Quintiliani - Oratoris Eloquentissimi Declamationes - 1689

Quintiliani - Oratoris Eloquentissimi Declamationes - Padua, 1689

Elegant antique volume in small folio format 15.4x8.2 cm; pp. 342, (6); contemporary plain parchment binding with handwritten title on the spine (“Quintiliani Declam.”). Frontispiece adorned with printer’s mark and indication “Patavii, Ex Typographia Seminarii, completo.

Work attributed to Marcus Fabius Quintilianus, one of the greatest theorists of Latin rhetoric, famed author of the Institutio Oratoria. The volume gathers the Declamationes, rhetorical exercises widely used in the humanistic and modern ages, employed for the training of orators and for the study of Latin style.

The declamations present juridical-moral cases and simulated controversies, offering refined examples of argumentation, eloquence, and structuring of discourse. A fundamental text for understanding rhetorical pedagogy and the classical culture transmitted in European schools between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Good overall condition, with natural signs of use and age: slight reddening and browning of paper, pages 321-324 and 325-328 inverted, signs of wear along the bottom margin of the text from pages 115-241, in some cases affecting only the lower part of the text, small marginal defects and traces of wear to the binding, but a solid and genuine exemplar.

Sixteenth-century edition from the Padua area, a witness to the Italian academic printing tradition. Quintilian’s works in antique editions are always sought after by collectors and scholars for their central role in the history of rhetoric and European education. Complete copies in contemporary bindings are increasingly difficult to find on the antique market.