Marcus Tullius Cicéron - M. Tullii Ciceronis Opera - 1773-1781

CICERO (Marcus Tullius). Works: Historia per consules descripta — Rhetoricorum Tomus I — Epistolae ad Familiares Tomus II — Orationes Pars I. For the use of the Most Serene Delphin. Padua, Ex Typographia Seminarii, apud Joannem Manfrè, 1773-1781. 4 volumes in-8, uniform cream flexible vellum, spines smooth, fitted with green morocco labels with borders and gilt titles.

Padua reissues of the eighteenth century, in the collection “Ad usum Serenissimi Delphini,” of the texts of Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.), orator, philosopher and statesman of the Roman Republic.

The collection “Ad usum Serenissimi Delphini” is a publishing project commissioned by Louis XIV for the instruction of the Grand Dauphin Louis (1661-1711), under the direction of Charles de Sainte-Maure de Montausier and Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, with the scholarly assistance of Pierre-Daniel Huet. Thus, the Typographia Seminarii of Padua, linked to the family of booksellers-printers Manfrè, ensured during the eighteenth century a complete and careful reprint of the entire collection, which became the reference edition in teaching in Italian and European colleges.

The four volumes bring together complementary sections of Cicero’s work.

- The Historia per consules descripta and in annos LXIV distincta (1773), 260 p., presents a chronology of Cicero’s activity organized around sixty-four consulships, augmented by four Ciceroan indices.

- The first volume of the Rhetoricorum (1773), [2] f., 362 p., groups the theoretical works on eloquence, accompanied by a selection of commentaries.

- The second volume of the Epistolae ad Familiares (1774), 367 p., of the same format, follows a first volume that is absent.

- Finally, the first part of the Orationes (1781), xxxii, 600 p., enriched by the rhetorical analysis of Marco Antonio Ferrario, divides the speeches into four sections.

Each of the four title pages bears the xylographic vignette characteristic of the Seminar: a phoenix rising from its ashes with the motto “POST FATA RESURGO.”

Assembled in uniform vellum bindings, the four individual volumes do not cover the entire Cicero corpus, but represent the main genres — historical chronology, rhetoric, epistolary and oratorical works — and present a pleasant aesthetic and decorative unity.

Lack of vellum on the front cover of one volume, other minor defects, good overall condition.