Plutarchi Chaeronensis quae extant opera, cum Latina interpretatione. Ex vetustis codicibus plurima nunc primum emendata sunt, ut ex Henr. Stephani annotationibus intelliges; quibus et suam quorundam libellorum interpretationem adiunxit. […]. Geneva: Henricus Stephanus, 1572.
The Works of Plutarch in Greek and Latin. Geneva: Henri Estienne, 1572.
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FIRST EDITION of the complete works of Plutarch, in thirteen octavo volumes: six of the Greek text, six of the Latin translation, and the exceptionally rare final volume of appendices and indices. Edited by Henri Estienne from superior manuscripts, including the Codex Parisinus 1676, this edition improves upon and supersedes the Aldine, Giunta, and Basel printings, all of which were incomplete. It fixes the arrangement of the Vitae and Moralia still adopted in modern scholarly editions, and features translations by Erasmus, Budé, Turnèbe, Cruser, and others.
The elusive thirteenth volume, usually missing, contains Acciaiouli’s Comparatio Hannibalis et Scipionis, the Vitae of Cornelius Nepos, Tacitus’ Agricola, extensive annotations by Xylander, Cruser, and Estienne, an errata leaf, and the supplementary Index rerum et verborum. The set is printed throughout in Garamond’s celebrated Grecs du Roi type.
Complete sets are of the greatest rarity, with Brunet, Dibdin, Schreiber, and Schweiger all remarking on their scarcity: “extremely uncommon… by far the least common volume is the 13th” (Schreiber); “complete sets are of the utmost rarity” (Schweiger); “the last volume… is frequently wanting” (Dibdin), who further notes it is “absolutely necessary to make the set complete.”
Auction and dealer results for this set: €55,000 (Asher Rare Books, Winter Catalogue 2021, item 40); £23,750 (Christie’s, 16 June 2015, lot 75); incomplete sets have fetched £5,588 (Sotheby’s, Dec. 2024, lot 1182) and £2,600 (Forum Auctions, 27 May 2021).
A landmark of Renaissance scholarship and a centrepiece for any serious collection of the classics, here offered complete with the very scarce 13th volume.
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Size: 110 x 168 mm (approx., each)
Condition:
Late 16th / early 17th century full calf bindings, 20th century library cloth rebacking preserving the early backstrips underneath, a few volumes splitting at hinges/gutters, final volume page block detached from binding. Bindings worn and rubbed, leather a little flaky. Bookplates/stickers to front and rear pastedowns in each volume from the Rare Book Collection of the New York General Theological Seminary. Stamps and/or blindstamps from the same to the first and last textual leaves through each volume, and to one random leaf throughout each text block (for example g3 in volume 1, bb4 in volume 2, etc). Early ink inscriptions to all titles except the eighth volume. A few small closed tears, some minor marginal worming in places, text blocks toned, paper a little weak in places, but generally a nice example of this extremely rare and important set. Not fully collated, but appears to be complete, seemingly without the 66pp appendix as typical; the first four volumes certainly collate complete.
[Adams P1607; Brunet IV, 733; Dibdin II, pp.336-337; Schreiber, The Estiennes 179; USTC 450621, 452093. Graesse V, 354; Schweiger I, 259].
(1), *8, a-i8, lz8, l-z8, A-Z8, 2A-2C8
(1), 2a-2i8, 2lz8, 2l-2z8, 2A-2P8
3a-3i8, 3lz8, 3l-3z8, 3A-3Y8
(1), a-i8, lz8, l-z8, A-M8, N12
