SALLUST.

£2,500 · Offered by Sokol Books

Annotated copy of this edition of Sallust s collected works, with the widely acclaimed commentary Familiaris Explanatio by Jodocus Badius Ascensius (1462-1535). First printed in 1504 and reprinted several times until the end of the 16th century, this is the first commentary written on the Sallustian corpus as a whole. A pioneer of printing, Badius Ascensius was a renowned scholar and humanist specialised in Roman texts, who added his notes to several of the classics that he printed. In November 1554, this copy was gifted by Iohannes, the subprior of the Augustinian Convent of Montereale (Abruzzo, Italy), to his friend and novice Friar Augustinus Pratus. In his note, Johannes specifically asks: anyone who finds this book lost, return it to Augustinus . Augustinus Pratus corresponds to the Italian Agostino Prato , or possibly Agostino da Prato , and his surname seems to suggest that his family had Tuscan origins. Augustinus marginalia are particularly concentrated around the text and commentary of the Bellum Catilinae , Sallust s most influential work, but also focus on Laetus biography of the author. Remarkably, in a few places, Augustinus decorated the woodcut initials with a bright red colour. Gaius Sallustius Crispus (86-35 BC) was a Roman historian and politician, and his works are the oldest surviving historical texts in Latin that can be attached to a known author. An homo novus born to a plebeian family, he was a partisan of Caesar during the Civil War of 49 45 BC, an o

• Binding: Hardcover

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