[Homer] Blackwell, Thomas: An Enquiry into the Life and Writings of Homer. London: Printed [for J. Oswald], 1736. Second edition. 8vo., pp.[iv], 346, [lxxxii] + portrait frontispiece and folding map. Single leaf catalogue at rear. Many illustrations and elaborate engraved head- and tail-pieces in the text. Very faint dampstaining to bottom corner, offsetting from some illustrations. Contemporary brown calf, gilt spine with raised bands and title label, plain gilt borders. Worn, endcaps lost, joints split but cords holding, corners frayed, endpapers toned at edges, a good sound copy. The second edition of this pioneering study. 'Blackwell considered why Homer had been the supreme epic poet and concluded that his achievement was explicable almost entirely in terms of natural forces. Homer was the outcome of a specific historical context, social organization, geography, and climate, which combined to shape the culture he represented and which provided an ethos uniquely favourable to epic poetry' (ODNB). ESTC T70409. Ref: 54906show full image..
[Horace] Horatius Flaccus, Quintus: (Opera) Birminghamiae [Birmingham]: Johannis Baskerville, 1770. 4to., pp. [iv], 344 + engraved frontispiece signed Henriquez, but without the other four plates found in about half of the copies Gaskell examined. Title-page setting without the damaged letter D. With margins neatly ruled in red to each page. Occasional spots of foxing, the odd light smudge, p.112 a bit toned, very good. Contemporary calf, gilt spine with raised bands and title, blind-tooled borders and gilt frames to boards, marbled edges and endpapers. Originally dark reddish-brown, the spine and joints are much sunned, patch of further fading to lower board. First compartment of spine and both joints neatly repaired, some scuffs, small stains and scrapes, corners frayed, still a very good, sound copy overall. To front paste-down, armourial bookplate of Octavian Blewitt (1810?1884), English writer and long-serving secretary of the Royal Literary Fund. "The 4to. edition of 1770 is a very beautiful and extremely scarce work, the rarest of all Baskerville's editions. It is frequently chosen by the curious as a repository for any modern or antique design relating to the poet." (Dibdin) ESTC T46243; Gaskell 39; Dibdin II (4th edn.), 111. Ref: 54665show full image..
[Horace] Horatius Flaccus, Quintus: Ad lectiones probatiores diligenter emendatus, et interpunctione nova saepius illustratus. Editio quarta. Glasguae [Glasgow]: in aedibus academicis excudebant Robertus et Andreas Foulis, 1760. 4to, pp. [ii], xii, 307, [i]. Half-title. Small hole to centre of A4 affecting a couple of words, paper flaw to Q4 resulting in shorter fore-edge margin. Deep red morocco, spine heavily gilt with black morocco label, ornate gilt border to boards, edges dark blue, marbled endpapers. A bit rubbed, joints and endcaps neatly repaired, corners worn, upper hinge repaired, but very good overall. Armorial bookplate of William Scott Kerr of Chatto to front paste-down, and gift inscription to blank endpaper: 'To William Kerr, from his friend James Hope, Edinb. 25th Oct 1823'. The luxurious 'large-paper' quarto imposition - using the same setting of text as the octavo, and therefore capaciously-margined - of the fourth Foulis edition of Horace, following on from the 1744 'Immaculate' edition and reprints of 1750 and 1756 (the latter a medal-winning printing). The process of rearranging the frames has not gone entirely smoothly, with pages 20 (C2v) and 24 (C4v) swapped. Gaskell 383; ESTC T46249. Ref: 54180show full image..
[Horace] Horatius Flaccus, Quintus: (Bentley, Richard, ed.:) [Opera] ex recensione et cum notis atque emendationibus Richardi Bentleii. Editio tertia. Amstelaedami [Amsterdam]: apud Rod. & Jacob. Wenstenios & Guil. Smith, 1728. 2 vols. in 1. 4to., pp. [xxiv], 356, [ii], 357-717, [i], 239, [i] + additional engraved title page. Title in red and black with engraved vignette, large engraved headpiece to first page of Dedication. Occasional smudgy marks, a little light dampstaining near gutter, a few leaves lightly toned. Contemporary marbled calf, spine gilt with label, gilt frame and border, central gilt coat of arms of Dokkum. Spine a bit creased, joints rubbed, endcaps and corners slightly worn, still very good overall. The third full Bentley edition (an abridged third edition in 8vo. was produced in Cambridge, 1713), this is an almost exact reprint of the second (Amsterdam, 1713). The two Amsterdam editions are distinguished by having Bentley's editorial notes on the same page as the text, making them more useful to the scholar, and Dibdin and Brunet on this account preferred them to the Cambridge first. "Rash and tasteless in many of its conjectures, marvellously acute in some others (Bentley's Horace is) a signal proof of (his) learning, his ingenuity and his argumentative power" (R.C. Jebb in DNB). Bentley was thought for a long time the first Classical editor of the modern age. He was celebrated and reviled by his contemporaries, and the scholar Alexander Cunningham produced a whole edition of Horace specifically against Bentley's in 1721. Brunet III 818-819; Dibdin (4th edn.) II 101-105; Schweiger II 408; Spoelder 4. Ref: 54317show full image..
