Romane Historie First Edition - Livy - Bauman Rare Books

Romane Historie

LIVY | Philemon HOLLAND

Item#: 126262 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Romane Historie

Romane Historie

Romane Historie

Romane Historie

Romane Historie

Romane Historie

Romane Historie

Romane Historie

"LIVY GAVE ROME HER EPIC": 1600 FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF LIVY'S HISTORY OF ROME, MAGNIFICENT IN CONTEMPORARY PANELED CALF GILT BOARDS

LIVY. The Romane Historie Written by T. Livius of Padua. Also, the Breviaries of L. Florus: with a Chronologie to the whole Historie: and the Topographie of Rome in old time. London: Adam Islip, 1600. Thick folio (9-1/2 by 13 inches), contemporary full paneled brown calf boards, sympathetically rebacked, raised bands, later plain endpapers.

First edition in English of Livy's monumental history of Rome, translated by Philemon Holland, in exceptionally lovely contemporary calf boards.

Titus Livius commenced his great history between 27 and 25 B.C., completing it only shortly before his death in A.D. 17. His genius lay in lively storytelling rather than critical history; his aim was to rekindle his fellow Romans' patriotic spirit by recounting their ancestors' heroic deeds. "Livy's heroes were to revive again and again—in 18th-century Virginia and in Revolutionary Paris. There are still statues in the public parks of the founders of the American and French Republics clad in the togas or the armor of Cincinnatus or Horatius… Livy, not Virgil, gave Rome her epic" (Rexroth, 92-93). "This was the first of that stately array of folio translations of the classics which issued from the pens of Philemon Holland, the 'translator generall in his age" (Pforzheimer 495). "Holland's knowledge of Greek and Latin was accurate and profound, and his renderings are made in a vivid, familiar and somewhat ornamented English" (Drabble, 469). The section on the "Topographie of Rome in old time" is translated from the work of J. Bartholomew Marlian. With woodcut-engraved title, initials, head- and tailpieces, woodcut portrait of Livy, and a woodcut-engraved portrait of Queen Elizabeth, to whom this edition is dedicated, on verso of title. Occasional mispagination as issued without loss of text; without initial blank. STC 16613. Brueggemann, 634. Harris, 94. Lowndes, 1374. Early dealer description tipped to front pastedown.

Text fresh and clean, extremities of beautiful contemporary calf-gilt boards expertly restored.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
Armorial Used to describe a binding bearing the coat of arms of the original owner, or with bookplates incorporating the owner’s arms.
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Boards Hard front and rear covers of a bound book which are covered in cloth, leather or paper. “Original boards” refers to cardboard-like front and back boards, from about 1700 to 1840, used as temporary protection for books before their purchasers would have them bound. Of particular value to collectors as evidence of a very early form of the book.
Book-Plate Label, generally affixed to the front pastedown, identifying a book’s owner.
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Doublure Pastedowns made not of paper but of leather, for decorative purposes.
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