Cicero, Epistolae ad Atticum, ad M. Brutum, ad Quintum fratrem, Paris, 1544, contemporary French gilt panel-stamped calf

CICERO, MARCUS TULLIUS. M. Tullii Ciceronis Epistolae ad Atticum, ad M. Brutum, ad Quintum fratrem, summa diligentia castigatae, ut in iis menda, quae plurima errant, paucissima iam supersint. Pauli Manutii in easdem epistolas scholia, quibus abditi locorum sensus ostenduntur, cum explicatione castigationum, quae in his epistolis pene innumerabiles factae sunt. Paris: Robert Estienne, 1543 (2 January 1544)

A reprint of the 1540 Aldine edition of Cicero’s letters. For two other volumes from this set of Cicero’s works in the same elegant panel-stamped binding, see previous lot.

8vo (167 x 100 mm). Italic type, 31 lines plus headline. Collation: A-VV⁸ AAA-BBB⁸ CCC⁴: 364 leaves. Woodcut Estienne device on title-pages, ruled in red, manuscript note on flyleaf about the ordering of the letters.

Binding: Contemporary French gilt panel-stamped calf (173 x 111 mm), panel stamp containing an arrangement of leafy azured stamps, spine with small flower stamp gilt in compartments, edges gilt and gauffered to a matching leafy pattern, stubs from two pairs of ties. (Joints repaired, upper cover detached, some repairs to spine, lower joint starting to crack at foot, lacking lettering-piece.)

Provenance: Edward Huth (1847-1935), armorial bookplate of Wykehurst Park, sale, Sotheby’s, 2-4 July 1923, lot 89 (a six-volume set of Cicero uniformly bound), to Maggs — Sotheby’s, 8-9 November 1954, lot 91 (all 6 volumes) — Jean Fürstenberg (1890-1982), red gilt booklabel, bequeathed to Fondation Fürstenberg-Beaumesnil, sale, Wemaëre, de Beaupuis, Denesle, Binoche et Giquello, Paris, 9 December 2013, lot 115. Acquisition: Purchased at the preceding sale. References: BP16 111591; USTC 149163