231 - MINUCIUS FELIX, Marcus, and BAUDOUIN, François. *Octavius*, in which the cause of the early Christians is discussed, restored by Fr. Bald.

MINUCIUS FELIX, Marcus, and BAUDOUIN, François. *Octavius*, in which the cause of the early Christians is discussed, restored by Fr. Bald. A rare first edition of the *Octavius*, the famous work defending early Christianity, written in the 2nd or 3rd century by Marcus Minucius Felix. Heidelberg, Ex Officina Ludovici Lucii (Ludovicus Lucius), 1560. In-12 (170 x 111 mm), light-colored half-basane, spine with 4 raised bands decorated with gilded fleurons, black author’s label (later binding). 24 unnumbered folios and 97 pages, large woodcut typographic mark on the title page depicting Christ and the dove within a laurel wreath, a few initials. In Latin. Binding is rubbed and slightly worn, top edge missing. Rare and very slight water stains and browning in the margins; a few pencil annotations in the margins. First printed edition of the *Octavius*, a masterpiece of Christian apologetics written in the form of a Roman philosophical dialogue in the 2nd or 3rd century by Minucius Felix. This 1560 Heidelberg edition, edited by the renowned jurist and scholar François Baudouin (1520–1573), constitutes one of the first modern philological reconstructions of the original text. Handwritten bookplate on the title page. A fine copy.