Cicerone - Opera quae supersunt - 1724

GUIDE WITH WETSTEINIAN COMMENTARY, AS LIVING ARCHIVE OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC
This volume of Cicero’s works, printed in Amsterdam in 1724 by the Wetsteins and edited by Isaacus Verburgius, focuses on the innermost heart and political core of Cicero’s production: the epistolary. Included in the monumental “Series Operum,” the tome collects and organizes Epistolae ad Atticum, ad Quintum Fratrem, ad Brutum, and ad Octavium, offering a direct, almost diary-like view of the crisis of the Roman Republic. Here Enlightenment philology is not limited to establishing the text, but returns a living voice, layered, traversed by variants and commentaries that amplify its historical depth. The volume thus presents itself as an ordered archive of thought in action, where private writing becomes a political document and moral testimony.
MARKET VALUE
Individual volumes of the Wetstein series (1724), when isolated but complete, generally fetch between 200 and 400 euros on the antique market; the presence of an engraved frontispiece and good structural preservation, as in the specimen here, support a value in the upper range.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Contemporary parchment-binding in stiff white parchment, with a leather spine label and gilt title. Seventh volume in the complete series, belonging to the “Series Operum,” with a red-and-black title page and a calcographic frontispiece. Text in Latin with critical apparatus, scholia and variants. The main content consists of the epistolary corpus (Epistolae ad T. Pomponium Atticum liber XVI; ad Quintum Fratrem; ad Brutum; ad Octavium, etc.). Paper shows physiological yellowing and foxing. In old books with a multi-century history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. Pp. (2); 8nn; 1304; (2).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Opera quae supersunt
Amstelaedami, apud Rod. & Gerh. Wetstenios, 1724.
M. Tullii Ciceronis.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The seventh volume occupies a crucial position within the collection, as it gathers Cicero’s epistolary corpus, a primary source for understanding the political and personal life of the late Republic. Verburgius’s edition is based on a complex tradition that integrates manuscripts, Renaissance editions, and contributions from the great modern editors. The systematic organization of the letters and the apparatus of variants transform the text into a high-level critical instrument. In this context, the epistolary is no longer merely a historical testimony, but becomes living material for Enlightenment reflection on politics, ethics, and the role of the intellectual in society. The volume thus reflects the ideal of orderly, verifiable knowledge typical of the Republic of Letters.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.) was a Roman orator, philosopher, and statesman, a central figure of the late Republic. His letters, in addition to his rhetorical and philosophical works, constitute an indispensable source for understanding public and private life of his time, offering a direct view of events and protagonists of the Republican crisis.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Cicero’s letters were among the most studied and reprinted texts since the Renaissance, for their historical and stylistic value. The 1724 Wetstein edition fits into the great Nordic-European philological tradition, which saw the Netherlands as one of the principal centers for producing critical editions of the classics. The seventh volume, devoted to the epistolary, enjoyed particular diffusion in academic circles, where it was used as a reference text for the study of rhetoric and Roman history.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
ICCU/OPAC SBN: to be checked for the specific volume (Series Operum, vol. VII, Amsterdam 1724)
WorldCat: Cicero, Opera, Wetstein, 1724 (vol. VII, Epistolae)
Brunet, Manuel du libraire, II, pp. 27–35 (Cicéron, Dutch editions)
Graesse, Trésor de livres rares, II, pp. 129–135
Harwood, View of the Various Editions of the Greek and Roman Classics, pp. 138–145
Sandys, A History of Classical Scholarship, vol. II, pp. 350–360