical tooling. Nevertheless, the binding exhibits the characteristic craftsmanship of the most accomplished Parisian binders of the period. Provenance: John Dent (1760-1826), his sale, London 1827, lot 694 ("This is one of the most beautiful books in Mr. Dent's Library"); Bibliothèque Henri Béraldi [1849-1931], Paris, 1934, Première partie, no. 20; Maurice Burrus (1882 1959), with his bookplate; Thierry de Maigret Vente aux Enchères, Drouot 27 Nov 2013, lot 86. Adams L1659; Printing and the Mind of Man 87. Quarto (252 x 185 mm). Contemporary olive-green morocco over pasteboard, tooled in gold with fillets, gouges and lines, spine with five gilt-ruled raised bands and six compartments with gilt fleurons and leaf sprays, blue and yellow headbands, board edges with two-line gilt rule and hatched sections, turn-ins unruled, white endpapers, edges gilt and gauffered; title lettering in gold within central oval on upper cover added at a later date. Housed in a custom olive morocco fleece-lined folding case. Title within large woodcut historiated border, woodcut headpieces and initials, all with fine contemporary hand-colouring heightened with gold. Discreet small repair to front joint at head, two spots to title page, else internally fresh and clean, a fine copy.