Cicero (Marcus Tullius) - M.T. Ciceronis epistolae familiares - 1537

Cicero (Marcus Tullius). Epistolae Familiares.

Parisiis: Ex Officina Roberti Stephani, 1537.
Printer’s device (the olive tree with motto Noli altum sapere) on title. Later full vellum, manuscript title to spine, retaining traces of an original calf binding stamped “S B.”

A scarce and elegant Paris edition of Cicero’s Epistolae ad Familiares, printed by Robert Estienne (Robertus Stephanus), royal printer and typographer to Francis I. The Familiares—a major source for the political and private life of late Republican Rome—was a cornerstone of Renaissance humanist study and philological printing.

Robert Estienne (1503–1559), Known as "Printer to the King", renowned for his scholarly editions of the Latin classics, issued several Ciceronian texts in the 1530s. His emblem of the olive tree bearing the motto “Noli altum sapere” (“Be not wise above that which is written”) became synonymous with typographical excellence. This compact octavo exemplifies the clarity and precision that made Estienne’s press the gold standard of Renaissance printing. Along with other printers, Estienne contributed to the "Golden Age of French Typography". In the 1530s Estienne's printing represents the first use of apostrophes and grave and acute accents in France.

Cicero's letters are among the most valuable sources of information on the period, we learn from him a great deal about daily life in Rome and the provinces, especially the province of Cilicia of which Cicero was sometime governor. There is no other period of antiquity for which we still possess such an immediate and intimate record and in such domestic detail.


Condition: Binding slightly warped and marked; old endleaves and signs of earlier leather cover beneath vellum; some early marginal notes and soiling to title; text clean and well-preserved, with good impressions of the Estienne device. The work appears complete.