“L. Annæi Senecæ Philosophi Opera quæ extant omnia: a Ivsto Lipsio emendata et scholiis illustrata. Editio quarta, atque ab ultima Lipsi manu: Aucta Liberti Fromondi Scholiis ad Quæstiones Naturales, & Ludum de morte Claudij Cæsaris…”

Book Description

Antwerp:: Ex Officina Plantiniana Balthazar Moretus. 1652. hardcover. 1. Folio. (394 x 242 mm) [20], xxxvi, 911 pp. Engraved frontisportrait of Lipse, engraved title with portraits of stoic philosophers Zeno and Cleanthes, surrounded by smaller renderings of Hercules, Pallas, Ulysses, Seneca, and Epictetus, two full-page engravings, ornamental tailpieces. Full contemporary vellum, gilt-stamped arabesques on front and rear covers, gilt-stamped red morocco spine label, raised bands; front hinge reinforced, lightly soiled. Bookplate of Francis Bourdillon, M.A. Fine. Very rare. . This handsome folio edition of the works of Seneca contains exceptionally fine engravings of Seneca and Lipsius by the Antwerp copperplate engraving artist, Cornelius Galle (1576-1650), all after originals by Peter Paul Reubens; a portrait of Lipsius, a portrait bust of Seneca, and the Death of Seneca. A Dedication was written by Balthasar Moretus, grandson of the founder of the Plantin press. Although there were editions of Seneca printed previously by other houses (and in 1605, 1614 and 1632 by Plantin), this is a splendid example of the Plantin-Moretus craftsmanship. “Two totally different settings exist of this edition. This setting can be recognized by the Privilegium Cæsareum (leaf **1 recto) having the catchword imitari. The other setting appears to lack the initial dedication to Urbano VIII and has the catchword ‘gere’ on **1.” [Copac]. This copy bears the imitari catchword and has the two dedication leaves (dated 1632, apparently for the third Plantin-Moretus edition). Provenance: Francis William Bourdillon (1852-1921), British poet and translator. Known mostly for his poetry, and in particular the single short poem The Night Has a Thousand Eyes, he in fact had many collections published, from Among The Flowers, And Other Poems (1878) to Gerard and Isabel: a Romance in Form of Cantefable (1921), and including a Chryseis, and Preludes and Romances (1908). In 1896 he published Nephelé, a romantic novel. He translated Aucassin et Nicolette as Aucassin and Nicolet (1887), wrote a scholarly work The Early Editions of the Roman de la Rose (1906), Russia Reborn (1917), and published a number of essays with the Religious Tract Society. [Wikipedia]. BM Readex, Vol. 23, p. 146; Brunet, V, pp. 276-277, “Edition estimée”; Copac; Graesse, VI, pp. 348-49; OCLC 234105435.

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