Cicerone - De Officiis - 1642

THE MANUAL OF CIVIC VIRTUE: DE OFFICIIS IN THE CELEBRATED ELZEVIUS EDITION OF 1642
Splendid full red Morocco binding with gold decorations on the boards and spine.
Cicero’s De officiis is one of the most influential texts in Western moral philosophy, a treatise that unites Stoic ethics, political reflection, and the ideal of civic virtue. Composed in 44 BC and dedicated to his son Marcus, the work over the centuries became a true manual of conduct for rulers, magistrates, and educated citizens. The Leiden 1642 edition by the Elzevir workshop represents one of the elegant pocket-sized editions that made Dutch typography famous in the seventeenth century. Part of the renowned Elzevir Latin classics series, this volume could be purchased separately as Volume IX of the series and testifies to the extraordinary European diffusion of Cicero’s moral writings in the modern age.
MARKET VALUE
Elzevir editions of the Latin classics are among the most sought-after works of seventeenth-century Dutch typography. The 1642 De officiis edition appears with some regularity on the antiquarian market, but copies well preserved in fine bindings are especially prized. Standard parchment or paper-board copies typically range between 750 and 900 euros; specimens in decorative bindings in red Morocco leather with gilding and gilt edges, as in the present case, can reach 1,200–1,800 euros or more depending on condition.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Splendid full red Morocco binding with gold decorations on the boards and spine; all edges gilt. Front board with atypical woodcut vignette from Elzevir editions. Pages with some browning, foxing, and stains. Ornate initials. In old books with a long history, a few imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. Pp. (2); 302; (2).
FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
De officiis libri tres.
Lugduni Batavorum, ex officina Elseviriana, 1642.
M. Tullii Ciceronis.
CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
De officiis was composed in the last months of Cicero’s life, at a moment of deep political crisis in the Roman Republic. The work tackles the problem of moral and civic duty, seeking to reconcile moral honesty with political usefulness. Structured in three books, the treatise first examines the nature of moral good, then the relationship between usefulness and justness, and finally the conflicts that can arise between self-interest and virtue.
In the Renaissance and early modern period, De officiis became one of the fundamental texts of humanistic education, used in schools and universities as a manual of ethics and moral rhetoric. The seventeenth-century Elzevir editions decisively contributed to the diffusion of Latin classics in portable and relatively economical format, making these works accessible to students, scholars, and collectors throughout Europe.
BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC – 43 BC) was one of the greatest orators, philosophers, and statesmen of the Roman Republic. Born at Arpinum, he studied rhetoric and philosophy in Rome and in Greece, becoming quickly a central figure in Roman political life. As consul in 63 BC, he thwarted Catiline’s conspiracy. After Caesar’s rise and the civil wars, he devoted himself more and more to philosophical and literary production. His works — including De officiis, De re publica, De legibus, and Tusculanae disputationes — exerted immense influence on European culture, contributing to the transmission of Greek moral philosophy to the Latin world and then to the humanistic tradition.
PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Cicero’s moral writings were among the most printed texts in Renaissance and modern Europe. The Elzevir edition of 1642 belongs to the famous series of Latin classics published in Leiden in the seventeenth century. According to Willems’s catalog, this volume constitutes Volume IX of the series and was also sold separately. Elzevir editions were distinguished by high typographic quality, compact format, and clear text, elements that contributed to their enormous diffusion among scholars and collectors.
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Willems, Les Elzevier. Histoire et annales typographiques, no. 535.
WorldCat, M. Tullii Ciceronis De officiis libri tres, Leiden, Elsevier, 1642.
ICCU / OPAC SBN, bibliographic records of the Elzevir editions of Cicero.
Adrian Johns, The Nature of the Book, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1998 (for context on European printing).
P. G. Walsh, Cicero: On Duties, Oxford University Press.