Literature & Linguistics / Greek & Roman Classics

TORRENTINUS, Hermannus (Herman van der BEKE). Elucidarius poeticus co[n]tinens historias poeticas, fabulas, insulas regiones, urbes, fluvios, mo[n]tesq[ue] insigniores, atq[ue] huiusmodi alia, ...
Antwerp, Michiel Hillen van Hoogstraten, 1527. With the title in an elaborate woodcut border.
With: (2) [FIOCCHI, Andrea Dominico (Andras Dominicus FLOCCUS)] under the name of Lucius FENESTELLA. De magistratibus, sacerdotiisq[ue] Romanorum libellus, iamprimum nitori restitutus.
[Cologne, Hero Fuchs, 1527]. With the title in a finely cut 4-piece woodcut border. 2 editions in 1 volume. 8vo. 16th-century(?) limp vellum (formerly used for a slightly thinner book). The binding is an interesting example of a spine reinforced with a horizontal metal rod at the central sewing support to give more support and prevent the bookblock from becoming concaved or developing sharp kinks; probably bound in Flanders. [88]; [88] ll. Full description

ULPIANUS of Emesa and Valerius HARPOCRATION. Commentarioli in olynthiacas, philippicasque Demosthenis orationes. Enarrationes saneque necessariae in tredecim orationes Demosthenis. ...Dictionarium decem Rhetorum. [preceded by the titles in Greek].
(Colophon: Venice, heirs of Aldus Manutius, and his father-in-law Andrea Torresano dAsola [& sons], June) 1527. Folio (31 x 21 cm). With Aldus's famous woodcut dolphin device on the title-page and an older but very similar version on the verso of the otherwise blank last leaf. Set in Greek type (the Upianus in 1 column; the Harpokation in 2 columns) with incidental roman. Recased in 18th-century vellum over flexible boards. 119, [1] ll. Full description

VALERIUS MAXIMUS. Dictorum factorumq[ue] memorabilium exempla. adjecto indice propriorum nominum rerumq[ue] memoria dignarum locupletissimo
Antwerp, Joannes Grapheus for Joannes Steelsius, 1535. 8vo (14.6 x 9.1 cm). With a woodcut title frame, and a woodcut illustration incorporating Steelsius' device at the end. Old half vellum. 237, [11] ll. Full description

VIRGILIUS MARO, Publius. Codex antiquissimus a Rufio Turcio Aproniano V.C. distinctus et emendatus qui nunc Florentiae in Bibliotheca Mediceo-Laurentiana adservatur bono publico typis descriptus anno MDCCXLI.
Florence, Typis Mannianis (the printer Joseph and his son Domenico Maria Manni), [1741]. 4to (25.5 x 18 cm). With an engraved dedication by the editor Pietro Francesco Fogginio to the members of the prestigious Académie Royale des inscriptions et beaux-arts as a frontispiece, an engraved vignette on the title page (a portrait of Virgil holding a mask) engraved by "Sarder ex Mus. Medic.". An engraved illustration of Virgil as a headpiece at the start of the text, engraved after the portrait in one of the two other late antique Virgil manuscripts: the Virgilius Romanus in the Vatican library (Cod. Vat. 3867). Further with a beautiful engraved historiated initial on the same page; engraved specimen of three lines of the manuscript (13 x 3 cm) on p. XV; and two tailpieces (on pp. XVI and 459). The text is printed in red and black (the title page, the first lines and corrections in the text). Contemporary gold-tooled red morocco. [4], XXXVI, 459 pp. Full description

VIRGILIUS MARO, Publius. Opera. Vol. I.
London, John Pine, 1755 [= actually some years later]. 8vo. With 2 different vignettes on the otherwise identical engraved title pages, an engraved frontispiece with a figure of the muse Euterpe, 2 engraved dedication leaves with vignettes, 1 folding and 49 full-page engraved plates on 39 leaves (11 of the leaves with a plate on each side), 31 engraved half-page plates and historiated head- and tailpieces, engraved historiated and decorated initials. Some of the images are derived from the illustrations in the Codex Vaticanus, a 5th-century codex containing the works of Virgil. Late-19th-century gold-tooled crushed red morocco, bound by the famous partnership of René Chambolle (1834-1898) and Hippolyte Duru (1803-1898) (with their names gold-stamped in the bottom front turn-in). The boards show a double fillet frame with detailed, ornate flowers and vines along the inside of the frame, with the author, title, and imprint lettered in gold on the gold-tooled spine, gold-tooled board edges and turn-ins, gilt top edge, marbled endpapers. The binding can be dated between 1861 and ca. 1870, the heyday of the Chambolle-Duru partnership representing the high level of the Golden Age of French bibliophile binding. [8], XV, [2], 144, [6] pp. Full description