Plaute - M. Accii Plauti Comodiae (reliures aux armes) - 1830-1832

Luxurious philological edition of Plautus’s comedies (Plautus, Titus Maccius, ca. 254–184 BC) produced under the presses of Firmin Didot, on high-quality rag paper, and bound in an elegant binding bearing Napoleonic arms.

This four-volume set of Plautus’s comedies by M. Accius belongs to the 'Bibliotheca classica latina' of the humanist publisher Nicolas‑Éloi Lemaire (1767‑1832), an important figure in the renaissance of Latin studies in France under the Restoration and the July Monarchy. The texts are established and annotated by the Latinist Joseph Naudet (1786‑1878), professor of Latin poetry at the Collège de France and future administrator of the National Library, known for his work on the Roman Empire and for his editions of major Latin authors (Catullus, Horace, Lucan, Seneca, Tacitus). Printed in Paris by Firmin Didot for Lemaire from 1830, this edition sits within the context of French 'classical' philology, concerned with correcting, comparing and stabilizing the text of the Latin comedies for higher education as well as for the colleges.

4 large-format volumes in-8vo, vii, 652 pp., [2] leaves; 651 pp., [1] leaf; 641 pp., [1] leaf; 615 pp., green Empire calfskin, spine with raised bands, boards ornamented with a cold-stamped romantic border at the center of which are stamped the marks of the Paris Academy and the arms of Emperor Napoleon III, all edges gilded, moiré endpapers.

The work offers the complete text of Plautus's comedies, accompanied by the variants from the principal manuscripts and the major earlier editions, as well as a selection of notes by the “varii,” that is, by the best humanist and modern commentators. The original comments by Joseph Naudet illuminate the comic language (lexicon, wordplay, parody of the tragic, meter), place the plots in the Greek dramatic tradition, and provide parallels drawn from other Latin poets, which makes it a true treasure trove for the study of the Latin language, the fabula palliata, and ancient theater. It includes prologues, synopses, concise linguistic and historical notes, as well as a fourth volume entirely comprised of an index.

Overall in good condition, with some foxing and other minor defects. The beauty of the edition and the quality of the binding make it a good bibliophile's volume.