VERGILIUS MARO, Publius (70-19 B.C.)

Lot 54
09.07.2025 10:30UTC +01:00
Classic
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£ 15 120
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1450542
Lot 54 | VERGILIUS MARO, Publius (70-19 B.C.)
Estimate value
£ 4 000 – 6 000
VERGILIUS MARO, Publius (70-19 B.C.)
Opera [Bucolica, Georgica, Aeneis, with argumenta]. [Milan: Johannes Antonius de Honate, c. 1480].
The Shuckburgh copy of a very rare early edition of Vergil’s Opera: ISTC lists just 6 copies of this edition in libraries and RBH records no copies at auction. Vergil was already celebrated in his own lifetime, and his poetry has continued to be revered over the millennia for its majesty and technical perfection. The Aeneid in particular exerted a foundational influence on western literature and thought, shaping the literary styles of writers from Dante to T.S. Eliot. Dante himself regarded Vergil as 'our greatest poet' and cast him as a Christian prophet and his guide to the Gates of Paradise in the Divine Comedy. Goff V-162; BMC VI 740; GW M49718; Davies & Goldfinch 27; Mambelli 91; ISTC iv00162000.

Chancery folio (290 x 202mm). 233 leaves (of 234, without blank a1). Capital spaces with printed guide-letter, rubricated in red, larger initials with red penwork decoration, early manuscript foliation in ink, the Moretum added in manuscript at an early date on verso of final text leaf and onto following endpaper (foremargins of 12 leaves renewed sometimes just touching printed text, some minor worming at beginning and end, first 5 leaves with small repairs in margins, occasional staining, mostly marginal, heavier in first 3 leaves, red pencil markings on r6-7). 18th-century vellum, morocco spine label lettered in gilt edges mottled in red and blue (lightly rubbed). Provenance: some early ink annotations including manicules and a musical notation – 'Liber est meus Caroli Fresaroli Manentis Desigoni' (ownership inscription) – ?'Christophorus Strataula' (ownership inscription) – Sir George Augustus William Shuckburgh-Evelyn, Baronet (1751-1804, a passionate bibliophile whose collection ranked with those of Spencer, Roxburghe, Blandford, Devonshire and Cracherode; bookplate with manuscript shelf-mark ‘M2’) – Bernard Quaritch catalogue no.876, The Italian Renaissance, 1967, no.260 – W. Senn-Dürck, Basel-Riehen (1904-2001; booklabel); by descent.
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