105 - CICERO. The Works of M. Tullius Cicero. With a selection of commentaries.

CICERO. The Works of M. Tullius Cicero. With a selection of commentaries. An excellent critical edition of Cicero’s works, carefully printed on fine laid paper and illustrated with a large allegorical frontispiece in Volume 1, complete in 9 volumes bound in beautiful full calf leather bindings of the period. Paris: published by Joan. Bapt. Coignard, Hipp. Lud. Guerin, Joan. Desaint, and Jac. Guerin, 1740–1742. 9 volumes in-4, full brown marbled calfskin, ribbed spines, gilded fleurons between the raised bands, author’s and volume number labels in fawn morocco, gilded roulette on the edges and fillets, endpapers and inner covers of marbled paper, red-speckled edges, untrimmed (contemporary binding). Approximately 600 pages per volume; 1 frontispiece engraved by Soubeyran in Volume 1, depicting a medallion portrait of Cicero and the coat of arms of the Dauphin of France surrounded by a large allegorical design, along with a title medallion, headpieces, initials, and tailpieces. In Latin. Scuffing; several split bands; some covers stained and showing wear; cap bands worn down. Scattered foxing, more prominent in the margins and on the title pages. A monumental edition of Cicero’s works edited by the Abbé d’Olivet and accompanied by critical apparatus comprising ancient and modern texts, including commentaries by Franz Fabricius. It is illustrated with a large allegorical composition engraved by Soubeyran as the frontispiece to Volume 1. Regarded throughout the 18th century as the masterpiece of critical Cicero typography, it is distinguished by the quality of its printing on fine laid paper and the rigor of its apparatus of notes. It brings together the complete works of Cicero, organized as follows: Volume 1: *Rhetorica*; Volumes 2–3: *Philosophicorum*; Volumes 4–6: *Orationes*; Volumes 7–9: *Epistolae* (including, notably, Franz Fabricius’s *M. Tullii Ciceronis Historia* in Volume 9) Stamp of the Versailles Library on the title pages. A lovely set in uniform period binding.