PLINIUS CAECILIUS SECUNDUS, CAIUS: C. Plinii Caecilii Secvundi Epistolae et Panegyricvs. Ubi textus accurate est recensitus & Obseruationibus perpetuis, ad romanam praecipue antiquitatem spectantibus, atque ad modum Iohannis Minellii subiectis, illustratus; Accessit his Index rerum & verborum locupletissimus. Lipsiae; Gleditsch & Weidmann, 1712. [Copper-engraved portrait] + 12 leaves + 1314 pp. + 54 leaves + 4 blank pages. 12mo (140 x 80 mm). In a contemporary vellum binding, with the handwritten title ''Plinii Epistolae'' at the foot of the spine. The frontispiece portrait is slightly shaved (no loss of text), and the title page contains the signature of Arvid Bethén (1756-1827) as well as a small ownership stamp with the initials ''NJB'' (Nils Johan Bethén, b.1752?). Aside from a few ink stains, most notably on pp. 1270-71, the text is free from underscorings and marginal annotations. The title page is printed in red and black. There is a large initial (40 x 35 mm) and a floral ornament at the beginning of the book and a number of smaller initials scattered throughout the text. 20th century bookplate. Caius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (c. 62 - c.113), or Pliny the Younger as he is better known in English, was the nephew and heir of the historian and naturalist Pliny the Elder, who perished in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE. Pliny, who was appointed consul at the age of 39, was one of the most prolific Roman letter-writers. The volume offered here contains the 247 letters published during his lifetime (books I-IX) and the 121 letters he wrote to the emperor Trajan while stationed in the province of Bithynia (book X) as well as his panegyric on the emperor. The official letters were published posthumously, perhaps by Suetonius, one of Pliny's numerous literary friends. The letters of Pliny the Younger are renowned for the sweeping picture they provide of the political and social life of his era. Engelmann & Preuss II, S. 523. A rather scarce edition in a very well-preserved binding.
SEK 3 000