[Title in Greek, then:] QUAE EXTANT OPERA

[Geneva]: Excudebat Henrius Stephanus, 1581. Second Estienne Edition. 320 x 212 mm. (12 1/2 x 8 1/2"). 6 p.l., 584, 76 pp.Edited and with annotations by Henri Estienne.
FINE 17TH CENTURY SPRINKLED CALF PRIZE BINDING, covers gilt with French fillet border, oblique fleur-de-lys at corners, SUPRA LIBROS OF CARDINAL MAZARIN AT CENTER, raised bands, spine compartments with fleurs-de lys at center and corners, edges gilt over marbling (old repair to head of spine). Printer's device (Schreiber 18) on title. WITH 1692 COLLÈGE MAZARIN PRIZE PRESENTATION to Laurence Thibault for Greek oratory, signed by the head of College P. J. Le Chapelier, with seal of the college attached, tipped onto title page. Main text in Greek, dedication (to James VI of Scotland) and Estienne's annotations in Latin. Renouard 149.6; Hoffmann III, 577; Dibdin II, 567; USTC 450908. Lower corner of back board somewhat bumped, leather slightly marked, other very modest exterior wear, but the stately binding in nearly fine condition. First five quires with two tiny wormholes to tail margin, final signature with a little creasing, other insignifcant imperfections, but AN ESPECIALLY FRESH, CLEAN, AND BRIGHT COPY INTERNALLY, the leaves crackling when you turn them.

This copy of what Renouard calls the "far superior" Estienne Xenophon is offered in a very attractive binding that was used as a prize for a student at the Collège Mazarin near the close of the 17th century. Best known to his contemporaries as an historian and general, as well as an opponent of Athenian democracy, Xenophon (ca. 430-354 B.C.) was a student of Socrates, and aside from Plato's, his works contain the only surviving examples of Socratic dialogues. Although born in Athens, Xenophon greatly admired Sparta and its political structure, and he eventually went to war for Sparta against the Athenians (this earned him land in Sparta, but unsurprising exile from Athens). Xenophon's philosophical writings found popularity in the Renaissance, and some scholars have suggested that Machiavelli was particularly influenced by Xenophon's more "practical" (i.e., ruthless) approach to politics. The present 1581 printing is among the most highly regarded Renaissance editions of Xenophon's works. The printer and scholar Henri Estienne II (1528-98) was a brilliant classicist best known for producing "Thesaurus Graecae Linguae" (1572), a standard reference for 300 years. He produced his first Xenophon in 1561, but fully revised the text for the present edition. Dibdin tells us that "the edition of 1581 has more intrinsic value than the preceding one," and Renouard notes that it is "not as pretty as the 1561 edition, but far superior." Our copy, fittingly, was presented as a prize for Greek oratory to a student at the Collège Mazarin, founded by a bequest from the former first minister of France, Jules, Cardinal Mazarin (1602-61). Mazarin was not just a prince of the Church and an advisor to the Sun King, but one of the greatest bibliophiles of his day, with a library of 40,000 volumes that became the foundation of the Bibliothèque Mazarine. Our book is bound in a style appropriate to that famed collection, with Mazarin's personal supralibros at the center of each board. The partly printed award certificate bound in at the front indicates that Laurence Thibault had won second prize for Greek oration in the college's "solemn games" honoring the royal recognition of the college. It is signed by the head of the college, Pierre-Jean Le Chapelier de Mauron, who held a doctorate from the Sorbonne and simultaneously served as abbot of the Abbey of Ste Marie-de-Boquen in Brittany..