C. CRISPI SALLUSTII QUAE EXTANT

Cantabrigiae [Cambridge]: Cornelius Crownfield, 1710. THE DEDICATION COPY, ONE OF 150 ON LARGE PAPER, per Mackenzie. 248 x 192 mm. (9 3/4 x 7 1/2"). 4 p.l., xxiv, 532, [2], 318, 283-304 pp., [84] leaves.Edited by Rev. Joseph Wasse.
FINE CONTEMPORARY RED MOROCCO, GILT, covers panelled with gilt fillets accented with fleuron, acorn, and scallop tools, raised bands, spine compartments densely gilt with similar tools, red morocco label, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt (probably with some very facile repairs to top and bottom of joints and spine). Front pastedown with the armorial bookplate of the dedicatee, Henry Grey, Duke of Kent, dated 1713, and with the armorial ex-libris of Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milnes, Marquess of Crewe; front free endpaper with engraved armorial bookplate of Thomas Philip, Earl de Grey (see below for all). Dibdin II, 385; Mackenzie, "The Cambridge University Press 1696-1712" I, 273-76. ◆Front joint with thin crack at head and tail, covers with darkish splotches (obvious, but somehow not overly offending with antique morocco like this), other very minor signs of use, but the binding still extremely pleasing as a grand specimen for an important dedicatee. A MOST ATTRACTIVE COPY INTERNALLY, especially clean and fresh, with only negligible imperfections.

This is the stately dedication copy of Wasse's monumental edition of Sallust, in its original handsome unrestored binding. Described by Dibdin as "an excellent edition . . . the merits of which have long been acknowledged by the literary world," our version was prepared by Wasse after consulting nearly 80 manuscripts, including "some very ancient editions." A huge undertaking, it spent five years in the press. Oxford Antiquary Thomas Hearne mentioned it in his "Remarks," amazed that "Mr. Wasse . . . has so swell'd his Salust [sic] . . . with Notes" that "his Index will be upwards of 20 sheets"; in fact, the Index consumes 84 leaves (21 quires). The text of the present volume contains the only two extant historical works of Sallust (86-34 B.C.), which are his history of the conspiracy of Catiline against the senate in the year Cicero was consul, and his history of the Roman war against the Numidian (Algerian) chieftain Jugurtha, brought to its conclusion by the great soldier and populist politician Marius. As a stylist, Sallust has enjoyed great fame for his artistic and epigrammatic speeches with their vividly delineated characters. A fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge, Joseph Wasse (1672-1738) served as chaplain to the Marquess (later Duke) of Kent, Henry Grey (1671-1740), to whom he dedicated this work. The handsome binding is of very high quality and is decorated in the Cambridge style by an unknown binder of that city. Grey was a courtier who held a number of prominent positions: under Queen Anne, he served as Lord Chamberlain of the Household and Knight of the Garter, and as one of the Lords Justices (Regents) of the Realm upon her death; under George I, he was Lord of the Bedchamber, Lord Steward of the Household, and Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal. Our volume was passed down in his family, through the line of his granddaughter Jemima Campbell, Marchioness Grey, to Thomas Philip de Grey, 2nd Earl de Grey (1781-1859), an amateur architect who rebuilt the family seat, Wrest Park in Bedfordshire. He became the first president of the Royal Institute of British Architects. It was later in the 24,000-volume library of the politician Robert Crewe-Milnes (1858-1945), Marquess of Crewe..