66 - CICERO and MONGAULT, Abbé. Letters from Cicero to Atticus, with commentary.

CICERO and MONGAULT, Abbé. Letters from Cicero to Atticus, with commentary. Paris, J. Barbou, 1787. In-12 (16.5 x 10 cm), spotted calfskin, smooth spine decorated with panels, mosaic-style panels indicating the title and volume number. Period binding. 4 vols.: xvi-512 pp. - 421 pp. - 461 pp. - 517 pp. Scuffs on the binding; top cap of vol. 4 worn down. A few pinholes. A new, revised, and corrected edition of Cicero’s letters, in the highly regarded translation by Nicolas-Hubert Mongault (1674–1746), first published in 1701. Features the Latin text taken from the Graevius edition, side-by-side with the French translation. Voltaire said of Mongault in his *Siècle de Louis XIV*: “The best translation ever made of Cicero’s Letters is his. It is enriched with judicious and useful notes.” It was François Pétrarque who brought to light the version of Cicero’s *Letters to Atticus* preserved in a manuscript discovered in 1345 in the chapter library of Verona, of which he had a copy made. This copy was used in major editions of these works, such as that by Paolo Manuzio in the 16th century. A fine copy.