SALLUSTIUS CRISPUS, Caius. De coniuratione Catilinae. Eiusdem de bello Iugurthino.
Venezia, Aldo Manuzio e Andrea Torresano, 1509
8vo. 145x90 mm. 19th century gilt decorated vellum with gilt frame on covers, richly gilt spine, red label, modern red marbled endpapers, red upper edges. Pp. [16], 279, [1]. Italic type, title and verso of final leaf with woodcut printer's device, initial spaces with guide-letters. Some leaves with water stains on the margin, especially lower. Handwritten Note from Bradford Coll-[ege] de Wolf, Cambridge dated 1891. Good copy.
Rare first Aldine edition of Sallust's two historical works, accompanied by Cicero's speeches against Sallust and Catilina, and other pieces.
This first Aldine edition of Sallust is uncommon, as are almost all Manuzio's publications printed in the first decade of the 16th century; the imminent end of the Venetian Republic, as well as war and political reasons, certainly influenced the print run of the volumes published in those years.
The work is dedicated to Bartolomeo d'Alviano, a mercenary commander of the Venetian forces, who distinguished himself in March, 1508 with the defeat of the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximillian I, only to be defeated the month after this work was printed, leading to a suspension of Aldus's printing activities (and indeed much Venetian trade) for three years.
Renouard 57.3; Adams S139; The Aldine Press, 2001, n. 103.