[Rarebooks] fa: HERODOTUS - Historia - FOULIS PRESS 1761

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, May 20. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/7djbx8s

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.



Herodotus: Hē tou Hērodotou Halikarnasseōs historia. Herodoti Halicarnassensis historia. Ex editione Jacobi Gronovii; tomis novem. Adjectus est, ex eadem editione, Liber de Vita Homeri; vulgo sed falso, adscriptus Herodoto. Glasguae [Glasgow]: in aedibus academicis excudebant Robertus et Andreas Foulis, 1761. First edition thus. Text in Greek and Latin. Nine volumes, small 8vo (58 mm; 6.25 in.); full period mottled calf, front and rear covers bordered in gilt, gilt-tooled spines and spine labels, modern leather volume number labels, period marbled endpapers; 471, 397, 349, 359, 247, 259, 451, 269, 301 pp. ESTC T146940; Gaskell 395.

A superb presentation of the Histories of Herodotus from the legendary Foulis Press, with parallel Greek and Latin texts, based on the edition of Jacob Gronovius (1645-1716). Robert Foulis was appointed printer to the University of Glasgow in 1743, where he was soon joined by his younger brother Andrew. For more than thirty years the Foulis brothers were engines of the Scottish Enlightenment, issuing important, finely printed works noted for their editorial meticulousness and classically simple elegance. Their books were collected and admired by the American Founding Fathers, among others, and Thomas Jefferson owned a set of this same edition of Herodotus (also in full calf with gilt spines, now housed in the Jefferson Library Collection at the Library of Congress). In his View of the Various Editions of the Greek and Roman Classics (1782), Edward Harwood wrote: "This edition of Herodotus is beautifully printed, and reflects distinguished honor on the University of Glasgow" and Lowndes described it as "a beautiful and correct edition."

Bumping and wear to the corners and spine ends, three exterior hinges professionally repaired, a few others cracked but all boards are secure; light crease to the first title-page, mild toning to the leaves, a few scattered small spots and stains, otherwise clean and sound. Elaborate armorial bookplates of uncertain origin bearing the motto "Per servire s'acquista servi quando p[u]oi" and signed in the plate margin by "Michelassi."