Cicero, Marcus Tullius

Orationes Selectae In usum Scholarum Belgicae

Bruxellis [ie. Brussels] typis Regiae Academiae 1779 12mo. [173 x 102 x 104 mm]. [2]ff, 384, 389-510 pp; [2]ff, 527pp; [2]ff, 438, [2] pp. Bound in contemporary red goatskin, the covers with a gilt triple fillet border. The spines divided into six panels, the title lettered in the second on an olive goatskin label, and the volume number in the third on a green goatskin label, the other panels gilt tooled with a pomegranate, small flower and leafy fronds, the edges of the boards tooled with a gilt fillet and the turn-ins with a gilt roll, marbled endleaves, gilt edges, silk markers. The three volumes are in very fine condition, and were clearly never put to use in a schoolroom. A number of copies of this edition of Cicero's works were specially bound in red goatskin, identically to our set, and presented by the Académie Royale de Belgique to the Emperor, the Governor-General, Chancellor Kaunitz, Vice-Chancellor Philippe de Cobenzl etc. An example of one such copy is illustrated and described in Speeckaert, "Quatre Siècles De Reliure en Belgique 1500-1900", part III, no.55. A number of other dignatories and institutions received copies in "veau fauve doré sur tranche" or in paper. Each volume has a discreet ink stamp on the half-title of the family library of the Princes Starhemberg at Schloss Eferding, which is in Upper Austria, close to Linz and near the borders with Bavaria and Bohemia. The Starhembergs became really notable with the heroic defence of Vienna against the Turks in 1683, when Count Ernst Rudiger von Starhemberg led the Imperial forces.

• GBP 1,000.00 > other currencies
• ordernr.: ebc930

• bookseller: George Bayntun (GREAT BRITAIN)