HORATIUS FLACCUS, Quintus. Opera.
Parma, Giambattista Bodoni, 1791
An extremely rare first Bodonian edition. A work formerly owned by Antoine-Augustin Renouard. One of 25 copies printed on Annonay paper. Brooks: “This is the first of the classics that Bodoni printed on his private presses”. Furthermore, this copy is the only one to feature, in addition, a portrait of the author drawn by Luigi Agricola and engraved by Pietro Fontana, placed on the frontispiece.
After Renouard, this copy became part of the prestigious collection of Ernst Philip Goldschmidt (1887–1954), a refined antiquarian bookseller and scholar of German origin, active mainly in London, renowned for his research into illuminated manuscripts and Renaissance publishing, and for having contributed to the appreciation of the book as an object of art and historical study
Renouard’s name appears in the handwritten Latin inscription on the flyleaf, which bears the date ‘1792’. Further down, a bibliographical note in French is signed with the initial ‘R’.
Brooks, no. 417; De Lama, vol. 2, pp. 63–64.
Large folio. 480x315 mm. Contemporary binding in quarter red morocco and marbled pink cloth, gilt title and decorations on the spine. Engraved portrait on the frontispiece, Pages [4], XIV, [2, Half-title], 371, [1]. Ex-libris on the inside front cover: ‘Ernst Philip Goldschmidt’. Slight signs of wear to the binding; a fine uncut copy with wide margins.