Swann is holding another great auction of Early Printed Books & Manuscripts next Tuesday (May 11).
Among the historic texts on offer are Parts One and Two of Orationes horum [infrascriptorum] rhetorum, bound in one volume.
The books were written by the Attic orators, considered the greatest orators and logographers of the classical era(5th century BCE-4th century BCE).
They are included in the "Alexandrian Canon" (sometimes called the "Canon of Ten") compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace.
Great minds in the Canon included Antiphon, Lysias, Isocrates, Aeschines and Demosthenes (although the latter is omitted here - his writings were previously published by the Aldine press in 1499 and 1504).
 Two of Orationes horum [infrascriptorum] rhetorum from 1513 |
According to Swann, the missing Third part was one present in the volume but removed, leaving the book block partly loose. Five leaves are missing from the other two volumes.
Bound in early 20th-century green morocco gilt (the rear cover is partly detached, and there is minor soiling and a "large streaked ink blot") the 1513 has passed through a number of prestigious institutions.
This is evident from the affixed bookplates of Lewis Andrew de la Chaumette; WH Thompson of Trinity College and Cambridge; Morris Morgan (with his catalogue note on front flyleaf and gilt crest on front cover); and Harvard College Library.
Boasting an impressive provenance, this treasured and much-thumbed text will auction with an estimate of $3,000-5,000.
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