CONTINENTAL BOOKS CATALOGUE 1448 - Maggs Bros. Ltd.

24 DIO CASSIUS Rerum Romanarum a Pompeio Magno ad Alexandrum
Mamaeae, Epitome authore Ioanne Xiphilino. Paris, Robert Estienne, 1551.
[Bound with:] Rerum Romanarum... epitome, Ioanne Xiphilino authore,
Guilielmo Blanco Albiensi interprete. Paris, [Robert Estienne], 1551.
Wittenberg, edita per Zachariam Lemanum, 1584.
In first work basilisk device of king’s printer on
title-page, 25 large grotesque ornamental
woodcut initials and head-pieces, in second
work woodcut arms of Cardinal d’Armagnac
and 25 similar initials and head-pieces; first part
printed in Greek letter throughout.
Two works in one vol 4to (245 x 165mm) 357pp [1]
f; [3]ff 280pp [5]ff. 17th-century mottled calf, spine gilt
in compartments (crack to spine, lower joint
just splitting). £1,600
editio princeps of Xiphilinus’ epitome of the
histories of Dio Cassius printed from manuscripts
in the French Royal Library. In 1548 Robert
Estienne had published the first edition in the
original Greek of the surviving books of Dio
Cassius’ histories which covered the period 68 BC
-AD 54. Joannes Xiphilinus was a 12th century
Byzantine monk who wrote this Epitome under
the orders of Emperor Michael VII, and it is now
the only surviving source for books 61-80 which
concern the period 47-235 AD, a most exciting
time in Roman imperial history. The second work
in the volume is Guillaume Leblanc’s Latin
translation of the Epitome and presumably
intended to be bound with the Greek text, although
it is often found as a separate publication.
Possibly the last two books printed by Estienne
in Paris before his departure for Geneva. An early
owner has tried to delete Estienne’s name from
the first title; the second work has the cancel title
with the arms of the dedicatee Cardinal Georges
d’Armagnac (replacing a title-page with
Estienne’s olive-tree device).
Beautifully printed with the first part using the
largest types of the ‘grec du roi’ and the second
part printed in Estienne’s handsome roman types.
Provenance: 17th-century Florentine
ownership inscription inside front cover, book
label of Elizabeth Armstrong, the authority on the
Estiennes and author of Robert Estienne (1954).
Blank upper outer corner of title-page neatly
restored; a very fresh copy internally.
Adams D513 & D515. Mortimer 170 &
171. Renouard p80, nos 8 & 9. Schreiber 108
(Greek text).
25 ERASMUS Moriae Encomium [in Greek, then] Stultitiae Laus.
Cum commentariis Ger. Listrii, & figuris Jo Holbenii. E codice Academiae
Basiliensis... Basle, typis Genathianis, 1676.
Engraved title-page, added, by Kaspar Merian
after Hans Holbein, engraved device on title,
engraved vignette above dedication to Colbert
incorporating his ‘snake’ insignia, engraved
portrait of Erasmus, and two of Hans Holbein,
full-page engraving of Erasmus’ epitaph, and 82
engravings by Merian after Holbein, some
pressed directly into the text and the larger ones
pasted in on folding slips (a little browned).
8vo (194 x 116mm) [40]ff 336pp [6]ff. Contemporary
panelled calf, spine gilt in compartments, red morocco
label (rebacked with original spine laid down). £1,250
First edition of In Praise of Folly to hold the famous
illustrations of Hans Holbein and his brother
Ambrosius. They are here engraved by Kaspar
Merian from the original marginal illustrations,
Holbein’s earliest surviving work, found in a copy
of the 1515 edition now at the Kunstmuseum at
Basle. The editor Charles Patin also adds a life of
Holbein, not always complementary, and the first
catalogue raisonné in which he describes 60 works
over five pages in double columns.
This edition also includes a life of Erasmus
and bibliography, the commentary of Gerard
Lister (which Erasmus also worked on),
Erasmus’ preface to Thomas More, with whom
he stayed in 1509 and wrote In Praise of Folly as
a diversion from a kidney ailment, and letters to
More and Martin van Dorp
Van der Haeghen p122.
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