[Horace] Horatius Flaccus, Quintus: (Bentley, Richard, ed.:) [Opera] ex recensione & cum notis atque emendationibus Richardi Bentleii. Editio altera. Amstelaedami [Amsterdam]: Apud Rod. & Gerh. Wetstenios Hff. 1713. 4to., pp. [xxiv] 717, [i], 239, [i], including engraved additional title-page and divisional title for 'Pars altera' after p.442. Emendata after p.717 (i.e. 4Y1 verso). Index at rear. Title page in red and black with engraved device, woodcut initials. Gatherings 3M-3O and 3V-3X very toned, occasional light toning otherwise, a few tiny scorchmarks. Contemporary marbled calf, spine gilt with red morocco label, gilt borders, lovely blue paste-patterned edges, very good. With letterpress and manuscript school-prize (to J.J. van Hees, dated 1822) bound at the front. The second edition of Bentley's (in)famous edition of Horace, first printed at Cambridge in 1711, notable for his rash but inspired conjectures and emendations. "The Amsterdam editions of 1713 and 1728 are preferable to the Cambridge one of 1711. The notes and text are in the same page, and they are accompanied by the index of Treter, corrected by Verburgius" (Dibdin 104). Dibdin (4th edn.) II 101; Schweiger II 406; Bijker Riedel A140; Lowndes 1113: "The best edition."; Graesse III 354 (note); Brunet III 319 (note). Ref: 54397show full image..
Hughes, Ian: Attila the Hun: Arch-Enemy of Rome. Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2019. First edition. 8vo., pp. xxvi, 214. Maps and illustrations to text. Hardback: grey cloth, gilt-lettered to spine. Dust-jacket. Unused, a hint only of shelf-dust: a fine copy. Ref: 54451
Hughes-Hallett, Lucy: Cleopatra: Histories, Dreams and Distortions. London: Bloomsbury, 1990. First edition. 8vo., pp. 339 + plates. Hardback: green cloth, gilt-lettered to spine and upper board. Dust-jacket. Foxing to top edge, slight creasing along jacket edges, light signs of use, otherwise very good. Ref: 54249
Jimenez. Ramon.L: Caesar Against The Celts: Staplehurst, Kent: Spellmount Ltd, 1996. First edition. 8vo., pp. xv, 284, (iii). Maps and illustrations. Hardback: burgundy cloth, gilt-lettered to spine. A little foxing to edges only, otherwise fine. Dust-jacket, light signs of use, still very good. Ref: 54202
Juvenalis, Decimus Junius: (Dryden, John, trans.:) The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. By Mr Dryden, And Several other Eminent Hands. Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus [...] London: Printed for Jacob Tonson [...] 1697. Second edition. 8vo. pp. [ii], xc, 501, [iii] + frontispiece and 17 further engraved plates. Trimmed a little close at head just touching letters of headline p.v, light dampstain to bottom edge and a little worming pp. 5-20 and pp.345-356, slightly foxed, small tear to head of pp.213-4, occasional small wax spots. Contemporary dark brown mottled calf, raised bands with gilt filets, red label, blind-tooled frame and corners to boards, edges sprinkled red. Roughly 1.5cm loss to head cap, spine creased, some scuffs and scrapes, small loss to bottom corner of upper board and top corner of lower board, good. Ownership inscriptions of Tom S. Gowland, Old Park House, Ripon dated Easter 1947 to front pastedown; Gerrard Thomas (Ferrand?) to frontispiece verso. The first edition in 8vo format, following first publication in folio in 1693. Translations by Dryden, Tate, W. Bowles, Charles Dryden, G Stepney, Stephen Harvey, Mr Congreve, Mr Power, Mr Creech, J, Dryden Jnr. The fourth, anonymous satire translated by R. Duke. ESTC R031548; Wing J1289. Ref: 54733show full image..
Kagan, Donald: The Peloponnesian War: Athens and Sparta in Savage Conflict 431-404 BC. London: Harper Collins, 2003. First edition. 8vo., pp. xxvii, 511. Maps and illustrations. Hardback: brown cloth, silver-lettered, spine slightly cocked. Dust-jacket, light creasing to edges. Otherwise a very good copy. Ref: 54226
