De rerum natura - photo 1

De rerum natura

Lot 25
16.10.2025 10:00UTC +01:00
Classic
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CHRISTIE'S
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
ID 1471948
Lot 25 | De rerum natura
Estimate value
$ 4 000 – 6 000
LUCRETIUS CARUS, Titus (?96-55 B.C.). De rerum natura. – C. LYCINIUS. Verses to Nicolaus Priolus. Venice: Theodorus de Ragazonibus, 4 September 1495.

Third edition of Lucretius’ famous poem of ancient atomism. The Sykes-Syston Park copy. Although De rerum natura has notably anti-religious undertones, its psychedelic vision of swerving atoms enchanted early modern readers—including Pope Sixtus IV. "In it, the most vivid and tender depictions of nature, and a sense of the beauty and rhythm of words […] all these combine in the most astonishing way to produce one of the grandest and most moving poems in the Latin language" (PMM). Intriguingly, no extant copies of the poem were made from the 9th century until the 15th—when Poggio Bracciolini rediscovered Lucretius’ text and made a copy from that now-lost manuscript. For their 1500 edition, Aldus Manutius and Girolamo Avanzi had to use the present 1495 Venice edition of the text as their source, being “sine antiquo exemplari.” HC 10283*; BMC V 478; Bod-inc L-183; BSB-Ink L-253; GW M19139; Goff L-334; Klebs 623.3; ISTC il00334000.

Chancery quarto (203 × 147mm). 130 leaves (toned, occasional spotting, narrow wormholes from quires a to e and in q, few small repaired marginal tears). 18th-century green morocco, ornamental gilt tooling on covers and spine, gilt lettering on spine, edges gilt, dentelles (corners rubbed, spine darkened, light scratches on covers). Provenance: faded c.18th-century inscriptions including possible ownership inscription on title-page and running concordance with a later edition – Sir Mark Masterman-Sykes, 3rd Baronet (1771–1823; gilt label; his sale, Evans’, London, 1824) – Sir John Hayford Thorold, 10th Baronet (1773–1831; Syston Park armorial bookplate; monograph bookplate; his sale, Sotheby’s, London, 1884, lot 1193) – Sir Edward Sullivan (1822–1885; bookplate; his sale, Sotheby’s, London, 2 June 1890, lot 4049) – Boies Penrose II (1902–1976; bookplate) – Phyllis Goodhart Gordan (1913–1994; leather label); by descent.
Place of origin:Italy
Auction house category:Printed books
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
02.10.2025 – 16.10.2025
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
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