[Meditations].

£3,000 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

bound by Riviere Son A finely printed example of this important work of Stoic philosophy by the last of Rome's Five Good Emperors, exquisitely bound by Riviere Son in brown morocco with gilt panel design. Marcus Aurelius composed his Meditations between 170 and 180 AD as a private work, intended for his own moral guidance and self-improvement. The first definite mention of the text was made by Arethas of Caesarea in the 10th century, who sent a copy of the Emperors' '[writings] to himself' to Demetrius, Archbishop of Heracleia sometime before 907 AD. Although now lost, this edition is considered the likely source of the two extant manuscripts on which the present-day text is almost entirely based. The work survives to offer us a unique insight into the mind of a Roman emperor and 'philosopher king'. 8vo (22.5 x 14.5 cm); title, woodcut initials and headers in red and black, photographic frontispiece, library blindstamp to title-page; contemporary brown morocco by Riviere Son, gilt Regency panel design to covers, spine lettered in gilt, joints a little rubbed, spine an extremities slightly faded, very good.

• Binding: Hardcover

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