1771 · Birmingham
by Vergilius Maro, Publius
Birmingham: John Baskerville, 1771. Second edition of Baskerville's first ("perhaps finest") book; 4to, pp. [10], 432; contemporary full mottled calf neatly rebacked, preserving the old red morocco label on spine; a bit of spotting to the prelims, but a very good copy nonetheless. This second edition, virtually identical, was (surreptitiously?) printed by Baskerville ca. 1771, which is identified by the positioning of the letter J in Johannis in the imprint. The first edition has the J between the B and the I in Birminghamiae; in the second edition it is to the left of the B. Gaskell 2: "The second edition, unlike the first, is a rare book."
(Inventory #: 48632)