SALLUSTIUS CRISPUS, Gaius.

£500 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Quae extant opera. A handsomely illustrated 18th-century Parisian edition of Sallust's complete works, in a well-preserved French period binding. The tooling on the spine, featuring a simple gilt flower surrounded by leaves and stars in the compartments, was popular and resembles the style of the celebrated royal bookbinder Louis Doceur, active in Paris at the time.The work is part of a series of finely printed Latin classics produced by a consortium of French printers - including the workshop of David and Coustellier - who sought to imitate the style of the Dutch family of printers Elzevir (active 1587-1681), as Elzevir's small-format editions were becoming uncommon. This volume contains three plates designed by the prominent French engraver and art critic Charles-Nicolas Cochin II (1715-1790). Employed by Louis XV in 1737 to create commemorative prints for major events at court, Cochin was later made curator of the royal drawings collection, and worked as King's administrator of the arts between 1755 and 1770.

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