THÉOCRITE, BION, MOSCHUS, ANACRÉON,

and others, vulgarly called small poets, published by M. l'abbé Gail. Paris, P.-Fr. Didot, 1788. In-12, red morocco, triple gilt fillet, coat of arms in the centre, smooth spine decorated, inner lace, gilt edges (Period binding). First edition of this anthology of minor Greek poets published by the Hellenist Jean-Baptiste Gail (1755-1829), professor at the Collège de France and curator at the Royal Library. It contains the Idylls of the bucolic Theocritus, Moschos and Bion, the Odes of Anacreon, the Sentences of Theognis and those of Phocylides, the Golden Verses of Pythagoras, the Epigrams and Hymns of Callimachus. Very nice Greek printing by Pierre-François Didot published in the Collection des livres grecs classiques. The historical and philological notes are in French. A choice copy bound in red morocco with the arms of Louis-Auguste Le Tonnelier (1730-1807), baron de Breteuil et de Preuilly, with his bookplate. Nephew of the famous Emilie du Châtelet, the Baron de Breteuil served with distinction in the royal diplomacy, in Cologne, then in Russia, Sweden, Vienna and Naples, and was appointed Minister of the King's Household and of the Paris Department in 1783. On July 11, 1789, Louis XVI chose him as his principal minister to replace Necker, barely one hundred hours before the storming of the Bastille, of which he could only be a powerless witness. He emigrated to Germany on July 17 or 18, secretly entrusted with the king's full powers to deal with foreign courts for the restoration of royal authority in France. Returning to Paris in 1802, he obtained a pension from Napoleon. Two Greek quotations have been copied, probably by his hand, on the title of the volume and the bookplate. Faint scattered foxing. Quérard, IX, 406 - OHR, 1481.